Wow, 'Fragrant Blue' puts up flowers pretty early where you live; That's cool; I have one too but in Colorado, none of my fragrants bloom 'til August/September.

Don B.

It's better than last year... Last year I had blooms in APRIL! The past 2 previous years, summers here in the Ozarks were AWFUL and LOOOOOOOOONNNNNGGGGG! We didn't have a Spring or Fall... Just Summer and no joke! People would still be wearing tank tops, shorts and flip flops in December! Triple digits would start in April and not end until October. This year, we had an actual Spring and triple digits started this last week. Even though it's been in the 90's the past couple of weeks, it never made it to 100's. Today and yesterday have been cooler... But we get hotter and more humid summers here lately. That is why I think Irish Luck will do well.

Don... no real surprise about the blooming period...

we don't know the real heritage of Fragrant Blue... it was registered by Aden as a cross between two numbered unregistered plants - and there is no evidence that these ever existed, so we'll probably never know.

but by observation we know FB is an earlier bloomer - though not showing any sign of flowering here in zone 4 yet. And the flowers aren't similar to what we typically think of as the fragrant ones - the ones with plantaginea heritage that are later season bloomers.

Brandy's got one of the rare ones - her's is fragrant! I've sniffed at least 25 FB in bloom and never been able to really say I could smell anything. I remember a running gag with my wife... one of us would say "yeah... maybe???" and the other would say "neah..." as we sniffed FB in various places.

Same old speculation - is there some purebread FB strain out there, with fragrance, and a whole bunch that came out of tc missing the fragrance genes, so most people have non-fragrant FB?

It's a light fragrance but it definitely does smell whereas the other hostas blooms do not. It's a subtle scent... So if you need to have an obvious scent like that of a rose or other fragrant flower, you'll be disappointed. Some people may not be able to smell it? Some people just have heightened sense of smells. I am one of those people.

Fragrant Blue was registered as not having fragrance.

Hippieindenial, I beg to differ. Here is info on Fragrant Blue. It clearly states blooms are fragrant twice. All the other sites to as well... So perhaps you looked up the wrong hosta?

Common Name: hosta

Type: Herbaceous perennial

Family: Agavaceae

Zone: 3 to 8

Garden Location: Enterprise Rent-A-Car Flower Borders

Height: 0.5 to 0.75 feet

Spread: 0.75 to 1 feet

Bloom Time: June to July

Bloom Color: White

Bloom Description: Blue opening to white

Sun: Part shade to full shade

Water: Medium

Maintenance: Low

Flowers: Showy Flowers, Fragrant Flowers

Leaves: Colorful

Wildlife: Attracts Hummingbirds

Tolerates: Dense Shade, Black Walnuts

Uses: Cut Flower

Culture

Easily grown in average, medium, well-drained soil in part shade to full shade. Does best in a rich, moist soil in light, dappled shade.

Noteworthy Characteristics

Features a mound of flat, heart-shaped, powdery blue-green leaves with racemes of funnel-shaped, white flowers on 20" scapes. Blooms are fragrant. A dependable and versatile perennial requiring little care. Grown primarily for its beautiful foliage which provides color, contrast and texture to the landscape. Dense foliage crowds out most garden weeds.

Below is the link I am looking at which is the AHS Registry.

Here is a link that might be useful: AHS Registry - Fragrant Blue

Jim...I forgot it was credited to Aden...riiiight, gotcha. ; I

Don B.

That doesn't look like my Fragrant Blue. FB has a lot of wax and mine looks a much lighter blue than that one. FB also has more heart shaped leaves than your plant. Mine is also not yet blooming. The flowers on FB are more lavender than the flowers in your pictures. Take a look at the flower pics on the Library. I think what you've got is a Tardiana. Not sure which one.

Just my .02

Steve

It sounds like you are also describing the 'Fragrant Blue' that I own, Steve.

Don B.

