At first I thought the title might be a metaphor ; )

Tall Twister? I love the name. Never heard of it, but it looks pretty cool. Actually Jo, I'll have to go check. Not counting any fragrant hostas I have, I have a surprising number of currently-blooming hostas.

I'm most surprised that 'Deep Blue Sea' is a late-bloomer.

Don B.

That bigger hosta behind it is getting too close and the one in bloom is trying to get your attention, get you to do something about it.

No, I have never seen hosta flowers that upright before. But you may find that is what the cultivar name refers to, I don't know.

boy i got you looking at all your hosta... lol ...

i had tall twister.. not sure if its still out there ...

but i thought it had 4 or 5 foot flower stalks... hence the name TALL ..

cant recall if it twisted ...

library does not show uplifted flowers ... maybe yours have been saved.. lol ...

but they sure look like your plant ...

i am not opening the library again.. do the markings on the flower match????

ken

Bboy, hello, and good point...it's growing faster than I expected...it already has a planned move in the spring....but I'm just scooting it over a bit. I have more hosta than space to grow them in!

Don, thanks for looking in! I got this hosta from Hank, aka Hostaman who moved away two years ago. I bought this hosta from him in 2011. It is one of his own (OS). However, I ran across the name at the Hosta Library last week...couldn't believe my eyes, lol. Actually, they are not the same plant...the flowers aren't as dark purple and the leaves are smoother...they grow upright in a twisty motion, then settle down to a gentle drape.

LOVE this pretty hosta - so blue in spring! Let me know if you discover some up facing flowers. Btw, your hostas are noticeably fuller than last year! Isn't this hosta-growing hobby exciting? :-)

Jo

Jo, how teeny-tiny is that little variegated hosta just inside the dripline of your Tall Twister? (first and second pics)

What is it? It makes your TT look like a giant!

Don B.

LOL ken "maybe yours have been saved" Ha ha ha...And YES, Jo. I am loving every day of this hosta growing hobby : )

This post was edited by Don_in_Colorado on Mon, Aug 18, 14 at 20:53

Ken, I was composing while you were posting...I went back to the Library to look again to compare. There is not enough information about this hosta...if it is indeed the same, no mention of viridescence anywhere. It does emerge blue...some of the hidden leaves still have a blue hue to them.

Edited to answer question, oops. The flowers on mine are not as dark as in the Library...the pic shows colour fairly accurately...my phone took that pic.

Don, that teeny tiny one is Holy Mouse Ears. Isn't it adorable? Lol
I lost the other half. Brought it in from garage back in March to bring out of dormancy (you may remember) it grew well, then once outside, it slowly went bye-bye. Glad I split it last fall!

This post was edited by josephines67 on Mon, Aug 18, 14 at 21:00

Negative, Ms. Jo. No upward-facing flowers here. End transmission. : )

Don B.

Neat flowers!
Your post's title put me in mind of a hosta yoga position ;-)

I usually cut off my flower scapes, so I can't go look, but "normal" for me, would be opening from the bottom up, and for some reason your hosta is desperate and opening those top blooms at the same time as the lower ones.
I notice in your photos that the blossoms are jammed close to each other this year, where they were more spread out on the stalk last year. Wondering if strange weather has caused it? They have to point up because there is no room on the stalk with such a tight cluster of buds to point down. Just a guess. Wonder what will happen next year? It is good that you take a label lots of photos.

-Babka

I'm about as sharp as a bowling ball! Ken, I just got your pun! Funny and cute! Lol

Babka, you know, I was so absorbed with the flowers facing up and looking at the stigma, anthers etc. poking up like silhouettes, that I totally missed that some opened in opposite direction as in top to bottom...DUH me! there is a lot going on with those flowers, isn't there? You picked out more detail even than I did. Thank you for visiting! :-)

I too, wonder if it's not weather related. Would be cool though to have that be the norm on this plant, wouldn't it?

Ken, these scapes are a "normal" height, nowhere near the height you mentioned. The flower markings are similar, though even if the colour isn't as pronounced.

Deb, I like the reference to the "hosta yoga position"! Glad you popped in. I'll be looking for my "yoga flowers" next year - this hosta is maybe in a lotus position? :-)

Don, thanks for checking! I'm slow today but I finally got it! ;-)

Jo

Jo, I thought the Tall Twister looked absolutely beautiful, you always have perfectly leafed hosta. I so enjoy your pictures.

