OMG ... we can edit the title ... !!!!!!

ken

i sure hope i spelt BW the right way ... lol

OMG, Ken posted pics! ;-)

No, you didn't spell them correctly...they have a leading cap in their names, but I'm not griping, CRIKEY! Very nice pics.

Those pics are a great response to a recent post?

Jamie's thread

Bump

hey jo .... the lack of responses.. i why i very infrequently post pix

ken

That's a darn shame because you've posted perfect pics to show Jamie the difference! I hope she sees this.

Ken, I'm not the only one that really enjoys your (very scarce commodity) pics...just don't know where everyone is, lol...living la vida loca, I guess :-)

I liked seeing both these pics. They do look close but not exactly alike. But Blue Wedgwood is at a disadvantage because it's competing with a fantastic pic of Halcyon. If we're voting on which photo shows the best coloring, it's the pretty blue of Halcyon. Everyone should have a Halcyon, right?

But if you want deeper conversation than that, ...I don't know enough. I looked them up on the HL and found them listed as Blue Wedgwood (E Smith/BHHS 88) TF2 x 9 and Halcyon (E Smith/BHHS 88) TF1 x 7, which I don't understand the TF1 or 2 x 7 or 9, ....what that all means.

It also says Wedgwood is a Smith hosta (is that the hillbillies?) but it was named by Alex Summers???? ....And some Blue Dimples are really Blue Wedgwood, but my BD is gone :( so I have neither to worry about.

But without the PB limitations you had before, I hope you will be posting more pics of your gardens. I bet they look good, even right now, with snow covered conifers of all kinds. And with over 1500 hostas, you could post one a day for.... getting out the calculator... more than four years!

Hey Jo, more like livin' the polar vortex.

Nice comparison, Ken, although with the vast technical knowledge of hosta that you possess (and I mean that sincerely), I would have expected a bit more expounding than, "H as the typical june shape ... BW is different". LOL

Not really a smackdown, more like posting a brief, as it were. LOL

tj

I can't get enough of the history when it's offered up like this, Ken. are you grinning, TJ? Vortex schmortex! ;-) Isn't it warm inside the house? We have temp of -22C/-8F currently.

go figure... i dont have a pic of tardiflora... that ugly little green thing ...

i offer a title and some pix... if no one cares to start a conversation after posting such.. then why bother ...

sandy offered such ... and away we go ...

too many of these posts are just hosta PORN .... oh.. i have to buy that one ... it gets old ... especially after buying 1650 of them ... lol ...

so i was thinking ... the TF part.. probably means.. TF was mom ... can someone see if i have that right .. or bassackwards?????

there are a few that of smiths.. that fall outside the TF naming protocol ... but not many ....

most of his plants have british bird names.. i suspect he had another hobby ... lol ...

its neat to read thru some of the older british history themed books... like roman britian.. authur.. all the king fiction .... etc.. and see the bird names used ... rosemary sutcliffe used them often ... as well as many garden descriptions ... frankly.. i dont know why most of her stuff falls into the genre of childrens books ... [i wonder if flora will see this ....]

ken

Here's a sample of your "ugly little thing" (I don't agree with that description)...tardiflora, a species with unknown origin. I wish I knew more as well...to be able to engage in a good discussion.

The best I can do is Google for more information, to learn...and to encourage you to keep sharing/teaching those of us that are less knowledgeable, in your own inimitable way.

Here is what I found to fill in more details. A 2009 Solberg article. When it comes to the science of it all, I will always be a neophyte but I do enjoy a good read when I am curious enough. I just wish I could retain it all....I think I use the same sieve Bkay mentioned somewhere earlier.

Here is the article... in the link...

tardiflora

hey jo ... next time give us the link ...

if i want to go blind.. i will recall my mothers lessons ... and they have nothing to do with hosta ...

in fact.. can you link us to what you posted .... except for the naming.. i think i was rather spot on ...

aw carp... i found your link.. never mind ....

ken

Yes, I am glad I found this out. So the F1 etc. isn't as overly complicated as I expected it to be. It was a way to catalog it all. I'm glad hybridizing with the dream of creating smaller blues was pursued because they add so much to the garden.

I have another one of Smith's, Hadspen Blue, which is TF2x7. So that's a second generation plant with six other "siblings" before it, possibly others beyond 7. But that's the one that turned into and was stable enough to market as Hadspen Blue.

So how long does it take or how many plants do they "trial?" in order to know if a plant is stable? Or with the tissue culture method, is it not necessary to do it that way? My knowledge is foggy in this area.

One would have to love doing this because it seems like it would take so long. ..Like Benedict taking it to TF6 would have taken some time. But if you hit on something, a great plant, it would be pretty satisfying. I can see why so many people enjoy growing their own hostas from seeds to see what you might get.

Ken said......"BW is IDable on sight.. with that little ripple as the leaf bottom turns toward the stem ......"
Hmm, that's pretty subtle, and another layer of detail to pay attention to for IDing. Interesting!

Ken! Rotflmbo!!! Yes, you were definitely spot on. I just noticed where the link ended up...aargh

Ken has the story correct - that Peter Ruh obtained the crosses without names, so to register them some thing had to be done; so he named them with "some help from his friends". Thus the people names, as in what's your daughter-in-law's name? Grand-daughter? and so forth

This info is covered in depth in a previous AHS Journal.

Bruce

Thanks Ken, etal. NOW its a smackdown. lol

tj

bruce???? you confuse me oh great guru ...

ruh also sold the david stone mediums ... aka the DSM line... which had all the girlie names ... he sold me those also ... lol

the TF smith line had all the birdie names???

dont make me pull out my books.. lol ..

gotta run

ken

It has been a long time since I have been here but as I recall, don't you have beautiful conifers, Ken? They must look good now even in the snow. I also seem to remember a tricolored beech? Maybe that was someone else.

"too many of these posts are just hosta PORN .." - like the alphabet game????

This forum encompasses many helpful discussions and topics, Ken - including this one you initiated. But mostly members like to post photos of their beautiful hosta gardens and their growing hosta collections (oops dirty word). That might get old for you, but I feel you are in the minority.

I can't wait to see all the hosta porn videos posted this coming season - lots of kinky stuff going on in our gardens.

Ken,

You are correct on the bird names for Eric Smith.

Those stories on people names was for the David Stone series,, which was the article in the AHS Journal. Here are the names, with an asterisk where my mother Pauline had some input with Peter Ruh:

Barbara
Beaulah
Blue Boy
Blue Rock
Bonnie
Brooke
Bruce*
Carrie Ann

Dustin
Eireann
Ellen
Emerald Gem
Hazel
Jo Jo
Leprechaun
Little Ann*
Margaret*

Mary Jo*
Oakview*
Pauline*
Peking
Stone's Valentine
Stone's Yellow Leaf
Sunnybrook
Wolcott

Bruce

Just thinking back before we had so many great blues, Blue Wedgewood was one of the bluest leaves for those early years.

I recall Blue Jay back in the mid-1980's was breath-taking; we have certainly come a long way from then. My Halcyon hold their blue color almost up to frost, in the partial sun exposure.

Bruce

It is nice to hear about some of the older varieties and their heyday, Bruce. It's hard for me to fathom that I only became aware of Hostas in 1980! I had Halcyon somewhere between 1980-1993 and at that time, my only all-blue. What impressed me was the substance.