Sibling Rivalry

Linda Cook, KC Master Gardener 2005

My sister Marje and I have had friendly rivalries almost since the day she was born. Clothes, boyfriends, baby-sitting jobs – you name it and there was a contest brewing. But since my husband Don and I moved into our small cottage five years ago, the rivalry has turned to a more down-to-earth subject – hosta.

I must admit, Marje was the first in the family to get hooked. And she does have a green thumb! Of course, good northeast Ohio topsoil has a lot to do with it. Good black soil with no clay whatsoever. Just stick something in the ground and it grows! And Marje grows hostas! She has them everywhere. Hundreds, it seems. She scouts out new and different varieties wherever she goes, and pays exorbitant amounts for some of them!

But as I said, when we moved into our cottage the whole east side of the house was in shade. Marje brought me some of her hostas. “They will be perfect here!” she said. And they were…after we built raised beds to get them out of our West Virginia clay; after we chased all of the neighbors’ cats out of the new, freshly composted soil; and after we reconciled ourselves to the fact that we had to live with some slugs.

Marje’s first hosta gift to me was a H. ‘June’, a beautiful chartreuse and blue hosta that remains one of my favorites. She is generous when she divides her hostas, usually passing along a crown or two. But after two seasons of hostas coming to me, it was time to reciprocate! I was hard pressed to find something to gift her with that she did not already have. But success -- I found a H. ‘Jimmy Crack Corn’, a lancet-leafed, piecrust edged chartreuse beauty. She did not have it! (But I bought two, of course, and one resides in my garden.) I beamed (gloated!) as I presented it to her. And so the new sibling rivalry began!

I suppose I’ll never catch up to her, simply due to acreage; she has 1½ acres to my ¼! But the friendly rivalry         remains. We do share after all, and as soon as my H. ‘Paradigm’ and H. ‘Samurai’ have a few more crowns, they will be off to Ohio. And I will have to raid hers again! In the meantime, each of us will have bragging rights as new hostas enter our respective gardens. Trowels may be raised in threatening gestures, compost may be slung, but sisters will remain sisters, just as long as I can beat her to that last hosta on the potting bench at the garden center.

Hostas in my garden include:

H. ‘Abiqua Drinking Gourd’ – very large, dark blue green, deeply cupped leaves

H. ‘Albopicta’ – irregularly margined pure dark green with lighter centers, tuning to soft green

H. ‘Apple Green’ – yellowish green heart-shaped leaves, slightly cupped

H. ‘Big Daddy’ – large, deep blue rounded and puckered leaves

H. ‘Black Hills’ – dark green cordate leaves

H. ‘Blue Angel’ – huge blue pointed leaves held horizontally on an upright petiole

H. ‘Blue Wedgwood’ – wedge shaped, metallic blue leaves with puckering on mature leaves

H. ‘Bressingham Blue’ - blue green with large marginal undulations

H. ‘Brim Cup’ – variegated ½” irregular creamy margins on rich green leaves, seersuckered

H. ‘Carder Blue’ - very blue green, slightly cupped heavily rugose leaves

H. ‘Dew Drop’ – dark green with whitish margins, cordate, small plant

H. ‘Elegans’ – solid blue green, heavy glaucous with good texture, a parent to other hostas and a giant among hostas

H. ‘Fire and Ice’ – rather dramatic, pure white leaves with dark green margins

H. fortunei ‘Aureomarginata’ – spinach green center with golden yellow margins

H. ‘Fragrant Bouquet’ - light green, yellowish white margin and very fragrant flower scapes - 1998 Hosta of the Year

H. ‘Francee’ – large dark green, heart shaped leaves with white margins and some puckering on mature leaves

H. ‘Frances Williams’ – heavily corrugated, giant round blue green leaves with yellowish green edging that widens       with maturity

H. ‘Gold Edger’ – gold heart shaped leaves with some roll

H. ‘Gold Standard’ – longish, gold center leaves with bright dark green irregular margins

H. ‘Golden Tiara’ – light to medium green edged with gold to chartreuse

H. ‘Granary Gold’ – yellow fading to light chartreuse

H. ‘Great Expectations’ – round heavily puckered leaves, almost quilted, light yellow cream center with an irregular variegated blue green margin, good specimen hosta

H. ‘Guacamole’ – heavily textured, large shiny heart shaped leaves near gold with a darker blue green margin, another good specimen plant

H. ‘Jade Cascade’ – long ruffled edge leaves, jade green pleated

H. ‘Jimmy Crack Corn’ – elongated chartreuse leaves, mature leaves with a pronounced pie crust edge, leaves held horizontally on erect petioles

H. ‘June’ – heart shaped, gold center with blue green margins - 2001 Hosta of the Year
H. ‘Lemon Lime’ – very small, bright chartreuse leaves

H. ‘On Stage’ – large yellow leaves with irregular two-tone green margins

H. ‘Paradigm’ – chartreuse gold with blue green margins with corrugated texture

H. ‘Patriot’ – one of the standards, darker green center with bold white, irregular margins - 1997 Hosta of the Year

H. ‘Raspberry Sorbet – a small shiny dark green lancet leaf, bright red petiole and fragrant, dark blue purple flowers

H. ‘Royal Standard’ – large glossy medium green leaves

H. ‘Royal Splendor’ – large lighter green leaves

H. ‘Sagae’ – chalky dark blue green edged with yellow that fades to cream, upright almost vase shaped, heavily    textured - 2000 Hosta of the Year

H. ‘Samual Blue’ – large, blue green cordate cupped leaves

H. ‘Samurai’ – medium green and blue green textured leaf with gold margins, giant

H. sieboldana – parent to many other, broad ovate gray-green leaves, giant

H. ‘Spilt Milk’ – cupped rugose, blue green leaves with irregular white splashes resembling “spilt milk”

H. ‘Sum and Substance’ – sun tolerant glossy chartreuse upright leaves, another giant - 2004 Hosta of the Year

H. ‘Sundancer’ – elongated medium green leaf with thin white margins

H. undulata ‘Varigata’ – medium and light green, wavy looking color variations

H. ‘Whirlwind’ – curvy and wavy, white, yellowish and yellow green with a twisted tip, dark green margins, a sport, that may revert to parent plant

H. ‘Wide Brim’ – blue green center with irregular ream margins

A few hosta notes;

1) Hostas are native to China, Japan and Korea with over 4,000 known varieties.

2) Slugs are the number one enemy of hostas and can strip a small plant overnight! If you have problems with slugs, stick with varieties with large, heavily textured leaves – harder to eat! Small, thin-leafed varieties also make a good banquet!

2) Deer are hosta connoisseurs. Yum!

3) The bluer the leaf, the less sun a hosta will tolerate. The blue color is from a waxy, glaucous coating that literally melts in the sun. Conversely, the more yellow a hosta is, the more sun it will take.

4) Almost all hostas like morning sun and afternoon shade.

5) Hostas love composted manure in early spring, and a slow release fertilizer with iron is appreciated.

6) It takes four to five years for a hosta to reach maturity.

7) A hosta needs 5 gallons of water a week, so water accordingly.

8) Cut the bloom scapes to within 2 inches of the ground after flowers have faded.