This is the second year for mine. I like the thick leaf and narrow edge. Could something be eating your roots?

yes its a diva

buggy.. P is white centered.. your is white edged.. whats that all about..

killed about 4 of them...

what happened to the mulch.. in one year???

i would dig it up.. and find out what happened to the crown..

ken

I got Pizzazz thus year and mine looks like Plantbug's. Are there two Pizzazzes? Mine has a narrow yellow edge, though, not that white...but that could be my light.

what happened to the mulch is... I dug it up to see what was going on underneath. Nothing struck me as odd. I have moved it from my show bed to a tucked away place until it gets over its hissy fit. Anyone got a mature one? pics please.

According to the photos in the hosta library you do not have Pizzazz. I doubled checked because I have it and mine has a narrow white edge.

oops... lol

i relied ,,, oh never mind.. i got lazy.. its still a piece of carp.. whichever it is ...

ken

Leaf, I don't think that's Pizzazz. Check out the library photos.

Mine looks like Frances Williams, but more upright and no dessication. Mine is not mature. I just got it this year. It had a yellower edge early on and is still more yellow edged than the photo shows.

I think it's going to be one of my stars. It is not showing any heat stress at this time. (Orange Marmalade is 1/2 melted.)

bkay

This is how it looked May 1.

This is today
{{gwi:1080133}}

Here is a link that might be useful: Hosta library P

leaflover76,
I believe, you have a Thunderbolt. Mine, just purchased at HD, looks exactly the same as your first pic.
Dani

I've had Pizzazz for several years in this half whiskey barrel. Yours,I'm afraid is not Pizzazz. It looks more like Thunderbolt,or Dream Weaver. My Pizzazz,looks bad this year,too,because of the too hot weatner,but this pic is from a few years ago. Phil

{{gwi:1080134}}

I didn't know it was considered a diva. I acquired mine about 10 years ago, and it really flourished. However, I had it planted in a full sun garden, where its colours were an insipid green and white. I never much liked it. So last year, I moved it to a shadier location. It is now intensely blue in the centre and very eye catching. In fact, much to my surprise, when I was coming up with my own garden's Top 10, there was Pizzazz on the list. And it is still not a diva, by any stretch of the imagination.
I've often wondered if hosta come in different tc "lots", which might account for some of our vastly different experiences growing the same variety.

Pizzazz has not been a diva in my zone & conditions - although it is a slower growing hosta. Mine is in it's 3rd year in my garden and was a very immature plant when purchased. The leaves are very round and are starting to have a narly pebbled look that I love.

"I had it planted in a full sun garden, where its colours were an insipid green and white. I never much liked it. So last year, I moved it to a shadier location. It is now intensely blue in the centre and very eye catching."

ninamarie, there was something eye catching about it's color to me when I saw it at the nursery, which keeps all their hosta in deep shade.

Here is the one I brought home. I look forward to it maturing.

coll, that's yummy. (I must be hungry.)And that's what mine looks like.
Soon, any year now, I will figure out how to operate my husband's camera and how to post images. Soon.

ConnieMay, you've descibed Pizzazz perfectly, "narly pebbled look" suits it to a T.

I have a Pizzazz and I wouldn't call it my prettiest hosta, but it's up there for most interesting. It's bluish, frosty, narly leaves act as a wonderful foil for some of the long smooth leaves of it's bedmates. Mine shows just a hint of margin, moreso like ConnieMay's than Coll's. It seems to me that as the plant matures, the margins get smaller?

I debated about even taking any pictures of my poor heat scorched Pizazz but here it is anyway. It gets too much sun since my old elm tree died but there are a couple of dogwoods that will shade it in a year or two so I'm not going to try to move it.

Looks like a taller Frances Williams. This is about 6 yrs old so you can see that the leaf margins are still pretty wide.

Sandy

Sandy - did you say that your plant is taller than Francis Williams? I thought that Pizzazz was a small hosta and that Frances Williams was larger.

My Pizzazz is about 30" tall and 60" wide. FW in the same bed at the same age is about 24"x 40". Pizzazz is more of a vase shape.

Sandy

Holy cow, I thought it was a medium hosta. Yikes!

mosswitch, I've never seen a Pizzazz that large. Zilis says 21 inches high by 48 inches wide (The Hostapedia, page 720). And the plants I've seen aren't very upright...they're shorter and somewhat broad...Can you post of pic of yours?

Sandy, your 'Pizzazz" looks so very different than my 'Pizzazz' (which is very similar to Hosta Freak's and ConnieMay's). Even the shape of the leaves seem different.

Don, the pic is above. Remember now, lavenderlver, this plant has been in a lot of sun for the past three years and that changes the color, no blue at all. It's badly heat scorched and that has distorted the leaves, too. It didn't begin to get that big until it lost its shade, either.

Might even be older than 6 years, too, come to think of it, I planted that bed in 2003 and it was one of the first ones to go in there. So I guess you could say it is fairly mature.

