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The mystery hosta has pips!

brooklynbonnie
9 years ago

Since we moved in to our home last July, I've been working hard to make a shade garden out of the mud pit in the backyard. There was a single small lonely hosta in residence in the beginning and it was my inspiration. I don't know the name but I loved the green leaves with bright white borders and held my breath since mid-March hoping to see signs it was coming back after the harsh winter we had. It showed the tips of pips at the beginning of this month and now I am so excited to have it back to enjoy this year! I had to take a picture to share :)

Comments (23)

  • User
    9 years ago

    Hi there, BrooklynBonnie, and in case this is your first time here, WELCOME to the Hosta Addiction Center!

    Stick with us and that exciting hosta pipping its way into your heart will be one of many before you know it! Like potato chips, you cannot stop with ONE!

    Please be sure to take pictures as time goes by so someone can perhaps give you an ID for your hosta. Look forward to your next visit to the forum.

  • brooklynbonnie
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thank you MoccasinLanding! I think this is my first post in the Hosta forum and I know it won't be my last. I do hope to know the name of my hosta before long so I'll definitely be back with pictures later!

  • josephines167 z5 ON Canada
    9 years ago

    Welcome Brooklyn Bonnie from another addict!

    One of the most popular hostas from way back is Undulata AlboMarginata. I have two or three of it. These pips remind me of it. If you would like to look up the name on the hosta library to see if it resembles what you remember from last year, I've provided the link to the hosta library for you.

    I was checking something in the B's last, so you just have to go to the U's :-)

    Jo

    Here is a link that might be useful: hosta library

    This post was edited by josephines67 on Sun, Apr 13, 14 at 16:13

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    9 years ago

    i ought to recognize that.. what are the various names for antioch ...

    or.. compare the earlier risers.. with white edge.. and that name is escaping me.. the ones that always get frosted down... some version of aureomarginata????

    hopefully someone will take my vague clues to the bank.. lol ..

    ken

  • User
    9 years ago

    Don't you mean go to the "U" Jo?
    Undulata Albomarginata?

    If it is the one we brought down from Massachusetts, it is a hardy soul!

  • josephines167 z5 ON Canada
    9 years ago

    Did u catch me before I edited, Mocc? You quick, lol :;)

  • brooklynbonnie
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Sweet :) Thank you Jo et al!

  • hosta_freak
    9 years ago

    It looks like undulata Albomarginata to me,also,and welcome Bonnie! Phil

  • Babka NorCal 9b
    9 years ago

    Once it unfurls we'll give it a name, so it won't be a mystery anymore. You have come to the right place. ;-)

    -Babka

  • don_in_colorado
    9 years ago

    Wow, an ID from PIPS? You're outta control, you crazy hostaholics!! : P

    Don B.

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    9 years ago

    don... its the fact that it is an early one ... having extended quite a bit regardless of zone ...

    and of course.. the white .. albo margin.. speaks for itself ...

    the other early ones .. the on stage dudes ... are not indicated here...

    i see no crown ... and wonder why its so spaced out.. and wonder if it somehow didnt end up planted too deep ... or fairy ring at some time ...

    ken

  • brooklynbonnie
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    You are all making me so excited! I tried to find a picture of it from last year but this is the best I could do. It's from Fall last year and I didn't find any pictures that were taken closer. I will take good pictures once it unfurls this year. I don't know who planted it but I though it odd that there was only the one so maybe they did have more but planted them too shallow and the others didn't make it? I don't think I'll ever know. But until I have new pictures, this all I have to go by.

  • User
    9 years ago

    Bonnie, quite likely the plant came from a friend or neighbor who divided their clumps and gave the resident of your house a piece of it. That is what happened as the original clumps purchased by my DH almost 50 years ago got divided. To many folks, they only knew there was a "green one" and the "green and white one." So they were gifted the green/white one!

    I brought a piece of the old original hosta south when we sold the house up north. In a pot, mine lost its white margin. Since that time, in the ground now, it is showing the white margins returning.

