Hosta of the Day - Red Alert

Talk about hostas, hostas, and more hostas! Companion plant topics should be posted in the Shade Garden forum.

Moderators: ViolaAnn, redcrx, Chris_W

New Topic Post Reply
User avatar
redcrx
Posts: 4872
Joined: Jun 23, 2008 4:39 pm
USDA Zone: 7
Location: Camden, New Jersey
Contact:

Hosta of the Day - Red Alert

Post by redcrx »

Red Alert is a hybrid of 'Katsuragawa Beni' with a white edge and red speckles on the petiole and up into the leaf.

Hosta Registry - not registered
MyHostas Database - http://www.myhostas.be/db/hostas/Red+Alert
Hosta Library - http://www.hostalibrary.org/r/redalert.html

There were a couple of previous topics that looked at Red Alert:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=53412
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=55722

I was getting late flower photos this morning and noticed a couple of plants in a trough had good size flower spikes coming up. I had to check my garden map to see that they were Red Alert.
Red Alert - September 21, 2015
Red Alert - September 21, 2015
Red Alert - September 21, 2015
Red Alert - September 21, 2015
Red Alert - September 21, 2015
Red Alert - September 21, 2015
Red Alert - September 21, 2015
Red Alert - September 21, 2015
Red Alert - September 21, 2015
Red Alert - September 21, 2015
Ed McHugh, Sicklerville NJ
ImageMockingbird feeding juvenile yellow raisons - never leave home without them.
User avatar
redcrx
Posts: 4872
Joined: Jun 23, 2008 4:39 pm
USDA Zone: 7
Location: Camden, New Jersey
Contact:

Re: Hosta of the Day - Red Alert

Post by redcrx »

Red Alert again failed to open its flowers. As mentioned in the two previous topics mentioned above, Red Alert may have a problem with its flowers.

I have two good sized plants in a trough and they developed multiple scapes this season. The smaller scapes disintegrated in late September and earlier this month. The flower head on the best and last started dropping its flowers yesterday. I tore apart a couple bud to see what the coloration looked like.

Here is the biggest on October 3.
Red Alert - October 3, 2015
Red Alert - October 3, 2015
Here is the second best one on October 4. It later fell apart.
Red Alert - October 4, 2015
Red Alert - October 4, 2015
Here is the biggest one again on October 7 as the buds start to droop.
Red Alert - October 7, 2015
Red Alert - October 7, 2015
I opened some of the fallen buds yesterday.
Red Alert - October 9, 2015
Red Alert - October 9, 2015
I'm going to put one in a front flower bed (with more sun) next season to give it a different environment.
Ed McHugh, Sicklerville NJ
ImageMockingbird feeding juvenile yellow raisons - never leave home without them.
User avatar
Chris_W
Administrator
Posts: 8465
Joined: Oct 05, 2001 8:00 pm
USDA Zone: 9
Location: Co. Roscommon, Ireland
Contact:

Re: Hosta of the Day - Red Alert

Post by Chris_W »

I've been watching my Red Alert this month to see if any of their flowers were going to open and none of them have. I'm not sure I would call it a problem, though, as they still seem to last a long time and look pretty even without opening, so I consider it more of a unique oddity :)
Image
User avatar
redcrx
Posts: 4872
Joined: Jun 23, 2008 4:39 pm
USDA Zone: 7
Location: Camden, New Jersey
Contact:

Re: Hosta of the Day - Red Alert

Post by redcrx »

I don't think I have caught this one in flower before but it showed-up today. Interesting dark spots on the edge of the flower.
Red Alert - October 1, 2018
Red Alert - October 1, 2018
Red Alert - October 1, 2018
Red Alert - October 1, 2018
Red Alert - October 1, 2018
Red Alert - October 1, 2018
This is a second flower on a different scape.
Red Alert - October 1, 2018
Red Alert - October 1, 2018
Ed McHugh, Sicklerville NJ
ImageMockingbird feeding juvenile yellow raisons - never leave home without them.
User avatar
redcrx
Posts: 4872
Joined: Jun 23, 2008 4:39 pm
USDA Zone: 7
Location: Camden, New Jersey
Contact:

Re: Hosta of the Day - Red Alert

Post by redcrx »

Looking back over my old photos I did see a flower in very late 2016. It's interesting the MyHosta database says flowering time is mid-season. In my yard it seems "Last to Flower". tardiflora started to open its flowers a few days ago. I do have a large number of fortunei types with late scapes and one rectifolia volunteer. And a Miss Grace scape a little later than normal. I found a Naked Lady scape just starting up today - I have a pod from an earlier flowering that had two snails on it this morning - it's bad enough trying to cross on fortunei types and then the critters try to take the one pod that's surviving - the pollen was from a white flowered rectifolia.

These flowers are on the same plant as the one above - it's growing in a trough.
Red Alert - October 11, 2016
Red Alert - October 11, 2016
Ed McHugh, Sicklerville NJ
ImageMockingbird feeding juvenile yellow raisons - never leave home without them.
User avatar
redcrx
Posts: 4872
Joined: Jun 23, 2008 4:39 pm
USDA Zone: 7
Location: Camden, New Jersey
Contact:

Re: Hosta of the Day - Red Alert

Post by redcrx »

None of the other buds want to open. I have started tearing them open and the style has been bent-up inside the flower where it's being jammed into the front of the flower. The tip doesn't want to open - it's like clausa. I have been trying to make crosses with it after I have ripped the flower apart but the pollen isn't coming off the anther. I will need a few days to see if the flower accepted pollen from other flowers.
Ed McHugh, Sicklerville NJ
ImageMockingbird feeding juvenile yellow raisons - never leave home without them.
New Topic Post Reply