Don't know if I have a picture of it when it was younger, but I'll look.

Not a diva, tho, a pretty tough plant!

Sandy

Funny. Read the descriptions on the HL database. Are they all talking about the same plant?

"Blue/green with white margin that varies in width. Heavy texture.
Pale lavender flowers in July.

Medium green with some yellow and white streaking.
White margin, cordate, rugose leavess, 7" x 5".
18" scapes with lavender flowers.

Powdery blue on gold, heart shaped, med. size.

Heart-shaped frosted-blue leaves w/light-cream to white wavy & irregular margins.

Heart-shaped leaves of frosted blue with wide, irregular cream to white margins. Lavender flowers.

The heart-shaped leaves, frosted blue with light cream-to-white irregular margins, make an elegant plant. Masses of white flowers.

Large, heart-shaped blue leaves with waxy cream white margins, dense masses of white flowers."

Also says size unknown.

Seems to be very variable. Or there is more than one version out there.

Sandy

Look at Mickfield hostas. They have grown all the hostas listed :

H. 'Pizzazz'
Heart-shaped frosted-blue leaves with a light-cream to white margin that varies in width from narrow to wide and with some streaking of yellow and white toward the midrib - lovely!
Plant Size Large: 21" x 48"
Leaf 10" x 8"; blue, white margins
Flower Near white
Parentage unknown

Very interesting Sandy and berndnyz5. It does seem there may be more than one version, is this common in the hosta world?

Sandy, do you recall if your Pizzazz looked like ConnieMay's when young?

I looked but couldn't find a clear picture, but from what little I could see of it, it looked more like bkay's photos. It changes considerably as it ages, apparently.

Mickfield's description looks like a composite of all the others! Mine had pale lavender flowers in late June this year, a little early.

Almost wish I hadn't gone back thru the old photos. The garden was so lush and beautiful and now after 2yrs of drought and heat, it just looks....sad.

Cloudy and overcast today, I hope it means something good.

Sandy

Thanks for looking Sandy and wishing you rain!

AHS registration information shows height at 12 inches with 18 inch scapes... Maybe Paul Aden didn't have the hosta for long before registering it and it actually matures into a much taller plant? Or maybe there really are 2 varieties out there...

http://www.hostaregistrar.org/detail.php?id=4710&Variety=Pizzazz

There sure are a lot of mislabeled plants in this thread. I see 4 plants in this thread being presented as Pizzazz that are wrong, including the top one of course. It should look like the pictures from plantbug, hostafreak, and conniemay. Unfortunately all of the others are other plants - there aren't multiple version of this one, just lots of mislabeled plants on the market apparently.

Other than leafover's, the others seem very similar to each other, knowing the growing conditions. Coll is in Maine. Her hosta has held the blue. I'm in Texas, mine is green as it's been hot and the wax melted. Sandy (mosswitch) is in the middle of drought and high temps. Her's is fried. Connie Mae is from Canada, and I'm assuming her hosta got a lot of freezing temps last winter. Those are very different growing conditions.

I don't see big differences, given the varied growing conditions. The two things that seem to stick out to me when we're talking sbout there being two different (or multiple mislabeled hosta) is size - whether it's larger or smaller than Frances Williams and is it upright or spreading? I think it's irrelevant.

A hosta that has an active thread right now is about Orange Marmalade. Mine is upright. Moccasin's is spreading. They are both young Orange Marmalades. Even in warm environs, the results are different. Photos are posted.

I have an noid (sieboldiana type) that I've posted about. I posted it as flat as an African Violet two years ago. This year it's more upright.

I think we need to look again at our photos of Pizzazz. I think they are very similar.

Lavender, I'd love to see how different your's is. Please post a photo.

Just some thoughts.

bkay

Hi BKay, I suppose I need to get a camera if I'm going to be an active participant here...sorry, I can't give you a visual at this time :( My Pizzazz has an extremely thin margin and pebbley surface, not unlike ConnieMay's example.

I think that the difference in form as well as relative height is important.

With respect to form, Pizzazz pushes out it's foliage like it is doing karate chops in random directions. It reminds me of a succulent and has considerable cupping and pebbling.

With respect to height, should relative height not be consistent? Shouldn't Pizzazz be consistently shorter than Francis Williams when grown in the same conditions?

Connie May

Folks, this is the most interesting thread going this week. I don't even have Pizzazz, but I think the discussion of such variability given similar AND different conditions, well, it blows my mind actually.

I agree with Chris...there are several plants in this thread that look like they're mislabelled...and the only ones that appear to be Pizzazz are plantbug, hostafreak, and conniemay.

Coll 123, your plant doesn't look like Pizzazz to me. I think it could be Brave Amherst.

