I don't see any HVX.
Vanessa

I've been holding my breath until someone answered so thank you!

What is causing the leaves to pucker and curl?

There was a whole sea of Dream Queens, and then there was this pot in the middle of them. My eye was drawn to it right away, and I grabbed it thinking it was some cultivar I hadn't seen before. But it had the Dream Queen tag on it, which made me smile as it was exactly the opposite coloring of DQ. Then I thought of HVX and I got panicky.

Do I get it and plant it or just pass it up?

Show us a picture of the whole plant please. Perhaps then we can see the "pucker and curl" as you call it.

Steve

HVX doesn't show up right away. I don't see it in your close up photos, but unless you can verify that your seller only purchases from suppliers that check for HVX, I wouldn't plant it in the ground. The fact that it isn't labeled correctly leads me to be suspicious as to the source...but then sometimes kids run rampant and have fun switching labels. Grrrrrrrrrrr.

-Babka

damn kids ... we should grind 'em up for fertilizer.

oops, i mean, lawyers ....

From these pics, it just looks like a hosta doing it's thing. The "puckers" I think would be called rugose leaves, which is normal. I see in the 3rd pic a little dried curl at the edge which could be frost damage or something that happened in its environment.

So from the picture it doesn't look like anything's wrong, but unfortunately it's something to consider when the source doesn't assure they test for HVX.

I know when I first learned of hvx, lots of things looked suspicious to me then, like all streakers, for instance. But the more you see pictures of it, the better you can identify it, and get the test strips if you really need to know.

The label is stapled to the container, so I don't think it could have been switched.

When I say "curled", I mean the leaves are not flat but they are cupped, almost like Abiqua Drinking Gourd but obviously not as dramatic. Come to think of it, the texture and substance of the leaves remind me of ADG as well.

well. considering the pic on thelabel shows a plant with a white CENTER..

and you have a plant with white edges..

i dont know how much of a leap it takes to understand.. something isnt right ... lol

either of these hosta will take 5 to 7 years.. to fully mature ...

puckering and cupping is NORMAL in the hosta world ...

and that is all i am seeing on these pics ... unless i am missing something... and that is always possible ...

ken

Ken, I know it isn't Dream Queen, and that certain cultivars pucker and cup. What I don't know is if it this is normal for whatever hosta this may be, if it could possibly have a virus (no one seems to think so), or if it is worth planting.

Any guesses on what it could be? I have probably close to 150 different ones, and this looks like none of them. I've also been to the Hampshire Farms website, and checked out all the hostas they offer, and this looks like none of them either. Incidentally, I sent them an email with the last picture asking for some info.

Lilac lily, I really like your NOID hosta. It not only looks attractive, it has good substance, nice colouration and appears to be an upright grower with a cupping habit. All that spells a very nice hosta!

The colours are very nice together and for sure it would grab attention in a garden. Unfortunately I have no clue as to its name. I'm sorry I'm no help there. I think if it were up to me, I'd continue to grow it in a pot for a year or two to be on the safe side. :-)

Jo

Thanks, Jo. As I said, I was drawn to it in a sea of Dream Queens for sale. It really is unique and I ended up buying it. I like your idea of growing it in a pot... I will do that.

I've been blessed with no HVX after a few years of trading and buying from box stores (in addition to many purchases from reputable hosta sellers. I knew it didn't display the "classic" signs of HVX but I have to admit, I did panic for a bit there.

Here are a few pics of a part of my hosta garden. This was before we rescued a Great Dane who loves to lie on the hostas. Luckily, they are very resilient plants, lol.

I have probably close to 150 different ones, and this looks like none of them.

