How did I miss THIS!

9 years ago

I went out just around twilight to take some pictures, especially of the three hostas I plan to keep together, June, Teatime, and English Sunrise.

What do I spy in a nearby tub of four hosta?
It was a FIFTH HOSTA.
One that I did not plant there.
Now I have a totally different kind of NOID, probably a seedling.

That's it. Ain't it a beaut? The color you see above is the real color of the creamy yellow, more yellow than cream.
How could I have missed something that big and bright? Of course I was looking at POTS IN TROUBLE, and not at the hosta themselves. That will teach me to stop and smell the roses, or something else worthwhile, like LOOK AT THE HOSTA. I did the same thing in 2012 when I was looking at the pips for damage or poor depth etc, and totally did not see, until much lateras I watched a slide show of the photos, the beauty of all those sweet hosta growing in MY GARDEN!

Anyway, I have a NOID with a difference.
Am I probably right in assuming it is a stray seedling which found its way to this particular pot? Because it could not be from any of the four other hosta in that pot.

Here is the photo taken of the pot and its contents clockwise from upper biggest hosta:
American Sweetheart, Yellow Splash Rim, Autumn Frost, the seedling/NOID, and tucked beneath AS you can see the small Moon Shadow.

Off in the corner is Afterglow, reverse variegation of the seedling NOID. It was in the general vicinity of this tub of hosta. However, I do not feel that any of those 4 would have been the pod parent. I think it was pooped into this pot by a wild bird last fall.

I am enchanted by this blessed event. My very first seedling. At least, I think it is a seedling?

What should I do? Leave it alone? Isn't it SWEET?
I am going to bed tired but elated tonight.

Okay, does this count as another hosta added to my total ??? ( ;?]=

Additional thought....COULD it be a seedling or sport of American Sweetheart perhaps? Oh groan, don't tell me I have to untangle the mass of ROOTS in that tub and find out if it's attached to American Sweetheart? Oh GROAN. I was potting and unpotting all day today! Well, tell me quick because I don't want to do it....sigh....and find out it was useless......

Sure looks cute.

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Comments (15)

User
Original Author
9 years ago
Okay, going on the assumption that it MIGHT BE a seedling of American Sweetheart, I checked the MYHOSTAS.BE website for progeny of American Sweetheart. And the only sport was Georgia Sweetheart. American Sweetheart is a sport of Sea Thunder (Mildred Seaver hosta), and was named after Ms. Seaver.

Here is my Georgia Sweetheart.

I don't have Sea Thunder, which was American Sweetheart's mama. Then Sea Lightning was the sporty mama of Sea Thunder....and Sea Lightning was a streaker.

Hosta genealogy is so much fun. But that's all I know in a nut shell. Would it not be great if this was a seedling of American Sweetheart?
jadie88
9 years ago
I think the one pictured is Autumn Frost? It is breathtaking, certainly! That blue looks hand painted on. Mine is brand new, and frost bitten, so not quite as striking yet!

This post was edited by jadie88 on Sat, May 3, 14 at 1:15
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Babka NorCal 9b
9 years ago
Can you zero in on what you think is different from the others? I am following your clockwise progression....after Autumn Frost, I don't see anything different from American Sweetheart. It is late here.

;-)

-Babka
josephines167 z5 ON Canada
9 years ago
Mocc, that is a ringer for Autumn Frost and my immediate reaction. It reminded me of my First Frost, which has same colouring but with narrower margin than yours.
Fwiw. Sure is a beacon in that tub! :-)

Jo :-)
User
Original Author
9 years ago
Jo, it looks nothing like my Autumn Frost, so I am puzzled by it.
And Babka cannot find the Autumn Frost in the picture, so....guess I go back and do some more pictures. This morning is a good time for that, before the sun changes colors.

Okay, guys, I am totally embarrassed. It seems that Yellow Splash Rim added a lot of eyes and took over the tag of Autumn Frost. And then Autumn Frost moved over into the small space with its single eye (so far). Now I know that Yellow Splash Rim is a pretty aggressive hosta that needs to have its own space or it will overwhelm gentler hosta.

My Autumn Frost did not look like that when it went to sleep last fall. Especially when I planted them in this pot, they all looked much different. Can you read the names on the tags?

American Sweetheart has a lot of eyes and is much larger. Yellow Splash Rim....not so yellow .
Autumn Frost.....I had no idea the color would change so.
And Moon Shadow now has a blade leaf but it is yellow.

I think I really must repot this whole zoo so I can keep things straight.

Sorry. False alarm. The picture I took this morning shows the Yellow Splash Rim annexed Autumn Frost's designated spot, and Autumn Frost moved over. I bet the roots are going to be a spaghetti mess.

