I will be very interested in reading other's experience with the H. 'all the original fragrants' length until flowering.

We have many, almost all, of the first 'plantagenea', and the immediate children, and it took almost 15 years here in zone 4 and 'dappled light' (my measurements with light meters average about 35% light from all day direct light) to get our first flowers, last late-summer, early fall. (Yay, Global Warming, or NOT).

I, in recent years, ensured 'monsoon season' level water. It was worth the deep pump electricity bill for the fragrance finally achieved last year.

From reading and experience, U.S.D.A. Zone 4 in heavy shade is not the place to try this, but if you have more southern plantings, I say, 'Go for it'!

fwiw,

hh

Thanks for showing that, gives hope. I have only one H.p.'Aphrodite', buds did not open up last year, this year is in much more sun and gets more water. Right now two 2 ft tall scapes with fat flower buds are showing, might be good. Bernd

25 years?? It took 15 years for my Davidias from seed to bloom, but they are trees.

Beautiful! I've had mine almost ten years plus now. The first time it bloomed it turned out to be a "Venus"...thank you Chris for explaining that to me. Since I will get some scapes that produce beautiful flowers but depending on the summer, humidity and sun it's a hit and miss with some blasting. But that my friends is beautiful!!!
Enjoy and smell the hostas...what a great pictures.

except for your ugly puss .. absolutely stunning .. rotflmbo ...

any luck on those robur cuttings???

thx for stopping by this summer ... it meant the world to me .... though apparently not enough to not insult you gratuitously .. lol ...

say hi to your prettier half ...

take care

ken

Gorgeous. Thanks for sharing.

bkay

Congratulations! What a wonderful sight. Please waft some of that fragrance our way.

Oh my what a beautiful sight. I will remember this dedication that did not falter for 25 years to get them to bloom. I am most impressed.

Are you throwing an Aphrodite party? Come wearing white togas? I am so pleased that you shared this moment of achievement with us.

Apparently there are many more admirers of the fragrant plantaginea family. I have many of this extended family all new in my garden, with mama plantaginea among the first purchased in 2010 May. I have one Aphrodite, which has one scape this year, with white showing in the buds. If I had a whole BED of them as you do, I'd be camping out beside them to make sure I was around for the first scent wafting on the still night air.

If you publish anything elsewhere about growing your Aphrodites, would you mind dropping in to leave us a reference to it? I need all the help and encouragement I can get.

Congratulations on your success!

So, is it the 25 years, the heat or some other reason why they finally bloomed?

bkay

Ken,

The robir oak cuttings lived a while but succumbed to the high temps. Lois says hello and that we will plan to spend more time with you the next time, with better planning.

Briefly, those of us around when Aphrodite first came out were suckers for the first tc plants at "reasonable" pricing - $25 per small tc plant.

None bloomed and then a few people like Alex were able to get the conditions right.

I visited him often (he lived downstate, we were up in the northern part of Delaware at the time) and asked to buy some that were in bloom.

I was one of many asking to buy from his big bed of clumps, whicc he rarely divided. He finally sold me a large multiple division clump, which I promptly divided.

Planted in various sites in my and my mother's garden back in Detroit area; we could not get the blooms to open.

Then relocated them again, beat the root systems to stimulate growth, soaked them in a lot of water - no luck.

Did move them to another garden site in Delaware where they grew quietly for ~10 years, did not disturb them

In 2003-6 relocated my Delaware garden to far southwest Virginia near Blacksburg. Put them in several beds but still no open blooms.

Two years ago tore up the front bed of Aphrodite one more time, cleaned the roots and soaked them in bleach to make sure no root rot and replanted them. Last year buds but no blooms.

Conclusion: these are hardy plants, given the treatment I have put them through. They need high sun, heavy direct sun, time to grow,establish root systems and rain/water.

Bruce,

Thank you so much for showing us Aphrodite in bloom and for all the tips on growing her. It's a thrill to see you on the forum and to know that you still carry on a great family tradition. I suspect practically all of us have Gold Standard, one of the great classic Banyai hostas. But I wonder (given the focus on the London olympics) if anyone out there has Olympic Gold. Would love to see one.

Steve

will send updated photo of Olympic Gold tomorrow.

Great to have such an iconic hosta name appear to share a happy event in his life--and the lives of hosta lovers who hear of the event.

Got 2 Gold Standards recently, they look great (I'm a fan of the wide gold middles and narrow green margins anyway), and now I'm determined to get more Aphrodite to go in the ground where they'll be tested as you have done.

Really, near Blacksburg....we drive right through there on I-81 when we go from Mobile to near Lowell MA, know the highway very well. Now I'll tell my DH when we pass through that someone who grows hosta that bloom spectacularly lives in this area.

This is my fave posting thread in years.

It makes me glad that my attempts to make the original and early children of fragrant Hostas to bloom are not in vain!

Last year we were blessed with them, and I made a big point to point them out to any of our late season visitors.

We have other fragrant companions that we bring visitors to notice and appreciate, but none of them is as good as the Hostas that are fragrqant, imo,

hh

zone 4 is a real problem with these!

Say, BTW, does anyone here remember the other 'double-buttoned' Hosta flowered cultivars?

Last year Phil and Ginger Lisik sold us one but we still have all of those in quarantine and don't remember which one it was, darn.

hh

Do you mean besides the Aphrodite sport, Venus?
The MYHOSTAS.BE says it has 18-24 petals.

There is another mythical goddess, Athena, will have to look it up to see if all those goddesses are doubled down with a goddess name to imply double the number of flower petals. Like Ken says, names are supposed to mean something.

