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idiothe

Gunther's Prize vs. Blizzard - 2 hostas or just 2 names

idiothe
10 years ago

Does anybody have a definitive answer on what the difference is, if any, between Gunther's Prize and Blizzard?

Blizzard is registered as a sport of Sum and Substance. Gunther's Prize isn't registered - that's not uncommon, there were a lot of serious hosta people who believed that streaked plants, being by nature unstable, shouldn't be registered - but it also seems to be a streaked form of S&S.

They came from different places - Winterberry Farms and J. Anderson registered Blizzard in 2003. Winterberry did hosta tissue culture until 2007... worked a lot with streakers, though most of them were failures... I think our current Blizzards were largely a result of Winterberry tc.

I don't know where Solberg got Gunther's plant... guess could ask...

anyway... isn't a streaked S&S a streaked S&S? Two names, but is it really two different hostas?

Comments (6)

  • Gesila
    10 years ago

    This would be an awesome conversation to have at the camp fire at night!

    Both Blizzard and Gunther's Prize are streaked versions of Sum and Substance, but both stabilize into two different hostas. Blizzard with the white edge and slightly ruffled edges, Gunther's Prize, a sold green, darker than S&S.

    Did anyone know that when they stabilized, they would be two different hostas? Don't know.

    Did Gunther's Prize go into tissue culture or are they all divisions from the original?

    Gesila

    This post was edited by Gesila on Mon, Jun 17, 13 at 23:33

  • idiothe
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    My memory is a little hazy... I sure think somebody (probably more than one, probably more than once) tried to tc Gunther's Prize... but I think it failed. I might have dreamed that, but I think that's what happened.

    The stabilization notes are interesting. From the pictures, I guess it is possible that the two streakers have two different and distinct sets of green genes... with GP having darker green to work with than Blizzard.

    I'd guess the all green stabile version would look something like the all green sport of S&S - Vim and Vigor.
    V&V, btw is remarkably undistinguished... like a family of geniuses had a kid whose goal was to become an auto detailer...

    I'm still not quite convinced the stabilizing is quite as simple and cut-and-dried as that... I've had all yellow stable eyes off Blizzard, as well as the apple green with yellow to cream margins - Winter Snow... but I've also tried to foster a part of the crown that looks like it might want to be light centered, dark margined.

    It is surprising that there are so many g/y S&S sports and so few y/g ones... in many yellow plants, the first sport we find is the one with a dark edge. I think the only one of the S&S y/g I grow is Sum and Subtle, and I've only had it a few years...

  • paul_in_mn
    10 years ago

    Side by Side


    Paul

  • woodnative
    10 years ago

    VERY DIFFERENT plants. Th photo Paul postd above shows the two. I have not had 'Blizzard' long but it looks and behaves like any typical streaker. The streaking is random. yes you will get offsets that want to revert to solid or stable variegation that need to be removed like any other streaker. It is the random arrangement of chlorophyll in different sections.
    I have not figured out 'Gunther's Prize'. It is beautiful but it is strange. The streaking in the leaves looks different than most streakers....looks almost virused to me yet some eyes seem to pop out 'Gunther's Rim' (Green with a light edge). So far that is all I see it produce. Like a virus or an odd gene turned on in the plant that is sometimes excluded or turned off on some of the offsets. That is the only way I can explain it.

  • Steve Massachusetts
    10 years ago

    It seems like Blizzard came from a TC of Winter Snow and probably Gunther's Prize came from a TC of Vim and Vigor. I don't know that but Bob Solberg would.

    Steve

  • tiddisolo z8 Wales UK
    10 years ago

    Thought I would just add pictures of mine for comparison. Both purchased from Marco Fransen in Holland. Both are in their third year for me.
    Gunther's Prize OS on the left.


    and another

    Both doing well for me as are all my plants. Must be something about all last years rain and a long winter that they like.
    Dave

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