Where do you find these hostas? I had to look up 6 of them. Let me know how Sombrero and Sparkling Burgundy do. I'm way too lazy to take on a new and untried hosta. And as long as there are stalwart soldiers like you and lots of the other frequent posters to this forum, I won't have to. Yellow Emperor went on my want list.
Kathy

Mocc, do you have Dan Patch? If so, how has it done for you? My big black dog is named Dan Patch.

bk

Mocc, I just wanted to comment on your order list....another interesting one of course! It takes me back to when I first joined the forum and read all about your mail orders....and then Don's....I had so much fun!

Zkathy's comment had me googling Yellow Emperor where I found a pic of Don Rawson's YE, then I followed the link to his thread, which I bumped up.

Can't wait to see your new acquisitions when they arrive :-)

Jo

savory has his name attached to some of the old classics .... [but all i can think of off hand.. is big giant green ones... lol]

are you collecting any of those...

as they would most likely be OS stock.. rather than TC ...

OS = originators stock ...

as in pieces of the historical plant???

i could be mistaken.. but he was in on the founding of the AHS ... with his friends pauline banyai and alex summers... throw in a mildred seaver.. and a few others ....and you have all the old standards ... [lol.. that can be taken a bunch of different ways]

the journal all started with what was then called.. a round robin letter ... A would write it.. mail it to B who would then add his own, and mail both to C ... who would add, collate and send..etc ... until it ended up back with A ....

it was like an old school GW post.. lol ....

can anyone add to.. or correct my alleged history.. i wont claim it as a fact.. until someone supports the thesis ... [bruce you lurking out there??? ... if so.. send me a direct email ... so i can get you in my new address book]

ken

In an old Hosta Journal was an article about Savory. A big green one by him is 'Behemoth'.

Thanks for your input, Ken. My enjoyment of the history of hosta culture in the US benefits when you share these bits of memory.

Where do I find them? Hmmm, well, I like to go through the nursery catalogs online from A to Z. Some are not sorted out as "fragrant" or given their family tree, but some are, and then I note which ones have plantaginea DNA in them...which could give a good chance of thriving in my climate. I did this "browsing with a fine tooth comb" through the online cats of Savory, Glenbrook, LOTG, AvalonAcres, Hallsons, Solberg/HostaHosta, Plant Delights Nursery, GreenMt, MasonHollow, MadeInTheShade, WadeGatton, .....whew, I know there are more, but that is what top of my head recalls. In the process, I take notes, make lists, then put "sticky notes" up on my computer screen (a Windows 7 feature, did it survive into Windows 8?)...... I also check what I find against Don Rawson's Lists (if you don't have familiarity with this resource, you are handicapped) .... especially his FragrantFloweredHosta List .... and then if something I find is NOT on his list, I periodically send him the names of hosta for his update......I keep a draft in my mail folder so I don't bug him every day.

But I don't stop with that. If I want to see pictures, I open HostaLibrary.org ... it has the link (top left corner of each hosta page) to MYHOSTAS.BE which I follow. If I'm lucky, the info there is complete/correct, and I know if it was registered AHS or NR/Not Registered .... then the bloodline if known, some info about color changes or vein pairs, etc ... and there is a sidebar of PROGENY if there happens to be any. This list includes the SPORTS, as well as the hybridized progeny. If any of those are interesting (plantaginea is always interesting), I look them up individually.

And that is how I track down some of the hosta I wind up ordering. Such as Yellow Emperor OS....from Savory. I'm into GOLD, you see. And fragrant....and plantaginea specifically. In the process, I uncover a lot of hosta history. I discover the connections between plants and people, the camaraderie or competitiveness or chicanery (what else could it be in Aden's case?) of the early days building the hosta INDUSTRY.

It would make a really fine novel....sort of along the lines of the Victorian/Edwardian times, when they were going all over the world seeking new plants (Tony Avent is among those doing this in our day and time), bringing them back and making something wonderful for gardeners the world over.....and of course native plant enthusiasts are now reproaching folks for changing the landscape to the detriment of native species---flora, fauna, insects....but I digress...and run on....and apologize if I bore you....but you are free to stop reading at any time.... :) :)

BKay, yes, I have Savory's Dan Patch. I attach a picture of it taken last August while it was in bloom. I got it in May, I think.

