hosta guru – The Hosta Guru

December 22, 2022December 22, 2022

“What’s new?”

by Bob Solberg

I often run into high-powered plant people, much more knowledgeable than me, who ask, “Haven’t hosta hybridizers done about all you can do with hostas? They all are starting to look the same to me.” I guess that is true if you discount all the new red blushing hostas but then, the novelty may wear off even blushers one day.

I often wonder what is the next big improvement that hybridizers can bring to their hosta seedlings. Red is not dead. Hostas can still become redder, but also the red can last all season. I’d say, Dan Heims’ ‘Liam’s Smile’ is a more dependable blushing hosta in warmer climes with interestingly more purple in the leaf veins than in the petioles. It is a new ingredient to add to the hybridizing pot.

Some hosta hybridizers think hosta flowers might be the next best thing. They are producing many new colors for hosta flowers, rich dark purples, even black, light pinks, and reds, as well as yellow and green. I have seen brown ones too, interesting but looking faded when fresh. Large, pink flowers on a blue hosta might be a showstopper.

But flowers and red trim are accessories, much like the messy ruffles on many of the new blue hostas these days. Maybe that is where we are with the breeding right now, just a little tweak here and little tweak there. Hosta specialists might appreciate these new bells and whistles, but they may be lost on the gardening public or even high-level horticulturists.

So, what is really new in hostas? Well, have you ever seen a yellow hosta that turns blue? Yellow hostas usually green up a little, or a lot, later in the season. They almost never have a blue cast to them. That’s different! For many years we just called it 44B, a great hybridizing hosta, a parent of ‘Ruby Earrings’ and ‘Peach Brandy’, and now I am ready to pass it along to you. It is ‘Calm before the Storm’, bright yellow sunshine in early spring and then suddenly an afternoon storm brewing. Its rich purple petioles highlight the spring yellow color and the stormy summer feel. Check it out in the shop. I think it is pretty cool!

February 11, 2022

A Tropical Vacation

The Guru is back. Normalcy may have returned.

As many of you know, I am a child of the tropics. I did not see snow until I went to college in North Carolina. This January I got my fill of the weekly snow storms, so I took a friend and ran off to Florida to feel some 80 degree tropical breezes and connect again with the palms I grew as a kid.

They call it a jungle for a reason. The plant life is coarse, wild, and a tangled mess. Even botanical gardens cannot escape the chaos. But a visit is exhilarating. Sometimes I just do not want that much organization in my life.

But most times I do and that’s why hostas are the focus of my life. Unlike murderous strangler figs, monstera vines that devour pines, and sabal palms casually dropping their dead frons haphazardly everywhere, hostas are neat, maybe even a little formal. Yes, they pretty much stay where you plant them right behind their labels but there is more. Their leaves are symmetric, their clumps perfectly mounded. They make borders, they bring order to the garden. Their colors are refined not riotous like bromeliads.

Hostas give us calm and peace in the summer garden. In winter we can escape to the festive tropics but in summer we want the tranquility of our hosta gardens. For me, I need both, chaos and organization in my life. Too much of either one is not healthy. People say that hostas have tropical foliage, I would disagree. They do have dramatic foliage but it is well behaved. I actually wish they would cut loose every once in a while.

There is a hosta that spends the winter in Florida. They call it the SUN HOSTA^TM. It is actually ‘So Sweet’ and is virtually evergreen there. I have included a photo of it in a container at the entrance of the Port St. Lucie Botanical Garden next to a croton, maybe my favorite plant. (Is that heresy?) It does look well behaved, doesn’t it?

Yes, there is now a little beach sand on the mats my truck and there is a pirated bag of palm seeds on the kitchen counter. You never know, they just might magically spring to life in the nursery when summer finally arrives.

May 29, 2020

Let’s make more tetraploid hostas.

Blog 3 Let’s make more tetraploid hostas.