The flowers do look all scrunched together, and I did not realize that the lower ones were not yet opened up. It was the TOP ones open. Babka is very observant and analytical. I simply felt the tightness of the buds crowded into a short display.

You recall that a bit earlier this summer, I discovered that The Shining, a fragrant gold, had a scape that was just barely above the crown, and that large flower was entirely covered by the leaves of the plant? It never grew any taller.

Then here you have some with their faces pointed straight up, like turkeys, who would drown if it rained! It just does not make any sense to me. I suppose bees could stand on their heads to get the nectar and pollen, true, but it just doesn't make SENSE.

What a great growing season this has been.

Oh. When you were bringing in your Holy Mouse Ears to force, wasn't it discussed that a lot of the hosta taken to conventions and forced early, were so depleted they were good for nothing later? (I paraphrase a lot, sorry.) It wears them out. Poinsettias and amaryllis are good examples of forced plants too. So, I'm sorry it died, but you were wise to only risk half of it. Good to hear "the rest of the story."

Thanks Jo, always interesting to read your posts.

Sometimes it just pays to stay up late and read the forum! Who cares if you're tired the next day? The hosta will forgive you if you get outdoors later in the morning, right?

Mocc, you always say the kindest things.... glad you enjoyed the pics...then you had me laughing out loud about the comment re the bees standing on their heads trying to get at the uplifted flowers! LOL. That is just so funny trying to visualize that!...before that the turkeys...ahhh, so good to hear from you, thank you!!!

YES, the hiding flowerscape on The Shining! It never got taller? Bummer...kind of hard to admire it when it's that shy! Lol. There are a couple more "shorties" around here too, like one last year...all weather related, methinks. Weird. S&S has one last scape on it (I removed the spent ones already) that is so short, it looks like I just put it there instead of it growing out of the plant. Odd but I will post a pic to show you all. It may be a short scape but the flowers are nothing to sneeze at. They are beautifully large.

Thanks for the recall re Holy Mouse Ears - of course, it makes sense, doesn't it? Poor Baby Bunting is another forced one and is barely hanging on but I am determined that it makes it...although it's a day to day survival for the poor little thing...it's no bigger than a dime!...well, maybe a nickel..

Same goes for the gold sport of Frances Williams, 'Golden Sunburst'.... It put out those late shoots last fall, remember? This year the leaves are half their size..hard to believe it is the same plant. Used up too much energy last fall and petered itself out, didn't it? I hope it fares better next spring.

It has been a very interesting growing season so far, and I'm sure there's more surprises/oddities before we are done for the season :-)

Here's shorty-puff on S&S, lol

My S&S had "shorty puff" flowers this year also. Wish it always had such short flower stalks. Your S&S is absolutely glowing Jo. Great pic

sharp as a bowling ball!

==>>> my favorite foghorn leghorn quip of all time ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: at 2 minute mark

Mac, thank you for the compliment on the pic...sometimes I catch a good one! I grinned like a proud momma when I read that....don't we all? Lol

S&S is still a youngster but boy, if it gets to look like yours with size and corrugation I'll be over the top! It only has two rips on one leaf from emerging in spring, pristine otherwise and it commands attention in my garden! :-)
Last year one scape was so long diagonally bent that it met my waist...easy to admire the flowers that way. Lol

Ken, me too, me too! When that cartoon came on, I dropped everything to watch it...even had a call from the fam. when it came on if I was outside already. :-)

i found my label cemetery tag ... mine was ... tall boy ...

never mind ...

ken

How cool is that, Ken keeps a cemetery of departed hosta tags! I thought I was the only one who kept track of the ones I'd lost....but not like tombstones in a cemetery....just in my computer index. I change the name from HOSTA to HOSTAZ so it goes to the end of the listing.

As an aside, I say boy, for my WISH LIST, I put a * (*HOSTA) in front of HOSTA, to put them right up at the first part of the alphabetical list. I use AZZ CARDFILE for my plants, for my recipes, for my movies, for my password keeper..... It works for me.

But that is off topic in this thread, so forgetaboutit. You did not hear this from me.

FOOTNOTE: I must put *HOSTA 'TALL BOY' on the wish list to explore its suitability here. I could use something that keeps its tall scapes under control. Have you looked at Don Rawson's list of hosta with tall scapes....the ones MORE than 72 inches tall have a (*) star beside them. Tall Boy is one of those.