do you think that pot is stuffed enough ... lol ...

from the hosta library link: https://myhostas.be/db/view/Karin

Thanks, ken. I looked at that yesterday after I purchased Karin. The Fortunei part didn't stick though. Francee did very well for me, so this one should do well too. (I actually bought another Francee last year.)

bkay

It looks like Twilight, which has similar ancestry. I suspect it will look great all season. What at nice find!

Around here we can only do take out at nurseries. You order online, then they respond if they have what you want. They are open only a few hours each day and just on a few days each week. You complete the transaction online, then drive to the nursery and phone them to say you are there for the pick up. They phone you to drive up and put it into your car. You cannot get out and walk thru and select what you want.

-Babka

I was disappointed to find it would be cupped. In my yard, cupped hosta always have stuff caught in them. I had a nice big Big Daddy (prior to my huge losses in 2015) and it always looked dirty. You couldn't hose the dirt out of it or blow the dirt out of it - it just held everything that fell, and pecan trees drop a lot of stuff.

My Francee comes up with a white edge, like your Karin. You never know for sure what you get from large commercial nurseries. This might just be a gold fortunei labeled as a Karin. Whatever it is, it appears to be prolific. All of the pots of "Karin" were stuffed full.

bkay

Sorry I can't help you identify whether your hosta is Karin. I know it is frustrating to not be certain.

Babka, the procedure you are following to purchase hosta like ordering online and picking up while remaining in your car----is because of COVID-19?

We have had two long time garden nurseries close their doors last year after decades. Boy was their timing spot on (for them)! That leaves one location nearby that might have some decent hosta to purchase. It could very well be that stock will be limited here as well. I am considering ordering online. These are definitely uncertain and unsettling times!

I knew that the hosta would be in, as they are usually for sale about the time mine come up. I checked their website and it said exactly what Babka described - order online and drive thru pick up, because of COVID-19. I called my local branch of the nursery and asked if the hosta were in and could she tell me what varieties they had. She said they were considered an "essential" business in Dallas County and were open. Hardware stores, grocery stores, Walmart, Sams, Home Depot and Lowe's (hours are reduced) are all open in Dallas County. Restaurants are drive thru, curbside pickup or delivery only, gyms and theaters are closed.

That nursery is a local Texas business and has nurseries in several counties, so that "curb side pickup" would apply anywhere. The rules are different in each county. The county just north of us (Collin), says stay home except for essential business. Their county judge declared all businesses were essential as long as they could abide by the 6 foot rule. Some stores have put up sneeze guards and are marking the floors with tape at 6 foot intervals.

It's a mess, to say the least.

bk

bkay, what you describe is pretty much the same here. The only difference is that at this time, businesses are closed, except for essential ones. So I don't know what is going to happen in a couple of weeks. I could see garden nurseries reducing their stock because of the unknown. They don't want to be stuck with excess plants or losing profit. It may well be that when businesses begin to open, the nurseries may do the drive through. That would be a downer. I like to see my plants before I buy them. This just may not be a great hosta year after all.

Here all shops (except supermarkets and pharmacies) are closed and we can only do online shopping. But this has never been a problem because I love to choose my hosta in winter and get them early in spring. And there are no nurseries here with the kind of hosta I want. You can get some Fortunei albomarginata or something like this in the DIY store, but that's all. The shops shall stay closed until Aptil 20th here in Germany, but maybe the shut down will be even longer.

This is a frightening situation for all of us, stay health and enjoy your gardens!

Karin, here is a photo of my Hosta Twilight (left most) last year. Seems similar to your new Karen. It is a great plant.

I think I found the answer. I was searching for the vein pairs on h. Karin and discovered that h. Karin is a sport of h. Anne. They look the same except the margins are yellow on h. Anne. Both are tetraploid. Also, h. Anne is not cupped!!!!! Yea!!! (I don't care for cupped hosta.) It matches all the descriptions of h. Anne. So, from now on, it will be called Anne.

It's interesting that h. Anne is named for Mr. Heemskerk's wife. H. Anne is named for his daughter.

bk

bkay,

Karin was very late to show but here it is with a white margin from the beginning and the leaves look slightly cupped.

Karin is a nice hosta. I'm just glad mine isn't Karin. It was an impulse buy, as I had no previous knowledge of it.

bk

I actually just love my Karin and even with things getting into the cups, I get many compliments on it, Slugs hate it so it stays perfect all season. Not sure what you bought but it is nice, This is my Karin but still unfurling yet

Hard to say but it may be possible to be Twilight, I purchased it a few years ago and was quite yellow on the edges that turned while as the time goes on. I am not good at this name the game

Faye, I see what you mean. All three plants referenced in this thread originate in Holland and are sports of Fortunei Aureomarginata, or sports of sports of Fortunei Aureomarginata. They don't seem to vary a whole lot. Twilight is a tad larger than Anne and Karin, described with leaves 6X5 and 6X4 respectively. Each of those are reported to have 8 vein pairs. Twilight is described as having 10X7 leaves with 9-11 vein pairs. Twilight comes up with yellow margins and goes white in the summer, while Anne comes up yellow and fades to cream and Karin starts white and stays white.

They are going to be very similar genetically. Unless the leaf size changes significantly as it matures (it's new this spring, but appears to be mature) or it goes white in the summer, I'm satisfied that it is Anne. I would guess that it was a tissue culture hiccup of Karin that turned out to be Anne.

Thanks for adding to the conversation. Your post made me research and (tentatively) confirm my earlier conclusions (I love research).

bk