Interesting that you named your dog Dan Patch! Of course, you must know the original Dan Patch was a winning trotter in the early years of the 20th century I believe. From either Oklahoma or Texas, so up near the Dallas area where you are.

I saw the old movie starring Dan Dailey (if memory serves me). Then as an adult, I was friends with a woman who inherited the tack box used for Dan Patch....her father had been the horse's trainer....and guess what...HER name was Barbara too, just like us! hehehe

Kathy, I looked up the Sparkling Burgundy to remind myself why I liked it. Here is what MYHOSTAS.BE quoted from some nursery catalog:

Vigorous, upright grower with green, heart-shaped leaves of heavy substance. The petioles and flower stems are heavily speckled in burgundy. Burgundy flowers in August.

When I discovered that it sported Obsession, I knew I wanted it. I have Obsession, which is very dark green, very shiny, and not a big plant. I can use dark greens in the medium range.
Here is a picture of my Obsession...look closely and you'll see there is variegation with a medium green leaf and a really dark green wide margin, all super shiny, almost oily like well polished furniture.
{{gwi:915594}}

And as for Sombrero, it is Original Stock, registered in 1991 by Savory, don't think it was ever tissue cultured. It is a hybrid of Blue Umbrellas x plantaginea.....so it gets the huge Mexican hat name from Blue Umbrellas and its fragrant nature from plantaginea.

Here I quote from MYHOSTAS.BE
"Flowers are pure white.
Here is another well kept secret from the late Bob Savory's breeding program. H. 'Sombrero' makes a lovely 3' wide clump of smooth glaucous blue-green foliage. In midsummer, the clumps are topped with fantastic fragrant white flowers! This is the first hybrid to combine the blue foliage and size of the "sieboldianas" with the fragrance of H. 'Honeybells'. This is sure to be a delight in any garden! "

The size of the plant is given as XL. No progeny listed. I wonder if it is sterile? Time will tell.

So, does anyone know who Dennis Savory might be?

Yes, Mocc. Sticky notes made it to Windows 8. Don't buy Windows 8, if you can help it. It's an operating sytem for a tablet. It doesn't work very well on a laptop, as you can't swipe anything. I think it will be like Windows Me, it will have a short shelf life.

I will have to put together a Savory order, as I must have Dan Patch. Yes, I knew about the history of the horse. That's why he got the name.

bk

Dan Patch

My enjoyment of the history of hosta culture in the US benefits when you share these bits of memory.

==>>> yeah ... its nice to have an audience.. and you are so encouraging..

and i better do it .. before i forget it all ... lol..

i dont know about obsession sporting from sparkling burgandy ... regardless of what some source says...

seems to me i questioned that oh so many years ago ... i wondered.. IFFFFF!!!! .. we are right that ALL FRAGRANCE COMES FORM PLANTIGINEA ... one way of another...

and surely by now bkay... you ought to be able to SEE plantiginea in all your fragrant plants ...

how a gingko craig hybrid ... from which sparkling B came from.. could have plantaginea in it..

and if it did.. why did they not tell us such .. rather than just call it a hybrid... as in a cross name like gingko craig X plantaginea ...

who knows...

obsession was a complete dog for me.. useless... i used to cal it a down south plant ... GK was not ... another anomaly ...

i am only aware of one Savory family in hosta... and they are a tasty bunch.. lol.. i would GUESS... son ...

you sound like me.. as i was in the early 90's with my catalogs .... lol... i would put on a hockey game in winter ... no need to stare at that for the whole game.. and spend hours per night.. pouring over catalogs ... no computers back then.. all chicken scratching and lists.. and stikees.. and checks flying out in the mail ... no kids... high income... no weekly garden budget.. where the heck else was the supposed to be used... lol

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: wasnt someone asking about olive b langton a while back.. last memorium.. but didnt fint a savory one ...

find bob savory at the link, preceded by dennis

oh God.. i either found you a new link of lists.. lol ... or one you forgot about ...

i found it by googling the american hosta soc plus bob savory ... w/o the word plus

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

Thanks, Ken. I was the one asking the question about Olive Bailey Langdon. Someone pointed me in the right direction.

There are two things I'd like to do in Birmingham. One is to attend the Samford Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research and I'd also like to see OBL's garden. It's probably deteriorated, but you could possibly see some great mature hosta that do well in the south.

bk

Ken, there is someone else on the forum who wonders too if all fragrance comes from plantaginea......and that person would be Josephine! I forget which one she grew last summer which had fragrance without being related to plantaginea.