=>>> well.. at least you finally found us ...

what i dont get.. is why .. with your magnificent collection ... the puckering is confusing you??? .. i see it on at least a half dozen of your established plants ...

when you pop out of nowhere.. onto GW ... i have learned.... over the years.. to presume a certain lack of knowledge.. seeing the pix of your gardens.. my presumption didnt work this time ... so dont let my words offend you on any level ...

at the hosta library ... find the DQ page.. and hit the link for myhosta right near the top ... and see if you can glean.. what the opposite of such is [there are none listed]...

or just wait.. perhaps chris/steve will chime in and recognize it ...

it may be a TC anomaly .... the reverse sport of DQ ... of which.. i dont know off hand ... [there are none listed]

ahhh... DW is a sport of GE ... so whats a reverse sport of GE??? ..then you will be getting into the ballpark ...

ken

Lilaclily, Your garden is beautiful! Good luck with your Great Dane, I am having a hard time convincing my Husky that she needs to stay on the lawn and not in the gardens.

Linda

Looking at what Hampshire Farms offers on their website, the closest thing that looks like that to me is Antioch. That is if it is just a case of a mislabeled plant from there. As a side note they have on their website that they are members of the AHS. If that makes you feel any better about it.

I just had a little plant sale at the farm and had "The Hosta Lady" from in town stop by and she was concerned about my Stained Glass because of the dimples in the leaves. It is in a spot that only gets a little bit of evening sun. She was concerned that the leaves were going to touch my other hostas and spread and said I needed to dig it up and get rid of it. She said I should research HVX when I told her that wasn't the sign of HVX. Now that I look at it on the HL I see that most of the pictures of SG are all covered in dimples. Now the plants I bought from her last year, that got me into the abyss of the hosta world, I think are starting to show some signs.

Also, that is a nice looking plant and if you need someone to look after it for a couple of years, I would be more than happy to do that for you. :)

My concern over the texture of the leaves came from the hosta clearly not being true to name. I don't have any variegated hostas with that puckered texture and cupping. Blues and greens, yes... but not variegated.

Thanks to everyone for putting my mind at ease. It really is a striking hosta!

Lilac lily, that is a cool-looking plant you have there! Could a girl beg another picture or two? A whole-plant picture from above would probably help the ID aces around here! :)

How about Fantabulous, Carnival or Pizzazz, which I am leaning more towards.

These they have available now.

I got a bit too enthusiastic with root-tilling and shredded our cable line so we have been without internet, TV, and phone since Saturday. Luckily, I can post here on my phone but uploading another picture proved challenging. My in-laws live close by though, and I was able to get a couple cups of good coffee as well as borrow their computer.

Anyway, I tried looking at the My Hostas database but it was a little confusing so I gave up.

Oddly enough, Great Expectations never lasts more than 2 years in my garden. I love that hosta but it does not love me back.

I don't think it's Fantabulous, Carnival, or Pizzazz.

I wish it had more leaves. :(

The leaves are very thick and corrugated - again the leaf substance of Abiqua Drinking Gourd was the first comparison that came to mind. Never mind the size, color, etc. I think if your eyes were closed and you'd touch a leaf of ADG and then this one, you'd think you were touching the same leaf. Ken asked why I'm so struck by the leaf texture and really, I keep going back to this - it just seems to not fit the size and color of this host. It's just off to me when comparing to anything else I have in my collection.

Anyway, here is another pic. We should have internet back by tomorrow evening, the technician is scheduled to replace the cable in the afternoon, thanks and have a great Memorial Day!

Hi there, just bumping up...

Does anyone have any inkling on what this hosta could be?

It may not be Carnival, as you say, but its behavior reminds me of Carnival. I was certain mine had a virus of some sort when it came up one year looking normal and then went into its draw-string and puckering behavior. Yours looks like it might have had an unhappy time at the garden center where you bought it. There is some desiccation and a rather dried out look. Hope you eventually identify it.

Steve

I agree! It reminds me of Carnival as well! Carnival was one of the first hostas I was ever infatuated with because it was almost a watercolor effect in terms of how the colors come together in the leaf! The unhappy time you're referring to was part of my initial concern about HVX - now I understand it was mostly likely frost damage as we had been unseasonably cold here in Chicago. I hope it rebounds nicely, although I am still playing it safe and potting it up this year... just in case.