Quote:
Hostas are one of the most popular shade perennials. TheyâÂÂre carefree and easy to grow, and not only are there many variations of leaf color and pattern, the flowers on many varieties are attractive and fragrant, too. Two new hosta varieties feature the most striking flowers, yet. They look more like the flowers of a night-blooming cactus than a hosta.

Hosta plantaginea âÂÂVenusâ has sweetly scented, "twice-double" flowers. That means they are quadruple-petaled. The 5-inch-diameter white flowers emerge in late summer and early fall after most other hosta flowers have passed.

Hosta âÂÂFujibotanâ is another double-flowered selection, and this one features 2-inch-diameter, lavender flowers. Both hostas grow about 2 feet tall with green leaves. They are hardy in USDA zones 3 to 8.

For more information on these unique double-flowered hostas, go to: Wayside Gardens.
******************************************
Copied the above from a page with a perfect photo of Venus flower.Link shown below. Had no idea about fujibotan, but I bet it is pretty too. Does not mention fragrance with fujibotan, just says it has a double flower.

For what it's worth.......

Here is a link that might be useful: unique double flowered hosta

Banyai - Aphrodite bed update:

5 of the 9 blooms on that first bloom scape have fully opened - the rest look like they will fizzle and not open completely.

Now have 33 bloom scapes on the 22 clumps - will get a photo of the fatter bloom scapes that are now soaring up through the foliage!
Much heavier/larger than the initiial one.

Have had another 1.5 inches of rain here Sun night - plus foggy mornings so there is now adequate soil moisture which is helping the bloom process.

The fragrance depends on humidity and wind speed: when the wind stops and the humidity is high, the fragrance stays around the flowers for some time. In the breeze, you have to smell the flowers individually.

Bruce

Thanks for sharing. Guess I'll have to enjoy them vicariously, I'm about to send my Aphrodite away as it sounds like it is likely a lost cause here.

Bruce, in looking up the double flowering hosta, one hit was for Tony Avent's piece on his nursery website about fragrant flowering hosta. He was writing it I think not long after Aphrodite came available.

One of his statements was to the effect that people south of Baltimore seldom got to see the fully opened blooms because it takes moisture, humidity, warm days, and cooler nights--or else the blooms turn to mush.

I believe your location somewhere around Baltimore's latitude (not close to Baltimore, but westerly from it), and in the foothills at least of mountainous area, could give perhaps cooler evening temps. Sounds like a spot ideally suited for the plantaginea to bloom spectacularly.

We have had a lot of rain on a regular basis. When it rains, the temps drop from the 90s down to 80 or thereabouts. Not exactly cool, but better than 90! If it is a temperature drop and not an absolute temperature that is the secret, then perhaps we might have a couple of the buds open anyway. I am anxiously awaiting the fate of my lone Aphrodite scape showing some white on its lower buds.

Regardless of what happens with this one Aphrodite this year, I note your quarter-century (wow just think about THAT) dedication to perfecting conditions for the lovely Aphrodite. I don't have 25 years left to spend in any fashion, but what remains might as well be spent waiting for flowers to bloom, instead of watching paint dry. :)

Your updates are unparalleled and thank you for sharing them here.

What a magnificent spread of plants, always love seeing a big grouping like that. Most of us tend to have one of everything.

I guess I'm lucky. Aphrodite bloomed its first year in and always puts up scapes. Most years the deer gobble the flowers up as soon as the buds start to open. This year I soused them with Liquid Fence and am hoping for the best.

There are now 36 bloom scapes in the Aphrodite bed. Some of the heavier ones are almost one inch in diameter. Most are 2 ft tall, as can be seen in the photo.

One new bloom has started opening - expecting the summer heat to break tomorrow with storms and a cool front coming in. High temps back to low 80's next week.

Bruce

That's a lot of Aphrodite you have there, Bruce!! I just couldn't stand it any longer, I ordered I think TWO more Aphrodite and TWO more mama plantaginea, so now I have FIVE plantaginea and THREE Aphrodite....

What edging hosta is that along the walk?

Do you sit on that porch bench of an evening? It should be heavenly this coming week or so.

Since the bed is in full direct sun, had to use Chinese Sunrise as the border plant.

Chinese Sunrise, like most lancifolia hosta, are some of the most durable and sun tolerant hosta if kept moist.

Can be used as deer repellant: plant enough Chinese Sunrise at the edge of beds or gardens, whihc the deer will eat until they are full, and then they will not eat your more desirable hosta!

Once sold 50 pounds of Chinese Sunrise divided and cleaned roots for $50: probably 1-2000 divisions in that box, but I didn't need them anymore for deer repellant and wanted them out of the garden. Sent them to Nebraska where the deer stopped eating hosta after munching on them for a year.

Yes, we sit on the porch and wait patiently for Aphrodite to bloom. But it is taking toooo lonnng!

Bruce

Drat, I just gave up and moved Chinese Sunrise to a shadier spot because it burned so badly. It was the first year in, so maybe it was just used to shadier conditions. It certainly wasn't lack of water!

I'll have to try the deer repellent idea. I put my noid and junk hostas on the borders of the woodland bed, but the deer just stepped over and ate the good stuff.

Up to 42 bloom scapes, with weekend rain and mid 50's temps at night.

Several large blooms set to open - will try and get a couple of more photos of opened flowers together!

FINALLY seeing what the bed should look like!

Bruce

Wow, the beat goes on!!!

How exciting. Is there a record somewhere of the number of bloom-scapes in a private garden? Of Aphrodite? It is record breaking in my book. Hope to see such a sight one day. Sigh....

bruce.. new computer.. send me an email.. so i can get you in it ..

also.. check into this GW post .. see link

thx

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link