Down thread, down...

Look at the Hosta Library page for Fortunei Hyacynthina. I believe it says that it has produced more sports than any other cultivar. Some plants are more unstable than others and thus sport more often.

Steve

Here is a link that might be useful: Library F

I'm sorry, I worded my question pretty poorly. What I mean is, a SINGLE plant. Like if you had a Hyacynthina growing on your patio, and it sported Gold Standard. And maybe later that season or the following season, that same plant sported Whirlwind! I can't find a record of that ever happening. Anyone ever heard of that? Like I said, maybe a silly question...

Don in Westminster

Streaked plants are doing that when they sort themselves out what they want to be when fully grown up, so I read. They would have i.e., a green eye, one eye with white edge, one eye with white center sequentially or in the same year. But I have no experience in that, just started last spring growing streaked seedlings and might be able to tell you my experience in 5 years or so.
Bernd

Yes, a single plant can do any of a number of things.

I posted this last year as my 'Abbey Normal' Striptease which shows various sports as well as reverting back to Gold Standard.

tj

i.. we... often say.. hosta are inherently UNSTABLE ...

as such.. they are known to sport FREELY ...

as to whether it is 'habitual' .. i will leave to the english majors .. lol ...

and as others have said.. certain ones.. just dont know their manners ... and the gold standard clan .. and it predecessor are one of the worst [best???] .. exactly how may named versions of striptease do we need??? ...

ken

Thanks everyone, this is great information, and I appreciate it. TJ, that picture speaks volumes in answer to my question; Abbey Normal, indeed! Maybe it'll sport an 'EYE-gor' or a 'Franken-STEEN' as well! What a crazy schizophrenic plant. Hopefully someday I'll buy one that does that...

Cheers all,
Don B.
Westminster, CO.

Having watched fortunei hyacynthina and Gold Standard for over 30 years now, it is indeed possible to have a hosta clump that is in continual change.

Others that sport often include Neat Splash and Galaxy.

The unstable forms can have 3-5 variations on a given clump; when you divide them out, they are stable for a while and then continue to sport. Sometimes back to the orginal stock and even just a few sports back!

Back in the late 1980's I used to keep a bed of unstable Gold Standard that Mom and I would cull out from our field grown divisions.

Some would stabilize but more often than not they would continue to be unstable.

They would often have a great growth burst one year and then when divided they would wane, as many unstable forms die out over a few years as well.

I have an old clump of Galaxy that came from an unstable batch my mother sent me many years ago: it is sheer beauty on 2-3 divisions, plain green on the balance of the leaves. May divide it this year.

Have a bunch more Galaxy that have divided out as all green - keep hoping they will begin to revert back to full color, as Galaxy has some unique colorations.

On a separate note, we just finished 4 days of constant rain which passed 5 inches in the rain gauge. Erased a short term drought.

Was concerned when I noticed the front full sun Aphrodite bed having some root tips breaking growth and popping out of the ground, a sure sign of spring coming! Temps are going down to +10 degrees next week, but we are that much closer to Spring.

Waiting for the 4-8 inches of white stuff in the next 8 hours!

Bruce

I think you bring up an interesting subject. Not silly at all. I would be very pleased to own a hosta that acted like the hen laying golden eggs. Then I could let it sport me a garden full of Striptease and similar namesakes without paying the bucks for each one.

And, when is enough enough....well, perhaps you can say when the English language runs out of words for a stripper. :-P

In the early days of the AHS, very few people wanted unstable hosta; after all, we wanted leaf growth and predictability.

Then sports took on a new meaning, then tissue culture "sported" many more and now we have to watch for unstable registrations being labelled truthfully as such.

Reminds me when Gold Standard was first selling retail in nurseries (supplied by Walters Gardens, the premier hosta grower at the time). When the hosta wouldn't color up in summer heat the customers would rightfully complain.

My mother (the late Pauline Banyai, known back then as the Michigan Hosta Lady) would often get a phone call from those customers asking if Gold Standard is stable: her answer would be yes, if you have one that is gold centered in the summer.

If not it is not Gold Standard. She would explain how Gold Standard sported from fortunei hyacynthina and it was possible it might revert back to it.

The reversions were few and far between but they happened.
And yes, Gold Standard continued to sport over time, to Moonlight, Striptease etc. both in the tc lab, the field and gardens.

I have previously given a presentation on the history of Gold Standard and its sports - probably have to update that with some new ones that are now out there.

Bruce

I have a couple sports of one of my Gold Standards,right now. They look like a regular GS,but with a third color of white at the margin. I have named them Misty Mountain,after my road that I live on.I know there others with that coloration,but I can't name them the same name. I will try to get a good pic in the spring. Phil

Interesting subject, Don B!

brucebanyaihsta wrote:
"I have an old clump of Galaxy that came from an unstable batch my mother sent me many years ago: it is sheer beauty on 2-3 divisions, plain green on the balance of the leaves. May divide it this year."

Bruce, please take a photo before you divide it! tj's photo of 'Abbey Normal' Striptease is so interesting, I'd love to see your unusual beauty as well.

btw, tj, how old is your pictured hosta?

I must keep a closer eye on my Gold Standard, just in case she takes a notion to sport something :-)

Deb

Bruce, I would be very interested in reading your old history of Gold Standard, and any update you write as well. Maybe before spring gets here you can start on the update? hmmmm?

Thanks....and Dgregory, I agree, this is a very thought provoking topic.

Don- Glad I could help. Nice thread, indeed.

Bruce- Thanks for the added info. Good stuff.

Deb- The plant is nearing 10 years old...kinda. It was a division from an older plant I have. The older Striptease has been stable, so either it was the luck of the draw or hacking this one off the mother plant eventually triggered something. I did not lift the other plant before dividing, just dug some eyes off.

Phil- All the great pix you show and none of 'Misty Mountain'? Look forward to seeing it.

tj