    If you wish to move this particular hosta, it transplants easily. Perhaps moving away from the building would be good, since it appears to be a really wet location. Get in mind the garden space you wish to create before moving, and perhaps cover some of that bare ground with some bark mulch. It looks really great, and should last a while if you don't have to shovel snow off the area.

    I won't upload a picture of mine until you can do a closeup of yours. Don't want to confuse with too many pictures when an ID is being discussed.

  • brooklynbonnie
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Here's a picture of the hosta from yesterday. It seems a little on the yellow side compared to it's solid green and white from last summer so it appears to go through a slight color change as it matures. :)

  • User
    9 years ago

    It won't be long now, Bonnie.
    Yes, I call that a tender spring green.

  • brooklynbonnie
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Three weeks ago I posted the first pic of the pips, and here we have it mostly leafed out. I had tried last year to identify it but it seemed there was an overwhelming number of hosta having green leaves with white edges and I just gave up.

    Anyone here think they know which one this is?
    Thanks again!

  • josephines167 z5 ON Canada
    9 years ago

    I still hold to my first impression - that of Undulata AlboMarginata. This darn iPad corrects it as capital M ( not correct). Ken mentioned Antioch but A emerges with a yellow/creamy edge that later changes to white. This one emerges with the white margin from the get-go.

    Wish mine were up that far! :-). Soon!

  • brooklynbonnie
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Well, it did appear to be more on the yellow side when it was first unfurling (compare most recent two pics I've posted here), but now looks just white like I remembered from last summer. Does the yellow of Antioch need to be very starkly different from the later white, or is it a subtle difference?

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    9 years ago

    i ALWAYS go with the undulata clan ... when there are no or few other named plants in the garden ...

    peeps who arent collectors... arent going to have rare.. newer hosta... in a garden ...

    but there is always the chance.. that some of the 30 to 50 year old standards may be there... and that is why i was also thinking along the lines of the old clones of Antioch type plants ....

    but there is something that bothers me about the way this thing came up in the first pic.. and the last pic ...

    its not properly clumping.. its too spread out.. which makes me think... it is planted way too deep ...

    with the undulata crowd... it doesnt matter...

    but many of the newer foo foo ones.. are not going to appreciate being planted too deep ...

    there are 3 basic pieces to a hosta ... the roots below... the leaves above ... and a potato like crown...

    and the crown.. should be at surface level ... year around..

    i see no crown on this one....

    so your first project.. is to dig this up.. perhaps split it in two ... and replant it at the proper depth ...

    some guy did a post about moving a fully leafed out hosta.. all you need to know.. is in that post.. including the tape trick if it leafs out before you can do it ...

    enabled yet????? ... lol ...

    are you glad.. i referred you here.. from the name that plant forum???

    ken

    ps: use the GW search engine for that post

  • brooklynbonnie
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Haha! Ken, thank you for the help! I wasn't on the Name That Plant forum for this hosta but I notice you are all over the many boards here at GW so I am sure you have helped out nameless hundreds or thousands of newbies like me! :D

    I think I would enjoy rolling up my sleeves and tackling this project. I would like to help it grow more healthy and I think it doesn't get very big at the moment due to the problem you have diagnosed. Thank you again for the resources. I will look for the step-by-step instructions and update the board afterwards.

    Thank you all!

  • josephines167 z5 ON Canada
    9 years ago

    Bonnie - here is the link Ken referred to. It was written by him...not sure why he did not provide the link himself. It appears the pictures were removed. Too bad, they could have been useful.

    Jo

    Here is a link that might be useful: Moving a leafed out hosta per Ken

  • brooklynbonnie
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks Josephine! I found it yesterday too and one (originally from 2007?) that still had his pictures. :D

  • josephines167 z5 ON Canada
    9 years ago

    That's terrific! Sounds like you are raring to go! Enjoy yourself in your garden and take lots of pics to share with us.

    P.S. The link I posted looked like it might have come from the FAQ's. :-)

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