I also agree with Chris. The large hosta Sandy posted could be Robert Frost. It is a great hosta and grows larger than FW. The last picture of RF at the Hosta Library is of a mature plant. The margin is much wider than Pizzazz and is a creamy white.

I do not have pictures to post but my 6 year old Pizzazz closely resembles ConnieMae's. It is holding up well in the heat and drought this year and the leaves are still a bit blue.

Mark

Don, thanks for posting that- I have not heard of that one and I do believe it is a likely match for my newly purchased "Pizzazz". Although it's interesting, some of the pics on that page don't really look like the same plant, either! Some look like the pizzazzes on this thread or the hosta library Pizzazz page. So I guess I agree with Bkay, there aren't a lot of glaring differences between any of these...so I can see why there is a lot of confusion or mislabeling out there. I know I am certainly confused at this point, lol.

Mine lost the frosty blue with the heat of the summer but the margin never did turn white, fwiw. And I think it was in enough light to do that, which is why it *sounds* like it is probably Brave Amherst....I think??? (but I don't know because some of the Brave Amherst pics show a white margin- gah!)

I'm missing something here. What are you guys seeing that I'm not seeing? I realize you are MUCH more experienced than I am. I put them side by side and still can't see it. The ones you guys say are Pizzazz don't seem more alike than the ones you say aren't. They all have the same leaf shape, with that little funny tip. The edges are variable on all the plants - each plant has some wide margins and narrow margins. Some are blue, some are green - I see that, but all my "blue" plants are green. Please explain.

bkay

Chris and Don say these are Pizzazz
{{gwi:1080139}}

Chris and Don say these aren't Pizzazz
{{gwi:1080140}}

But add one of the "not pizzazz" into pizzazz mix, if you didn't know which was which, which would you choose as the "not pizzazz"? what are you seeing I'm not seeing other than heat/water stress?
{{gwi:1080142}}

Other than being young and potted, I don't see the difference between the pizzazz and "not pizzazz".
{{gwi:1080143}}

Ok, I'm willing to consider anything, since goddess knows, things do get sold mislabeled all the time. Mine still has the original color Pizzazz label.

It isn't Robert Frost, I have one of those, and there is only a superficial resemblence, and besides it blooms in late spring. My "Pizzazz" bloomed in July, and that was early for it this year.
I here's a closeup of a not too badly scorched leaf, with the funny little tip, if that is a "tip-off", lol:

Well, Sandy, I guess no answer means neither Chris nor Don is going to respond. So, we're left with questions.

bkay

Hi BKay!

It seems to me that the Pizzazz identified as such (and including mine) have a cupped leaf, whereas I'm missing that in your and Coll's pictures (it is hard to tell with Mosswitch's). Also, even though my Pizzazz is fairly immature, it has lots of the nubbiness as ConnieMay pointed out.

I hope that helps?

bkay,

Regarding the true hosta Pizzazz, the edge of the leaf is lightly rippled. The margin is creamy yellow in spring, becoming creamy white by early summer.

Your plant doesn't have a rippled edge, and the margin is light green/chartreuse rather than cream or white. What time of year was the photo taken of your hosta?

These factors lead me to suspect that your hosta isn't Pizzazz. :(

Thanks, Don. Mine is young, so it will change over time. Also, as I mentioned in another thread, about 25% of my hosta are/have been mislabeled. So I've gotten used to it, somewhat.

I still don't get it. You can take mine out of the mix and I still don't see how some are alike and others are different.

I guess I can't see the nuances that others can see.

bkay

here is my 7 yr old "Pizzazz"...

24" tall by 45" wide,,,taken this spring...

jill

Jill, I hope my "whatever it is" looks that good in the coming years.

bkay

What a beautiful plant Jill! Please tell me that your plant looked like mine when it was young and was about a foot tall.

Connie May

Pizzazz has been one of my favorites since the beginning...
here it is in the earlier years,,,

Pizzazz 9-11-2006

Pizzazz 5-24-2007

thanks for looking,,,jill

Heres my Pizzazz:

Wow, your's has a narrow margin. Does it have that little pointy tip? I can't see the tip of the leaf. It looks like a bunny or a weedwhipper has eaten some of the ends of the leaves on this side.

I'm glad you got the camera. You'll enjoy it. I found that I only had photos of problem hosta. I had almost no photos of them when they are pretty. Then, Babka posted that she photographs all of her hosta in May every year. So, I did that this year and was pleased with having photos when they look good. So, I'm passing along the suggestion.

bkay

Leaflover. . My Pizazz is planted under a Redwood Dawn and gets lots of early morning sun. She's a slow but steady gal for me here in Michigan. Some of our early frosts got to a couple of plants around her but it didn't seem to hurt her at all. This year has been a wild ride for sure. Maybe your Pizazz will pop back ok next season!

BKay, yes, there are those pointy tips somewhere in there, lol!

What originally attracted me to Pizzazz was the really thin margins and the corrugation, hopefully they stay that way, but I don't think so.