Snow Cap = CRAP!

This hosta has never looked good in my garden. They do look nice at nurseries, but I've never had luck with it.

I can not grow this one either,I have seen it in another garden,it has been there for about 6 years now,and it is beautiful, but not for me.
cAROL

Yes, developers do try to improve cultivars, but when they succeed, they give it a new name since the older version has developed a really bad reputation. 100 percent of the responders to your post have lousy luck with SnowCap, so I'd be inclined to say "don't waste your money". Nance

Thanks for all responses -- I didn't know about re-naming improved cultivars -- seems to make sense.

Are there lists of "duds" and "improvements" out there?

I'm trying to think of cases where a plant has been selected from a currently named variety and renamed based on growing quality without some additional change in appearance...

only one that comes to mind is Great American Expectations, which looks just like GE but was supposed to be a better grower and thus deserved a new name. (I could never see a difference in look or growing characteristics...)

Snow Cap, along with Brim Cup and Knockout form a trio of medium-large dark-centered, white-edged hostas that tend to be disappointments in most places in most gardens. Their margins tend to drawstring and also to melt out, turning brown along torn edges mid-season.

They all can be made to grow faster by giving them more light - but then that tends to encourage the drawstring effect as well. I've kept one of each over the years, but only because I have them in low-light conditions. They stay small - but some years the margins don't fall out. I'm sure eventually I'll get rid of all of them.

Zilis tells a nice story about Snow Cap... about how nice it looked in pots and as a juvenile and how much he liked it... and how much of a disappointment it has been as an adult.

A lot of people got stuck with Snow Cap and they still want to sell it. I wouldn't givee $.50 for a nice pot of it now. I wouldn't be looking for an improved Snow Cap - I'd just look for a nice medium-large dark green, white-margined plant with different heritage.

Brim Cup is another one that's crap in my garden! Wide Brim too.

I'm always so tempted to buy replacements for them cuz they do look so good in nurseries, but I will NOT do it. There are plenty of white/cream edge hostas I can get instead.

This is a list of hostas known to be difficult to grow:

http://www.pwk.resteddoginn.ca/lists/hosta_list_dtgh.php

I see Wide Brim for sale absolutely everywhere. I was wondering about it. So it's a waste of time, too?

I like wide brim. I keep it in mostly shade and it looks good. Knockout does ok too.

Knockout

Any relationship between Brim Cup and Wide Brim? BC was what an earlier poster was referencing.

mt