Tetraploid hostas, (those hostas that have doubled their chromosomes), you knew the topic would be visited eventually. At Green Hill Farm we believe that tetraploid hostas may or may not be the future of hostas but until we hybridize a lot of tets we will never know. To this end we have been propagating tetraploid forms of named hostas as we find them and would like to make them available to hosta hybridizers for a nominal cost so that they might have new tetraploid plants to cross.

Converted tetraploid hostas, either by the use of herbicides or “naturally” in Tissue Culture, differ from their “parents” by having thicker leaves, wider margins if variegated, a more compact habit, shorter scapes and a denser arrangement of flowers. All these are positive, (improvements), traits, but they also have shorter roots and a slower growth rate. Some like ‘Mojito’ from ‘Fried Green Tomatoes are more fertile than their parent, but some are not. The flowers are larger as are the fertile parts, pollen, and pods in these tets. There is good and bad in everything.

Here is our first offering to hybridizers. I had a choice to make, when introducing this hosta especially for hybridizing. I could name it and register it, or just introduce it under the name, “tetraploid ‘World Cup’”. I decided on the latter because I believe that hybridizing hostas should be shared and not necessarily marketed. I could have given it some name that was just a group of letters and numbers like some folks do but is that really fun? The name is self-explanatory but not a fancy name for the general public. Actually, I am not sure this plant is a good garden plant, but it will allow you to bring several traits, including gold color, extreme cupping and upright habit into your tetraploid hybridizing program.

So how do you get one? I have several plants of tetraploid ‘World Cup’ that I actually tissue cultured for just this purpose. See, we are having fun now. I think they are blooming size but if not this year next year for sure. All you have to do is contact me through our Order Form on our HostaHosta.com website and I will send you one. I will only charge you $20 for shipping. You will get two plants and you can start to work your magic.

This offer is open to everyone in the United States, we can maybe make other arrangements if you live elsewhere, but please do not name this plant. It is a legitimate hosta with an illegitimate name. Feel free to pass it along in a few years when it finally increases. Tetraploids are slow! Have fun with this… that will make me smile.

May 1, 2020

Welcome to The Hosta Guru

Blog 1 April 30, 2020

Welcome. Hostas are supposed to be fun! ™ But recently with the cancellation of Hosta College, local hosta club meetings, and now the AHS National Convention things have not been as much fun in Hostadom this spring as they should be. So, I thought we needed a new virtual place to meet while we “shelter in place” and take a break from puttering in our gardens. The Hosta Guru is what Erin, my new co-worker and head of our hosta liner division, and I came up with.

We intend to do a lot of wild and crazy things with this website. First, there will be a blog with my occasional thoughts and opinions about all things hosta. You can sign up to receive email notifications of the latest bit of wisdom that is posted, or you can just bookmark the site and visit when the urge hits you. No pressure, this site is just for fun. The blog posts will be short and sweet, a glimpse into my little corner of Hostadom.

But there will be more, somethings we already have thought of and some we will figure out as we go. There will be special hostas, like those I obtained from Japan and other limited-edition introductions, that will be exhibited and might even be offered exclusively by The Hosta Guru, a little virtual vending. If we can figure out how to produce a two-minute video that is entertaining, we may do that, too. I might even pull the curtain back and let you see some of what it takes to do all the magic that we make with hostas. And that is just the beginning. I hope you have as much fun with this as I intend to.

On to Blog 1. Our blue hostas are magnificent this April. The wax is really flowing. I think it is those cool, bright, windy days that really encourages white wax production. As the hostas are subjected to greater and greater desiccation stress, (wind speed is a squared function in the desiccation equation), they happily make a deep coating of wax that even the deluges from our severe thunderstorms and hail cannot wash off. The cool temperatures probably allow for higher photosynthetic rates and increased wax production, too.

Here is a look at my favorite blue seedling this spring. It is from the ‘Plum Pudding’ line, a F2. I just love to look down into the funnel of purple that the petioles form on these broad, ruffled upright leaves, all softened by the white of a heavy coating of wax. It makes you stop and smile. No, it does not have a name, so don’t ask. It may never see the bottom of a test tube in the TC lab, but in the evening, in the company of an adult beverage or two, it is a joy to behold.

Are you having fun yet?