Hosta of the Day - First Blush

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

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DelawareDonna
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Hosta of the Day - First Blush

Post by DelawareDonna »

First Blush is a new introduction from Bob Solberg.

It is described as:

"(Solberg 2015) (48/49 seedling X 'Beet Salad') Medium, (12" X 24") 'First Blush' not only has green leaves with red petioles that extend into the leaf blade but also a thin red margin around the leaf, similar but much more dramatic than its parent 'Beet Salad'. However, the most exciting thing about 'First Blush' is that in spring the leaf between the veins will start to "blush" red from the tip of the leaf down toward the base. The leaves remain red here until temperatures surpass 92 degrees, usually into June. The color should persist longer in Northern gardens. Our first red-leafed hosta. We do plan to patent this hosta."

Registry - not registered
MyHostas - http://myhostas.be/db/hostas/First+Blush
Hosta Library - http://www.hostalibrary.org/f/firstblush.html
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Chris_W
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Re: Hosta of the Day - First Blush

Post by Chris_W »

Very pretty! Hopefully it holds up well in the garden.

Thanks for sharing.
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plantnutz1
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Re: Hosta of the Day - First Blush

Post by plantnutz1 »

Wow! Gorgeous!
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redcrx
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Re: Hosta of the Day - First Blush

Post by redcrx »

I have one in a trough growing with a lot of shade.
First Blush - April 26, 2016
First Blush - April 26, 2016
First Blush - April 26, 2016
First Blush - April 26, 2016
First Blush - April 26, 2016
First Blush - April 26, 2016
First Blush - April 26, 2016
First Blush - April 26, 2016
Ed McHugh, Sicklerville NJ
ImageMockingbird feeding juvenile yellow raisons - never leave home without them.
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Chris_W
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Re: Hosta of the Day - First Blush

Post by Chris_W »

Did it ever "blush", Ed? I am seeing more red and purple blushes on a lot of other plants that were a lot less expensive and wonder if this one doesn't always throw as much red as we would like to see.
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redcrx
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Re: Hosta of the Day - First Blush

Post by redcrx »

I didn't see it yet. When I was at Hosta College, I was talking to Bob about the ones he was selling there because they didn't show any color and he said the color shows up later. Now there is a complication with this - I'm color blind and may miss the color. I'm always asking my kids "Can you see color on this" when looking at things that should be red.
Ed McHugh, Sicklerville NJ
ImageMockingbird feeding juvenile yellow raisons - never leave home without them.
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DelawareDonna
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Re: Hosta of the Day - First Blush

Post by DelawareDonna »

First Blush on April 19th 2016 in my garden.

Donna
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DelawareDonna
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Re: Hosta of the Day - First Blush

Post by DelawareDonna »

First Blush performed great for me in it's first full season - mainly because it is ideally growing in a sunny location. It's leaves blushed in early Spring and had some slight blushing in late mid season. It is a prolific grower and sends up sturdy red scapes with pretty purple flowers at the end of July. Just an all around great hosta!!
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DelawareDonna
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Re: Hosta of the Day - First Blush

Post by DelawareDonna »

Additional Shots
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Chris_W
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Re: Hosta of the Day - First Blush

Post by Chris_W »

These pictures give me hope. I spent a lot of money to bring First Blush into the nursery and they are still in quarantine. Within days of arrival they started getting brown spots which I suspect are from anthracnose. Another batch of hostas in the same shipment developed them too. So now I have sprayed them three times alternating two fungicides and the new growth is finally looking clean. I'll continue to quarantine them but now have hope they will look nice next year :D
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DelawareDonna
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Re: Hosta of the Day - First Blush

Post by DelawareDonna »

Chris, I sincerely hope you have resolved the problem. I would check with Bob Solberg out of curiosity to see if he has experienced anthracnose with First Blush.

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ViolaAnn
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Re: Hosta of the Day - First Blush

Post by ViolaAnn »

Donna - yours look great. I've placed a late-season order with a good nursery here in Ontario and 'First Blush' is one of the plants I requested. I was told that they weren't particularly happy with them and as a result she wouldn't charge me. Now I'm really crossing my fingers that it grows well for me, but at least I won't be out big bucks if it doesn't.
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Pictures of Ann's Hostas:
http://violaann.smugmug.com/Garden/Host ... 361_qL3gHS (SmugMug gallery now updated for 2016)
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redcrx
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Re: Hosta of the Day - First Blush

Post by redcrx »

First Blush has started flowering for me. I didn't see it "blush" like Donna did but mine is in mostly shade.
First Blush - August 22, 2016
First Blush - August 22, 2016
First Blush - August 22, 2016
First Blush - August 22, 2016
First Blush - August 22, 2016
First Blush - August 22, 2016
First Blush - August 22, 2016
First Blush - August 22, 2016
Ed McHugh, Sicklerville NJ
ImageMockingbird feeding juvenile yellow raisons - never leave home without them.
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