My Fragrant Blue is not fragrant at all, at least in the daytime. This one has only been in this bed 2 yrs, I moved it from too much sun where I almost lost it.

Sandy

I've not ever detected a hint of scent on mine, either. I am very pleased with it's look, though. A very nice blue, in my opinion.

Don B.

This post was edited by Don_in_Colorado on Sun, Jun 30, 13 at 18:34

First... let's start with the official registration... the link from hippienono...

Paul Aden registered it as the product of the cross of two of his numbered breeders. Evidence suggests that there were no such plants, so we have no idea where it came from.

Then look at the size... registered as 12" wide by 8" high. If you look at old FB plants in gardens you will see lots of them in the 30-36" wide clumps. The height isn't too bad - it is a lower, flat growing plant compared with other hostas.

The registration does indicate it is not fragrant. Yet the registrant (Aden) didn't indicate a different "nominant" so it would appear he named the plant FRAGRANT Bouquet and indicated is is not fragrant. Pretty odd!

He gave the flowering period in New York as a range of time of 3 1/2 weeks. That usually indicates somebody really isn't willing to watch the plant for a couple of years and narrow the time down. He did get it right that its a white (sometimes whiteish... with some of the lavender chemicals present and fading to white) and an earlier rather than later bloomer.

Not sure where Fine Girl's extensive description comes from... noting the location as the Enterprise Rent-a-car Flower Borders is fun! They got the size wrong, like the registration... and "showy" might be a stretch on the flowers, but that's in the eye of the beholder...

So... we don't want to ever get into disagreements based on either unofficial or official plant descriptions.

It is sad to see this kind of mistakes on old plants - Aden could have gone back and corrected obvious errors like the size of this plant. We'll see what happens to this registration after the two AHS committees get done reviewing the Aden registrations.

Unfortunately, we're continuing to see such errors... even more of them. It is all about marketing. I waited to register Polish Prince until I'd grown it independent of its parent plant for four years. I observed its growth and made sure it would remain margined and interesting. On the other hand, if I'd have wanted to market it, I'd have offered it to some of the bigger companies and let them name it for marketing. The could have put it into tissue culture five years ago. Of course, they wouldn't have really known what an adult looks like.

This is happening all the time. People get a neat seedling or sport and name it and throw it in tc. They register it based on "best guess." In spite of how easy it is, very few registrants go back and correct the registration.

The only thing we can totally trust on the registration is the name.

Oh, wait... lots of people getting what are probably the same sport in different locations are naming them, so names are even suspect. And who knows about the naming on all the Aden plants. So...

I still encourage people to register hostas and to make them as accurate as possible. You'll often hear me referring to registrations. But we do have to use a grain of salt.

One thing about Fragrant Blue is undeniable. Some people call it fragrant. Of those, most say "mildly fragrant." The majority of people say they cannot detect a fragrance from FB. No joke, folks... I've been testing people on this from numerous plants... (I only have two left)... and only a few folks have ever detected a fragrance. These plants are FB in every respect except for that. I grew them from a tc batch I got, I think, in 1996.

Now, Brandy... I think you are one of the lucky ones. Yours is fragrant. And I even believe that there might be an "original" strain of FB that is fragrant and a much larger group of FB that came out of tc without fragrance.

The only reason I wouldn't lable it FB... because it was originally labeled Blue Flame. The most likely scenario, as we've discussed before, is that an all blue plant snuck through the culling process along with with the rest of the Blue Flames. Every batch of BF tc will have a percentage of these all blue plants.

In the old days, solid colored plants in the tissue culture of a variegated plant would be culled - thrown in the compost. But there are some plants that give high percentages... like 30%... of solid-colored plants. It has become common practice for the wholesalers to re-label them or rename them.

Examples... when they tissue culture June, it is common practice to pull out the all blue ones and re-label them Halcyon. On the other hand, when Q&Z got a bunch of blues coming from tc of Paul's Glory, instead of labeling them with the parent's name - Perry's True Blue - they chose to give it a new name - Wheaton Blue.

