You're in the perfect zone for it. It should do well for you. Mine is too young to tell you about. I bought it late last summer as a single eye plant.

bkay

Christine plantaginea is a great plant not only for the beautiful light green leaves but the incredably fragrant 6 inch long flowers. All fragrant hosta hybrids have this specie in their heritage.

Some important notes about this plant:

It is one of the few species which grow into warm temperate regions of China. It is one of a few which requires high light and will fade if grown in deep shade and will not bloom. It enjoys higher temperatures than other species and will not preform to its potential where the growing season is short and temperatures remain cool during that time. If it is getting enough light foliage will be a light green color not dark. I have studied this specie more than any other as to see a large well grown plant in bloom is unforgetable. Water and nutritional requirements mimic most other hostas.

Scott

Thank you, Scott. I will not make a purchase until I can determine a good spot in my yard. Currently, this is the only hosta on my 'must have' list.
Christine

Oh your welcome. Get one as big as you can. Flowers don't reach full size until the plant is fairly large. I'd check local independent nurseries as it is popular and many carry it. I have mine in a spot where it gets full sun until about 11am then from around 3pm or so until 6ish. I bought it last year locally in a 6 inch pot I think it was in early July then in late August it bloomed even after I dropped a shovel on it and broke half the foliage. Oh the flowers are only fragrant from late afternoon into the night. A large plant will fill your yard with the sweet fragrance and it is a site to behold. Hummingbirds go nuts for it too. It also comes up late because like Great Expectations it likes the heat.

Scott

Scott's all over this one. He's got it exactly right. One of Ken's favorite plants. Wait till you see or smell the six inch long trumpet-shaped white flowers.

Steve

For years I drove past a house with a couple of fantastic plantagenia out in front. I marveled at the huge white blooms. Finally last fall I found the owner working in front and decided to drop in and beg for a couple of small divisions this spring. Lo and behold, her back yard was almost full of hostas from fence to fence. Her goal was to have no grass to mow. lol.

She gave me 3 divisions she had been giving tlc and I invited her to come this spring and see if I had anything she might like in trade. She had about 6 mature plantaginea that are huge and gorgeous.

You might also like ventricosa or its vaiegated form. What it lacks in bloom size and fragrance, it makes up for with its very deep purple and white blooms.

But see my post about freeze damage currently running. In your zone it should not deter you from keeping plantaginea.

Les

historically known as the AUGUST lily.. of which it is not a lily ... as it blooms mid august

one of the first ever collected.. and grown as a conservatory plant for decades in england [mid 19th century???] ... [wonder how it got its cold period that way]

one of the VERY FEW .. with a true white flower ... most others have some hint of purple immediately upon opening... which will fade to white immediately ...

to me.. its fragrance is reminiscent of gardenia ...

genetically .. it is thought to be mom .. to ALL OTHER FRAGRANT hosta ...

its prime ID characteristic.. is its 6 inch flowers ... and its progeny.. can NOT replicate the 6 inch.. and immediately .. they fall in size to 3 inches ... [whats that mean genetically ... hmmmm.... its not a dominant gene????]

the flowers open at night.. and therefore are pollinated by night bugs ... hence a good reason for the scent ... so if you wanted to try to do some crosses.. you would have to be out there at sunset.. not at dawn ... and up here in MI.. needing 90 days for the seed to ripen.. you are hard pressed to accomplish such ... before they are frosted to the ground ...

can take full sun.. up here in MI ... subject to enough water ... one should presume.. the further south you go ... the chancier that proposition gets ... but for sure.. it needs a lot of light for those big flowers ...

i cant think of anything else right now.. oh i know.. all the claimed double and triple flowered versions.. are a WASTE OF MONEY ... as they only flower.. ONCE A DECADE... if you are lucky ...

apparently i do have a few thoughts on this one.. lol ... got most of it from schmids old tome 'The Genus Hosta' .. his most recent update is at the link in PDF form ... let me know if i mis-remembered anything ...

ken

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Here is a link that might be useful: pdf link

Steve great additional information. I always wondered too how they grew them in the hot old English conservatories. My guess would be those that lived were collected from the southern most range in China were warm temperatures similar to northern Florida are common. I have read that this is the only specie that can survive without going dormant for some time. Most plants dormancy response is initiated by sunlight or water-increasing or decreasing intensities or supply this is more than likely how this one survives in such a warm native habitat just as there are families of plants native to temperate as well as tropical regions such as orchids.