Possibly Christmas Pageant, if it is margins will get lighter.

Or Knockout.

Paul

It doesn't look like Knockout as K has green centre. Pic just taken of my very new one just purchased less than two weeks ago in pip form...it's still putting on leaves. Yours has more variegation in the centre.

I hope someone can identify it - it's quite a looker! :-)

Jo

Paul, with your Knockout suggestion, you may have just led me to a conclusion . . . a NOID I posted last year has a very similar appearance to K! I'll be watching closely - you may have identified a hosta for me via this thread! :-). Will update down the road.

In the meantime, Lilaclily, I'll keep yours in mind too when searching. Luck!

Jo

Time will tell, but for now, I like Ken's thought that it might be a "tc anomoly". The workers plant up hundreds of little tc's and no one happened to notice that this one was different from others in the batch. So it got potted up along with the hundreds of others in that batch. OR the cans were tagged first, then someone just grabbed a nearby plant to fill the pot to satisfy the order???

Hostas in the garden throw sports, and the tc process produces WAY more sports. That is one reason why we have so many new varieties showing up in recent years.

So, you may have a named plant that got stuck into the wrong pot, OR you might have a wonderful new sport of DQ that got passed the tc checkers.

It is a good lookin' one indeed. Time will tell once it settles down.

-Babka

So, I received a response from Hampshire Farms:

"First, I would like to apologize for shipping a variety with the incorrect name/label. We ship a great many plants, and attempt to be absolutely perfect in identifying our plants, but unfortunately, as in this case, we do goof.

We feel strongly that this plant is âÂÂFirst FrostâÂÂ, which was the 2010 Hosta of the Year.

Thanks very much for your interest, and I apologize again for the effort we caused you in attempting to identify your purchase."

I don't believe it's First Frost, granted my clump is a few years old but they still don't look very similar aside from they both have green centers and variegated edging. So in the meantime, I like the "tc anomaly" possibility. It certainly makes the most sense.

Haha...yeah, they "feel strongly" wrong. The plot thickens!! You really scored, that's for sure.

The funny thing is... I NEVER buy hostas from big box stores. I was at Home Depot because they had a sale on perennials - which I can always use. By chance I rounded a corner and my eyes were drawn to this hosta immediately.

Now I purposely look when I am at these kinds of stores. Last night I was at Menard's because I needed some portalucas for the front of my mailbox and again... I rounded a corner and saw this cute little hosta labeled as Showboat. It looked nothing like the rest. And it was on sale for $2.00 so I bought it.

I think the mystery could be solved!

After nudging the guy at Hampshire Farms a few times, he sent me a list of all the hostas they've sold over the past few years that resembled my mystery hosta. It was a short list. The one hosta that struck me the most was "Sugar Daddy" so I looked up about 50 images on various sites and you know what... I think it's it. One online nursery had the description "this mid-sized selection has very thick, corrugated, slightly-cupped, powder-blue leaves with streaky yellow margins which lighten to creamy-white as the season progresses."

What do you think?

Thanks for posting that full photo. Bingo. It looks exactly like my Aristocrat.

-Babka

LOL First Frost...LOL...

Don B.

I've had Aristocrat since 2011. If it grows up to look like lilaclily's, boy will I be thrilled! LL's looks like it would were it a division...I want it to look like that! There was no rugosity at all last year. Maybe this year, or next...:-). I wish.

I have Aristocrat uh... somewhere (I sometimes lose track) and it's not it. The leaves are much thicker and the petioles are wider.

Don, you made me ROFL at your comment. :)

Sugar Daddy is what is fitting for me based on that description I got from an online nursery. Sure, maybe it's NOT it, but the description is what clinched it considering I first came on here saying the exact same thing about the thick, corrugated (puckered), cupped leaves.