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mclarke_gw

Green eye in my 'On Stage' -- what is it?

17 years ago

My "On Stage" came up this year with a big ol' green eye.

The leaves are the same shape and size as the rest of the plant, but they are solid green.

What do I have here? A mutant? A reversion? An alien from outer-space?

Should I kill it, coddle it or leave it alone?

Thanks -- !

Comments (13)

  • 17 years ago

    It is called a weedling, rip it off, not worth it unless you want more green weedlings. If you don't have plenty of green weedlings then you haven't been growing hosta very long.

    Actually if it maintains the the low laying down habit it might interest you, if you leave it on it may overpower the on stage.

  • 17 years ago

    should be montana... no????

    on of the prettiest all green stately plants ....

    check the library... hugos database give sports of on stage ... no green listed ...

    ken

  • 17 years ago

    Thanks, Ken.

    I know that "On Stage" is a sport of (and reversed form of) Montana Aureo-marginata, but mine looks nothing like that.

    I see four sports listed for "On Stage" in Myhostas.net -- "Mt. Olympus" is the only one who's name I don't recognize, and I can't find a picture of it anywhere.

    Ah well. All hostas are welcome. We shall see what it becomes.

    Esther wrote: "If you don't have plenty of green weedlings then you haven't been growing hosta very long."

    Hmmmmmm. About thirty years, actually.

  • 17 years ago

    but you failed to answer the question..

    does it look like montana?

    ken

  • 17 years ago

    last year i divided a pot of on stage got three true plants of on stage and two solid yellow plants this year the solid yellow plants came back solid yellow with great vigor just like the original plant how about that

    RAKER

  • 17 years ago

    Ken wrote: "but you failed to answer the question...does it look like montana?"

    Sorry, it doesn't look like Montana in color, cuz it's all green. "Montana" has yellow edges on the leaves.

    I guess it looks like Montana in shape, because it's the same shape and size as the "On Stage" mother plant -- except that it's all green.

  • 17 years ago

    Actually,the original Montana WAS all green. Montana-Aureomarginata and On Stage came later. If you look up H.montana in the Hosta Library,you will find pics of all green montanas. montana A. and On Stage are sports,or mutations of the original green montana.Phil

  • 17 years ago

    Sorry, I'm going to start this then leave!

    On Stage is not a sport of montana aureomarginata, unless Paul Aden misled me. There are many like me who talked to Paul Aden and came away with different stories about the origin of On Stage including the story of Kinkaku being spirited out of Japan in someone's shoe.

  • 17 years ago

    montana is the ALL GREEN MOMMA OF ALL KNOWN MONTANA PROGENY ...

    montana aureomarginata .. is a progeny ....

    montana is all green..

    check the hosta library .. it either looks like it.. or it doesnt..

    it does NOT have an edge ..

    ken

  • 17 years ago

    Thanks Ken -- all clear now!

    I had found several references to "On Stage" being a sport of "Montana Aureo-marginata", but I didn't realize that "Montana" was the common momma. Duh, me.

    I believe this is what I have. I will take a photo later and post it.

    Nice to know that it's not just a common green thing. I have enough of those.

    Thanks, all.

  • 17 years ago

    Hi,

    On Stage is often referenced as a sport of Montana Aureomarginata, but that isn't possible. There must be (at least) two forms of Hosta montana (all green plants) with one emerging very early and another emerging very late. On Stage and montana 'Mountain Snow' (green with a white edge) and Paradise Backstage (reverse On Stage green with a yellow edge) are the last 3 hostas to emerge here. Montana Aureomarginata is one of the earliest. So they can't be direct relatives based on that habit alone.

    I do agree that an all green On Stage is probably a reversion back to one of the late emerging Hosta montana, but I don't agree that it is a direct relative of montana Aureomarginata.

    This topic comes up every few years, but hopefully that helps a little ;)

    Chris

  • 17 years ago

    "On Stage is often referenced as a sport of Montana Aureomarginata, but that isn't possible."
    Chris

    All this reasoning assumes that H.'On Stage' is a montana and I do not believe it is for reasons I won't go into, now if what I "THINK" I know isnÂt so then there is a great deal more speculation surrounding H.ÂOn Stage that isnÂt so.

    BIG BUTT, your reasons that H.ÂMontana Aureomarginata and H.ÂOn Stage probably are not related or the relationship is so far apart as to no longer matter and I canÂt see how anyone could disagree with your conclusions.

    H.ÂOn Stage is a hybrid so what are the genes and how many are at play to finally get to the final plant called On Stage. Ron Livingston told me he made 5,000 crosses last year, now go back all the years he has made crosses and add in all the hybridizers like Brian Skaggs, etc have made and multiply those numbers and tell me a new "hybrid" is HÂÂmontana or H.Âdensa or H.Âelata and there are just to many numbers to draw a narrow definition.

    Do the math of 100 crosses X 100 crosses X 100 crosses and one starts to see the possibilities, much less 5000X5000 etc.

    Here is a Don R plant H.ÂRhino Hide now trace it back to a specie and it is surely tetraploid so weÂve made a genetic leap, if there is or ever was Montana blood it no longer matters.

  • 17 years ago

    I divided the green shoot off 'On Stage' twice now. They do look like Montana. I have planted them as a new clump because I like having sport family collections. The one from last time emerged late just like 'On Stage'.
    If you took the white edge off of Mountain Snow it would look the same. I did not consider the glossiness of the leaf in that statement, when comparing the On Stage reversion with Mountain Snow.
    (I believe MS is a sport of On Stage.)

    I also divided an all yellow sport off of M. Aureomarginata, and it emerges early.
    I agree with Chris that the two Montanas that MA and OS came from were from different populations, such as a mountainous versus a lowland version.

    Dave