October 2012 when I planted the pot.

April 2013, Moon Shadow a mere pip, the others growing, Autumn Frost showing one eye

Here is the way the pot looked on April 13, 2014. No sign of the real Autumn Frost, and the "different" looking eye of Yellow Splash Rim took over that spot. Root competition going on here.

Sometimes togetherness doesn't work. In this case, all four hosta are about to be repotted. I will keep an eye on Autumn Frost, because I seem to have ignored it in this situation.

So much for the fab seedling theory! HA!
josephines167 z5 ON Canada
9 years ago
Ya, mebbe so, but don't you love a solved mystery? Lol

Your Naylor gang is growing in leaps and bounds - they elbowing each other vying for your attention...it took Houdini AF to capture it! Lol

Jo
Babka NorCal 9b
9 years ago
Mocc- I was referring to the first group shot trying to find something strange NEXT TO Autumn Frost. Sorry I wasn't more clear. Silly girl, you shouldn't be putting so many in one pot. AF is on my favorites list this year. I got mine in 2011 and here she is today.

Babka
funnthsun z7A - Southern VA
9 years ago
Glad you figured it out, Mocc. I'm glad Autumn Frost came back out of hiding for you, I wouldn't want to be without her! She's one of my faves:
jadie88
9 years ago
Babka, what a beauty! 'Autumn Frost' amazes me. Mine was a late season Naylor purchase, and I can't seem to take my eyes off it. The center coloring almost looks teal against that yellow!

Mocc, Yellow Splash Rim reeeeally seems to like it down there! :) And another thing...Georgia Sweetheart...wow!
josephines167 z5 ON Canada
9 years ago
Babka, that is perfection! I am crazy about that colour combination as my number one favourite. It makes my heart jump when it emerges, then calms it a few weeks later, when it stays that soft, powdery blue.

You bring home the point with this picture: when you love a hosta this much (e.g. Mocc +Plantagenea) you just HAVE to have more than one. That's what I keep saying to myself about my First Frost - same colours, similar enough leaf shape, narrower margin. I love the look of your two together and I would put my June in there with Hadspen Blue as well. There, I've just talked myself into getting an Autumn Frost, just like that - because of your gorgeous picture! Thank you, Babka!

Round and round we go ...... :-)

Is that FF to the right in your picture?
Babka NorCal 9b
9 years ago
That is Sleeping Beauty to the right, not First Frost. I am a sucker for anything related to Halcyon.

-Babka
Note: The edges on Autumn Frost will soon turn white and look just like Blue Ivory or Great Escape.

This post was edited by Babka on Sat, May 3, 14 at 16:40
don_in_colorado
9 years ago
Looking good, Babka!

Don B.
User
Original Author
9 years ago
Jadie, I know what you mean about can't take your eyes off it.
But, it was showing me NOTHING until I turned and SOME ENCHANTING EVENING, YOU MAY SEE A STRANGER.... yes, love at first sight. I didn't know the name.....Now that I know Autumn Frost I am impressed. It is a STAR PERFORMER. It sure does have my attention now!

You are right, Babka. Mixing in a pot was suggested in some magazine. It seemed a good way to deal with what I thought would be SMALL HOSTA. Let's say I have several tubs of 3 or 4 and this particular tub is simply explosive. LOTS of star performers in one pot. The 3 Lowes hosta (negative for HVX) share one tub and are probably ready to go solo judging by the size of those babies.

At first I said "Too bad it wasn't something new and great." And then I thought, well, somebody like me saw it for the first time too, and I hope it was such an eye-popping moment of discovery, when you knew you'd found a STAR. I hope they felt such a moment. It sure felt great to me, and it wasn't even the real thing. :)
User
Original Author
9 years ago
Yeah, Jadie, I know what YOU mean too. I was having this Walter Middy Moment, where this "seedling" as I thought was from American Sweetheart and sister to Georgia Sweetheart. That would make it, (and get this I'm already NAMING IT 'Alabama Sweetheart' ....oh sigh, it was not to be. Such a let down to discover it was a day dream where I was charmed by Autumn Frost.

What a way to start hosta season! Great things are in the air.
User
Original Author
9 years ago
Babka, you see, when you said the edges of Autumn Frost would soon change color and become white, that is how I got messed up as to the identity of Autumn Frost.

All this time I never saw Autumn Frost with a golden glow about it. It was mostly in the white margin stage. Also, the Yellow Splash Rim loses most of its yellow on its narrow and long leaf, so I had a fuzzy notion of what Autumn Frost looked like. It sure never flashed its cream yellow and blue face at me before, because I would have noticed!