I don't think that is Blue Flame...yours is a solid color while Blue Flame has a margin.

Vanessa

Yes, I noticed that too when I looked it up. But it says it's from the Fragrant Blue and I looked that up too... It looks like it and it fits the description and it does have a "scent" to it....

Are you saying that the hosta right now, without flowers, is fragrant?

Also, you make a good point about balancing out all the purple flowers with white ones. That isn't something I've thought about.

I've been really enjoying looking at your pics.

I have to wait for flowers before any of my fragrant Hostas smell : -( You lucky!!

Don B.

This post was edited by Don_in_Colorado on Tue, May 28, 13 at 22:23

I smelled it again, it's definately got a scent... I suppose it could be the dust they put on them to keep pest off? I don't know?

Well, it's contradictory the tag says it's a blue flame but it doesn't have margins and it's supposed to and that it has white flowers. But a blue flame has purple flowers... A fragrant blue has white flowers I am told and no margins. That is why I'm thinking they accidentally got them mixed up.

man you got it bad.. when your friends are hitting the nurseries for you ... lol

ken

Yes I know!! She actually got some for herself, too. But she saw the "blue" one and she thought of me she said!

I am surprised they labeled it wrong though. This isn't a box store hosta, it's from a greenhouse with a good reputation. Oh well... I guess it just goes to show that anyone can make a mistake? Still, I would prefer a Fragrant Blue to a Blue Flame anyway! ;)

Here's a picture of her hostas (my friends) she got one similar to my Minuteman and a mouse ears hosta and another one, I can't remember which...

Oh my! I love the one in your 'patio babies' picture, in the lower left corner, with wavy variegated leaves.... What's the name? Love it, gotta have it!

I was going to ask the same question as Windymess. In your "patio babies" photo, what is the name of the green one with the yellowish margin and squiggly leaves. I've gotta have it too!

You most likely have Fragrant Blue or something very like it. This was probably a batch of Blue Fame tissue culture that was labeled and grown... and this is one that went to all blue. It should have been culled. For the retailer, this means a loss, so either from ignorance or greed it was left on the counter.

I did have one batch of either Blue Flame or Secret Love (more later) where about a third of them went all blue by the second year.

Most folks call this a reversion, assuming the plant "reverted" to the original set of genes in the parent plant of Blue Flame - Fragrant Blue. Though the plant is likely to be Fragrant Blue, I've seen too many cases where the solid color plant turns out bigger or smaller or different in some way, so I never use the term reversion.

Nonetheless - Fragrant Blue is an old, inexpensive variety while Blue Flame is newer and more costly. Blue Flame has about a quarter inch margin that goes from yellowish to cream through the season.

btw - Secret Love is, as far as I can tell, identical to Blue Flame... BF came out of Shady Oaks tissue culture and was released by Naylor Creek... SL came from Europe.

I'd get my money back - or at least get a parial refund.

Fragrant Blue is a very nice blue hosta and well worth growing. Good powdery blue and surprising sun tolerance for a blue. The name has been controversial for decades. The plant is not fragrant - and to most of us, the flowers are not fragrant.

This plant has none of the plantaginea genes that produce the lovely fragranced (usually large and white) flowers in hostas. The originator, Paul Aden, registered it in 1988. I think I've had it about that long and have never been able to detect any fragrance in the flowers. Sometimes... maybe... a hint... if I stick my nose in until there is pollen on my nostril hairs... maybe a hint. Some folks say it is there, but very mild. Most of us say... nawwwwww....

Nobody seems to claim any fragrance for Secret Love or Blue Flame.

That is Wheee!

This is an older posts, if you would have read all the way through, you would have seen that I did not believe it to be labeled correctly and have since referred to it as a Fragrant Blue.

right... I think I was responding to your surprise that they labeled it wrong and was explaining how it could easily happen... as in it never got mislabled per se, but rather the grower got a set of Blue Flame and grew them on and this one went all blue - and should have been culled - but the plant, already labeled Blue Flame, was just kept its label and grown on and sold.

I am surprised that a reputable nursery didn't notice that this didn't match its label and the other Blue Flames. There is a big incentive to just leave it on the shelf, though. If somebody likes it, they still make the profit. If they pull it off the shelf, they lose even their investment. A Fragrant Blue, though, should be priced a little over half the price of a Blue Flame.

I was also making the point that wholesalers and retailers are now routinely re-naming hosta sports with the parent name - even though this is by no means certain.

It makes little difference if an individual garderner does this - in this case, calling it Fragrant Blue. But when a wholesaler pulls out the blue culls from Blue Flame and labels them all Fragrant Blue, he opens the door for slightly (or even more than slightly) different plants in the trade with the same name. It could be tetraploid, it could be bigger or smaller than the original Fragrant Blue.

So in my garden, I'd think of it as a Fragrant Blue... but if I ever shared it with anyone, I'd have call it "unknown."

I did miss your sentence saying you prefered FB to BF... so I'm glad you are happy with this plant. It should be a very good blue for you. I wouldn't part with mine.

I don't know how much she paid for it to be honest? I am sure it was not that much. Not enough to make a difference. Here it is now... It seems to be getting "bluer" to me? It started out (when I got it) as a blue-green color, but it looks deeper blue to me now.

Thanks for the info Brandys_garden! Wheee! I'll look for it. Darling!

There are experts in blues who know how the whole "wax thing" works. My limited understanding is that most of them that have wax... which produces the blue overlay over the green chlorophyll... develop it in the spring. If they lose it due to heat, abrasion, etc. they will not redevelop it that year.

But I believe some do regenerate, or develop more wax during the season...

and then there is that whole powedery blue that seems different from the just plain blue...

that would make a great topic for somebody who actually knows!

That "Wheee!" is adorable!

Windy-Hallson Gardens has that one in stock for $14, just in case you have to have it this year! :)