I'm not one to believe the human nose restricts its sense of smell to one species among all the species out there. If Jo has an olfactory sensitivity to discern an aroma, then it is so.

My thought in pursuing plantaginea offspring for my garden in zone 9a is for the most part because it flourishes in hotter climates. The fragrance would be a lovely bonus....when it occurs. And not all plantaginea hybrids are noted for fragrance. I just had a correspondence with Don Rawson about some of the hybrids which the originators make NO claims for fragrance. Still, I THINK there is that option hidden in their DNA which might be combined in future generations to trigger fragrance/aroma/smell/odor/stink. hehehehe

OMG, Ken, you are so right about another source to explore. My goodness gracious, look at all those PEOPLE and their cultivars are listed right there for me, no flipping back and forth.

Well, I intended to go to bed early tonight, get up early and work on an order to LOTG--got their 2014 catalog with many new fragrants being released, some very pricey, gotta decide what to do what to do.... and MasonHollow ...... and....did I place one with Van Wade already?...hmmmm.....and it is about time for the new 2014 HOSTA FINDER isn't it? I go through that reading the available hosta just like reading the phone book......

Thanks for the link, BTW. I did not know that feature was there...what a LOT of work went into that website.

Actually, Dan Patch was from Minnesota. Or his owner was. I believe his record breaking race was at the Minnesota State Fair. One of the suburbs of Minneapolis has an annual celebration, Dan Patch Days.

BK, if you make it to Birmingham, you must call me so I can drive up there at that time. I'd love to see OBL's garden too. And, there is a retail nursery not far away, on the southeast side outside the city limits, perhaps we could make an appointment to visit. Up in the hills somewhere, I've exchanged emails with the owner lady. It is listed in the Hosta Finder 2013c. I'll focus my attention long enough to look up the website.

And Ken, I found this at HostasGalore site about H. Obsession:
I quote:
This cultivar forms a mound about 17 inches high and 30 inches wide with leaves that have a rounded base, are somewhat wavy with thick substance. It bears pale purple flowers in August. Tony Avent registered this sport of H. 'Sparkling Burgundy' in 1998.

According to The Hosta Handbook by Mark Zilis (2000), "...the variegation is hard to see from distances beyond five feet."

So....Obsession is written up here as a SPORT, not a hybrid at all. So the plot thickens. Back to the research. :)

Some of you are doing much better than I...I can't even detect a scent while smelling the blossoms of my beloved 'Fragrant Blue' :. (

Don B.

Jamie, thank you for that information about Dan Patch in MN. My friend with the tack box was from OK.....my mistake, but prairieland has a way of looking similar...wide open spaces with a sea of grass.

Don, not to bust your bubble, but your beloved Fragrant Blue is notoriously hard to detect fragrant-wise. I predict that this summer on a day when the air is still, late in the afternoon, you will waltz into your garden and about 20 feet from the first hosta, you will get a whiff of something like perfume. Follow your nose until you find it. The first one my nose led me to was Moonlight Sonata.....and I discovered a whole bevy of assassin bug nymphs on the scapes (but not on the flowers) waiting for insects to arrive. I figure those nymphs know which ones attract the pollinators with scent. The assassin bugs are predatory to other insects, not to your hosta, so don't kill them. I am no scientist, and I may be mistaken in understanding what is going on with the bugs....but I took it as a "sign." :)

Hosta finder is out now. I received mine on Saturday.

bk

Ken, you are always so generous with providing us with interesting information and links - thank you yet again! It's like being served up a platter of choice savouries! (Do you like my pun?)

I am anticipating an exciting growing season this year for a number of reasons but foremost in my mind is my pursuit of fragrance in hosta blossoms. I made notes last year when I detected scent on the little golden NOID that was mislabelled as Royal Tiara and also kifukurin Otome Ki....in terms of date, time of day, wind conditions, temperature and % of humidity. I believe all these factors had a play in scent detection that day. And to quote Jimmy Durante..."the nose knows" lol.

If the fragrance is there again this year I will definitely get it validated once again ASAP, then submit this information to Don Rawson as an FYI.

Mocc, thank you for your constant encouragement and acknowledgement and support in my quest for hosta information, particularly relating to scent. My love for hosta goes way back but it has been only recently that my eyes were opened (and I could say my nose) to the vast sea of information relating to hosta.

New discoveries are exciting to share.