Hi, Houston!! Mobile here, and so glad to have you find the forum. You'll discover several other Texas and California folk who frequent the forum regularly, so some regional or zone advice, plus the expertise of hosta intelligentsia from all parts of the country (and Canada and UK).

I don't know much about hosta, so I cannot say what is going on with your Yankee Blue. Its growth could reveal something about a trait of its parentage,possibly. My comment is, wow, it looks like a flower scape that changed its mind and became a petiole. It's a real Dr. Zeuss design. What I see looks healthy to me, but not your average pattern of growth. It's growing like a spider plant, looks like a complete new plant at the top of that petiole/stem/scape...

Cannot wait for those in the know to take a look at it.

Always nice to have someone else "south of I-10" around.
Welcome welcome.

Thanks for the welcome! And no kidding about it looking like a Seuss plant. Funnily enough, indoors we have an umbrella plant or sheffalara [sp] that was rescued from a dumpster a few years ago that we call our Dr. Seuss plant because it is growing weird -- the main stem dips down like a question mark turned on its side and then back up. It's an oddball for sure :)

About the YB, though... that clump of leaves on top were growing out right at the soil base like everyone else until a couple weeks ago and then *shoom* the petiole shoved it all up in the air, LOL!

If you cut off that scape it will force the plant to put out more leaves. Once in a blue moon a hosta will send up a scape before it grows the leaves. Just cut it off and it will start growing normally.

That is a really strange looking scape.

I gave up on my schefflera after I discovered they are scale magnets, and all my staghorn ferns and bougainvillea and ficus benjamina became infested with scale. No more scheffs for me.

I misspelled Dr. Seuss, sorry. Intriguing plant you have there. My hosta are in containers too. I may resort to more whiskey barrels with the giants, my young S&S is putting out its fifth large leaf this morning after a good solid rain last night. A nice overcast day so I don't have to worry about too much sun, although I inspect everybody daily and play kitty-wants-a-corner with the smaller guys.

frankandjim:
Thanks! I am ridiculously gunshy about pruning, hah. Literally, just snip it off? I wonder if that could be considered a "cutting" for propagation purposes. Probably not since it is separated from the tuber, eh?

Hi Ivysmom,

Last year I had a very young Paul's Glory only throw up a flower scape in the spring - no leaves, just a scape. It was very strange and when I asked at the garden centres they had never heard of this happening...

I cut it to the ground and within a few weeks had a normal looking plant with several leaves. This should work for you as well.

Connie May

Love the June in the redwood box planter. We have some Texas folks here who grow in containers, so it's a good place to learn.

Frank's right about the Yankee Blue. That's called a fasciated scape. It happens once in a while. Although I must admit that's one with the most leaves I've seen. Cut the whole thing right down to where it emerges from the crown and it will grow normally.

Steve

OK, I'll close my eyes and snip it at the crown. Hopefully it'll behave better with the next round of growth and look more like its neighbors :)

steve: the June is my favorite of the bunch! And thanks for the official term, as well.

The scape will not root. You have to have a piece of the crown and roots to propagate it.

I had a Thunderbolt that sent up a scape without putting on any leaves.

Well, I snipped it at the crown. 15" of scape! Goodness, but that's tall for a young one-eyed plant :) Sad to see that much plant gone, so hopefully a nice spread of new leaves is the result. It was a pretty "bunch" up top:

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