Thoughts off the top of my head: November, 2006
As many of you know, I am excited about introducing new hostas. I try to introduce hostas that are not only eye-catching and distinct but also perform better in the gardens than the hostas of the past. In the past twenty years, hostas have improved not only in color but also garden worthiness.
All this said, year in and year out many of the same “ancient” hostas find their way to the top of the Popularity Polls. It is incredibly difficult for a new hosta to make it into the top 20 much less the top five or ten. Now, with the coming of the Benedict Medal awarded on the basis of garden performance not popularity, we find the same old “classics” at the top of the list again.
In the twenty year period from 1985 to 2005 several thousand new hostas have been named and introduced. During that same period less than ten new hostas have made it to the top 5 or 6 of the AHS Popularity Poll, (the latest poll published in 2006). Amazingly, two of those are now in jeopardy of falling off the list completely. The turnover has been small.
In 1985, the top five hostas in order were, ‘Frances Williams’, ‘Gold Standard’, ‘Krossa Regal’, H. montana ‘Aureomarginata’, and ‘Golden Tiara’, all familiar, “classic” hostas. In 2005 ‘Krossa Regal’ is still #7, H. montana ‘Aureomarginata’ is #10 and ‘Gold Standard’ has dropped to #15. ‘Frances Williams’ the long time #1 on the list and the revolutionary ‘Golden Tiara’ have dropped out of sight. ‘Frances Williams’ is the victim of the “leaf show” mentality of modern collectors. For years no one ever noticed those brown spots on its gold border but now those spots have done it in, although in a huge clump it is still breathtaking. ‘Golden Tiara’, the first in the line of so many “Tiaras”, got discarded in the recent craze for leaf substance. It didn’t help that the slugs love it, and it is an indicator plant for foliar nematodes. Both are still widely grown and sold in the trade.
By 1990 ‘Sum and Substance’ and ‘Sagae’, (as H. fluctuans ‘Variegated’, the shorter name, while difficult to pronounce, has helped its popularity immensely), had reached the top five. They have remained there ever since. ‘Great Expectations’ was #6 and was in the midst of its rise and fall in the poll. This hosta best combines the collector’s conflict between beauty and garden worthiness and if it only grew easily for half of us it might be #1.
1995 brought more of the same with ‘Sum and Substance’, ‘Great Expectations’, ‘Gold Standard’, H. montana ‘Aureomarginata’, and ‘Sagae’ in the top five with good old ‘Krossa Regal’ sixth. Newcomer ‘Patriot’ was #7, another hosta that made it into the top five only to drop like a rock because of cultural problems. A pretty face can get to the top but it takes a top performer to stay there.
By 2000 the revolution was here. Yellow-centered sports were pushing their way to the top. ‘June’ and ‘Paul’s Glory’ had moved into the top five along with ‘Patriot’, dislodging the less consistent in color ‘Gold Standard’ and H. montana ‘Aureomarginata’. ‘Guacamole’ was
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lurking at #11. These new yellow-centered sports would become the most popular of hostas ever, combining perfectly beauty and ease in culture. One other light-centered new hosta was making its way up the list, this one with a thin white stripe to accentuate its variegation. ‘Striptease’ was on the way.
The 2005 list finds the revolution almost complete. ‘June’ is #1, ‘Striptease’ #4, ‘Guacamole’ #5, ‘Paul’s Glory’ #6 with newcomers ‘Paradigm’ #8 and ‘Stained Glass’ #14. ‘Sum and Substance’ and ‘Sagae’ remain in the top five, maybe forever but the tide has definitely turned. ‘Krossa Regal’ is still #7 and H montana ‘Aureomarginata’ #10 but ‘Gold Standard’ has slipped to #15, ‘Great Expectations’ to #16, and ‘Patriot’ to #18. Despite their massive presence in the marketplace, they may all drop off the list in the next five years.
The reality is that it is getting very crowded at the top and very few new hostas can penetrate the top ten in popularity. It will take a very special hosta to knock out ‘Sagae’ or ‘Sum and Substance’ from the top five, the best large variegated and gold hosta respectively. Then there are 6 yellow-centered hostas to mix and match from year to year in the other three slots. Is there any blue or green hosta that has a chance of even getting past old ‘Krossa Regal’? The next best hope, ‘Blue Mouse Ears’ did not even make the 2005 list.
‘Blue Mouse Ears’ is certainly a new hosta with star power. It is cute, it is distinct and it has the name. It is also “blue” and small. The most popular hostas are invariably large or larger. Only the distinctness, rapid growth rate and bright spring variegation brought the small ‘Golden Tiara’ to the top five. It like ‘Striptease’ was revolutionary in its time, a time of relatively few new hosta introductions per year. ‘Blue Mouse Ears’ also grows slowly, making it unfit for the hosta mass market. (‘June’ is too slow for many growers and is not as widely grown as it could be.) The top five hostas are not only large but they get large relatively quickly.
So why do so few new hostas become “popular”? Are the most popular hostas the most propagated hostas? Do they remain at the top of the popularity poll by their sheer numbers? Is it good marketing that keeps them there? No, they may get there because of their sheer numbers, like ‘Great Expectations’ and ‘Patriot’, but to stay in the Top 10 they must be good nursery and garden plants. They must be easy for nurseries to produce in a single season and easy for any gardener to grow successfully. They must be showy and have good names. Very few new hostas meet these criteria.
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This year we are introducing ten or so new hostas, a lot for us. Last year we were short a couple. That’s just the way it goes sometimes. As I work on the catalogue and write the descriptions, I always wonder which ones will sell and which ones will sit. I do not know if I have a single customer that buys every new hosta I offer each year just because it is new. Hosta folks are very selective. My wholesale customers are just as selective. So how do you decide?
I suggest you pretend that you do not have any hostas sleeping the winter away in your backyard. Too many times we look at a small hosta plant and immediately decide that we have one just like it already. I believe that is why white-edged hostas have lost much of their popularity, we think we “already have that one.” Gold and blue hostas suffer from the same prejudging but for some reason light-centered ones do not. They must be the most beautiful of all.
Okay, you are hostaless. You are brand new to hostas with the wisdom of a veteran collector. You just got a new hosta bed for Christmas. First look at the colors. You will need some of each because different hostas steal the show at different times of the year. Spring is the season of bright yellows and frosty blues. Gold margins and yellow centers shine through the summer. Rich, late-flowering greens surprise us in early fall.
Then, look past color to leaf shapes, clump habits, ruffles and puckers. Are the petioles “red”, do you care? Some hostas are best when viewed at a distance, some close-up. Some scream to be touched. Those are the ones to give a second glance. For me bloom time is more important than bloom color. Late flowering, “long season” hostas tend to be sturdier in the garden. They are more apt to still look good when they bloom in August.
Let the hosta speak to you. Do not judge it against some ideal. You have been told that great new hostas are distinct. This it not untrue. However, you may need to live with that hosta of a couple of years to appreciate its distinctive beauty. You are not selecting seedlings, that has already been done for you by the hybridizer, the artist. Just enjoy the work of art and if the price is right, take it home.