Following their lead, a lot of retailers started doing this as well. The nursery Brandy's friend got the "Blue Flame" from could have avoided the serious confusion by putting in a tag for Fragrant Blue.

And I know its become common practice in home gardens. Lots of people say they never had to buy Halcyon because they pulled a blue piece off of their June - or First Frost or El Nino etc etc etc. - and relabeled it Halcyon.

There is a good chance that plant is genetically identical to FB... making it FB. Unfortunately, without genetic testing, we are only guessing.

So I won't label mine that way. It doesn't really matter WHAT we call our plants... until we share them with somebody else. I know I'm in a distinct minority... but I remain a purist, especially because I might be dividing and sharing/selling the plant. I HATE the idea of adding any confusion to what is already a wild naming environment for hostas.

If I remember my tc growing years right, I think FB does have pointier leaves... looking tardianish for sure... as adolescent foliage... so do the margined sports Blue Flame and Secret Love.

Bottom line - Brandy gets to grow this one for a few years to see if its eventual mature leaf has a lot more wax bloom and is rounder and rugged looking. The Blue Flame label strongly hints this will happen... so now we've got one of those we'll be able to watch updates on for several years to come!

Thanks for the lesson, Jim.

Steve

Jim, you sell yourself short; You are no 'idiothe' : )

Don B.

The leaves on Brandy's FB look pretty much like the leaves on the FB that I planted late last summer. Mine might be just a bit more roundish. Not until this thread did I realize that juvenile FB leaves look a lot different from mature ones. No cupping or rugosity yet apparent on mine.

Here is my Fragrant Blue with the scape already in bloom. The plant came to me in September 2011. It stayed blue until the first part of June.

Many of my fragrant hosta are blooming now. We are not until now really really hot. But we've been humid for quite a while, and we've had a cool spring just right for the hosta to develop.

My zone is 9a. The fragrant hosta bloomed in late July and August last year, but they were already set up to do so because they grew in states a lot further north than here. This year, they are more acclimated to south Alabama, and conditions say it is time for many of them to bloom. I won't repeat what I wrote in Don's thread about which fragrants are in bloom now. The time of blooming for Fragrant Blue in this climate, has no correlation to its heritage. In a normal hosta climate, it might be pertinent. But throw the book out the window when you take a hosta into the far deep south. Or else, we'll be adding a new chapter to the book.

I'll have to isolate my Fragrant Blue until I can tell what fragrance might belong to it. In the main section of my garden where the fragrant hosta are located, I can catch the fragrances (multiple fragrant hosta are in bloom) early in the mornings, from about 10 feet away, then again late in the still of the twilight. I wasn't sure until this year that I could catch the fragrances. But oh yeah, it is already apparent. I cannot wait until the big time fragrant hosta start to bloom. It might be these are the hybrids, I'll have to look into it and see. It might be the SPORTS will continue to bloom close to the "normal" dates of August and September.

It also could be that the hosta blooming now, a lot earlier, are the ones which have already adjusted their biological clocks to our climate's rhythm. Everybody says hosta are survivors. As the earth warms up, they should be able to adapt. So, they bloom earlier because they will go dormant with the heat and stay dormant until about February. IF we have a normal year. Then they will break dormancy and begin growing....or that is a scenario I was thinking about a couple of nights ago. No telling how the hosta will adapt to a changing world, but this might be one way, blooming earlier and using the heat to go dormant.

Just thinking out loud here.

Wow lots of input! I will look at this and reply later... I am beyond stressed out right now. Doing online Advanced Algebra homework and studying for a super hard test tomorrow. A test he says few people actually pass! So I am beyond stressed and NOT in a good mood at all. So if I said anything now, it would not come out right at all! I'll wait until after the test is over! Good evening!