Scott

what the heck did steve add??? jeez john scott.. give credit where credit is due.. crimminey ...

BTW ... since most hosta put out viable pollen at dawn.. it will not be viable at dusk ... nor receptive at dusk ..

and being a species.. and self fertilizing.. it should.. by definition .. come true from seed ...

but i never confirmed that theory ...

anyone know for sure????

maybe steve can get credit for an answer.. lol ...

ken

'what the heck did steve add?'

For some reason this totally cracked me up.

So I will be sure to get all the names right.

Thank you Scott, ken, Steve, bkay and Les.
Christine

Lol well mainly the info about being grown in conservatories as a tropical plant. Yes any plant self pollinated will be true to seed. A mutation may occur but the specie genetics for the most part are identical or nearly identical. It is genetic mutation of the DNA which creates so many hosta cultivars. Very few plants are as prolific in this trait as hostas. Plants which are hybrids for the most part if self pollinated rarely reproduce the same plant rather the dominant genes of one of the ancestors will be focused in the seedlings.

scott said: Yes any plant self pollinated will be true to seed.

NOPE.. any SPECIES.. self pollinated will come true.. not ANY plant.. this ability is one of the defining characteristics of the word 'species' ... [which is what i think he tried to say in the rest]

having a bad day scott?? ... lol

anybody going off to read the link .. and give us some more info to share???

ken

Yes Ken that is what I mean't only species not hybrids.

Scott

Ken's photo is etched in my memory. One pic it worth a thousand words. That is SOME flower!!!

Scott- Are you growing a lot of plantagenias? I have books, and internet links to explain the scientific part, but what I come to this forum to find is practical experience from hosta people who are actually growing whichever hosta I'm curious about. Please post some photos of your plants.

-Babka

This one has to be the easiest one of all to ID. I received a single eyed division a couple years ago and realized last year that it wasn't what it was labeled as. Once it bloomed and I posted the pics, everyone knew instantly what it was because of the flowers. My plant was only two eyes but the flowers where almost 6" long. I like it.

Not much experience to draw on here, but I'm coming along. And Ken, I was reading in the link, Schmid decided to update his book on the web, at Hostalibrary.org, and SPECIES UPDATE is where I found that quote about the edibility of hosta. It was in the plantaginea species writeup.

However, I'm not understanding all the technical talk, so Babka will be advised to look herself--she knows the terms. Some day I shall as well.

But plantaginea is the one I am checking for when I buy new hosta. I just learned above about it being the only hosta which MIGHT survive with no period of dormancy. My 'Stained Glass' is a plantaginea progeny, and it did not go dormant last winter--I have been alarmed by that, so just got another SG to replace it should it croak on me. Because it has only three old leaves from the winter, and shows no signs of growing more. I'm about to dig it up and wash the roots to see if it has a problem. Poor baby. It looks very yellow in the mid-leaf area, not any different colored veins.

My plantaginea #1 came from PDN back in May 2010, and it grew in the ground in zone 5b that year, had a dormancy there in the ground, and its blooms had been fantastic its first year. Then in 2011, it bloomed and looked great again, but after it stopped, I potted it up so it would go dormant in the pot before we brought it south to zone 9a.

This older plantaginea is a much tougher and darker green leaf than the two younger plants I got from Seawright last September. They are the lighter green, with less substance than the older plant. I did not see them bloom because that period was over when I bought them in the pot.

I have quite a few plants with plantaginea heritage. They look like the species in many cases, or grow like her. (Plantaginea is a girl, at my house.) I love the solid greens, but some are gorgeous variegated as well.

I absolutely LOVE 'Lederhosen' and it is a deep dark smooth rubbery green mound. Then 'Fragrant Blue' is staying blue since I moved him into the shade, his leaves are corrugated and heavy substance.

Not all plantagineas have heavy substance though. I'm looking for the ones with a more slug-resistant leaf, like 'Lederhosen' is, 'Fragrant Blue', 'Royal Standard', Fragrant Dream, Holy Mole, Avocado, Fragrant King (it seems to be getting more substance even the short time I've had it).

And, I am growing the plantaginea goddesses: Aphrodite, Venus, Ming Treasure, Fragrant Queen. I even have the one that Bob Solberg says is probably the smallest fragrant one, Sugarbabe. Then Iron Gate Delight, Summer Fragrance,
Sweet Bo Peep(I think plantaginea on this one?)....and the list goes on.

If all of these bloom around the same time, the whole city of Mobile will know it! I like to be up late anyway, so I can put on my fairy godmother suit, grab my magic wand, and in the twilight go tiptoeing through the hosta to fill in for the missing pollenators.

How about some pictures of plantaginea...

Babka no just one that I planted last year. I planted one acbout 15 years ago and it never bloomed to much shade and eventually faded away. For some time I never bothered with the plant until I saw one a few years ago at Longwood Gardens in full bloom that was huge and thought ok foliage is boring but the flowers wow. I didn't bother buying online as it is so common and when I saw on at a local nursery last year I decided to add it to the garden. Last fall discovered the dbl flowered form Aphrodite which I also bought. A bit disappointed at Ken's mention of it being a waste of money but we'll see what the plant does. I am hoping to get pictures taken maybe tomorrow as I just got Gunthers Prize today and want to post that but it has been cloudy and rainy all week. I'm not a great picture taker nor have much experience in posting pictures on the net so will be interesting to see what happens when I try.

Scott

Yes, pictures, please. And am I hearing that there is a darker green one (mocassin?) That would be the one I would prefer. With my limited garden space, I'm becoming very picky.

But, smells like gardenia? Adored by hummers? Gotta have this one.
Christine

Christine, I'll show you my picture of the older (darker green) and the younger (lighter green) plants I have.

It is a matter of age, I'm thinking. You know how hosta leaves change as they mature. All three plants are my species
plantaginea.

Then the really really darker greens can be fragrant or not-so-much. I'm waiting to see how they do. They would be Lederhosen, Royal Standard, the older offspring of the species. But the species is the ace bloomer and fragrance leader of the family. I'm waiting to see how impressive the blossoms of these hybrids or sports really are.

Since I am growing in containers, I can fine tune the locations for each plant. I may move my older plantaginea into more sun, since its leaf is really dark now, to see if it can take our really hot and humid climate. I am documenting changes on the plants with many photos, but do not want to bore everyone by posting them.

However, since you asked (or almost did), I just happen to have a "couple of baby pictures" here.

Fragrant Blue and species plantaginea (older plant)

Younger plant paler green, older plant darker, tougher leaf

dark leaf Royal Standard, then Fragrant Blue (they say not so fragrant though)
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Then a comparison of Lederhosen taken 3/21/2012 and the next one of it taken this week:
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Just for information, this is Fragrant Dream, lighter green and creamy white margin

I just uploaded to the Flickr account some of the more recent shots of plantaginea plants. If you wish to view them (I hesitate to put all that many pictures here), just click on one of these photos, and it should take you to the album. It's listed under MoccasinLanding if you must do a search to find it. Remember all my plants are young ones.
Take a look around.

Thank you Barbara. I'm pretty sure that I am interested in the species plant, rather than one of the offspring regardless of the foliage color.
Christine

You can't go wrong with the species plant, IMHO. As lovely as your companion plantings are, coordinating will be easier, and then when the hosta mama blooms, it will be lovely and amazing.