Wow, I have never seen that with this cultivar. Can you look down at the base of the plant and trace the green branches to a single (or specific) source? If so, cut them out. The green is much more vigorous than the glaucus and will take over in short order.

It's beautiful! Unfortunately if you don't get rid of the reversion, it will quickly overcome the glaucous foliage, which is really beautiful also.

This is one of my favorite shrubs but once in a while I have to cut off reversion shoots from the base.

https://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/137655/

Good find! sharpening pruners...

Here's a better picture of the worst view of it... the front public view of course. My window view not so bad.

I will post an "after" pic.

Regarding reversion in general, I have a knockout rose that started w/pink flowers but a couple of canes started to produce red flowers. I have pruned them multiple times, but still they come back red. Perhaps due to thorns, I didn't go as deep as possible. I will make sure I go super low with fothergilla. Hope it doesn't come back green in the future.

I have a modern pink shrub rose that has started producing a percentage of red flowers also (and no, I am not talking about 'Dr. Huey' rootstock sprouts coming into flower, should anyone reading here be prompted to make that suggestion).

Unfortunately with the particular 'Blue Shadow' in your last shot already so much of it has gone green that there isn't going to be very much left if you cut out all of the green. It may be that this cultivar just isn't very stable, something along this line rings a bell but I have not paid enough attention to the subject to be able to say more.

I've had 'Blue Shadow' for years and not seen any reversions on any of them FWIW.

Okay, the deed is done. I am not hopeful of future full blue plant.

Here is a view of the back branches I had to cut. The orange arrows were cuts. The red arrow is a branch that is all green and needs to be cut. I could not get as close to the base as I wanted. I wanted to cut beyond the collar which I know is a no-no.

But wait, it gets worse... This is the front of the shrub cuts that I made.

I doubt I could get any closer to the base without destroying the good trunks. I am pretty sure all the new growth will come from the area of the cuts and will be green.

THis is how much growth came off:

I think this plant is toast.

It was chosen to complement the blue spruce:

Not awful from that view but awful from the other side.

This is the neighbors Blue Shadows that inspired mine 4 years ago:

Their's is about the same age as mine. They also own the local garden center where I purchased it. They are out of town now but I will talk to them about it next time I see them.

The garden center has a specimen of it too. I noticed it this spring when I was there and I did not notice any green. It was gorgeous and huge. Maybe I will swing by and take a look at it.

I have the original tag from the grower. I'm going to see if I can find contact info and discuss fwiw.

Yes, clearly the neighbor is having the same problem. In your first shots it looks like existing blue sections are going green. (And you said all the leaves have in the past started green and gone blue, with lately some of them no longer bluing up). Otherwise of course I wonder if this cultivar is actually being grafted at least part of the time - maybe it is more of a bear to root than others. And in the case of the neighboring plant the green leaved shoots appear to have a different, taller and more vertical growth habit than the blue. Which could be taken to imply that the roots and top are two different varieties.

Yes, I noticed that taller growth habit too, but some of it is blue so hard to know if it's a rootstock issue. I don't think they ever prune (the cobbler's kids have no shoes...) I do prune. Supposedly Blue Shadow is is a Mt. Airy sport. Does that preclude grafting? If I reach the grower, that might be a good question to ask them. Can you detect a graft point at the base of my plant?

I just came back from the garden center to look at their specimen. The only green on it seems to be minimal and it looks like it's from a bit of new growth. Some pinkish tinge.

The salesperson said that specimen gets only a couple of hours sun and blamed my greening on too much sun. I'm skeptical because the same stem shows green in multiple years and it all stems (no pun intended) from the base. The tag says full-sun to part-shade. Salesperson said, that may be true, but "best color with more shade". my B.S. meter is going off.

Mine gets sun most of the day til about 2:30-3. The neighbors are similarly oriented as mine but are shaded out a bit earlier, maybe 1:30-2.

Sara, how much sun does yours get?

Full sun all day long. Drip irrigation. Very good early spring bloom, pretty resilient summer leaves (not too crispy from dry heat, sun), ok fall color. Fall color sometimes tough here if leaves get too crispy during summer - Japanese maples, particularly. The Fothergilla doesn't really want to be in CA but it stands up very well.

There goes their full sun excuse! The more I've been thinking about it, that's really an absurd excuse. Since when would too much sun (or ANY cultural problem) only affect a stem (or stems) from top to base.

Having said that I did find this reference online:

"...Part shade locations often produce the best foliage color..."

good read otherwise: Blue Shadow at Missouri Botanical Garden

I reached out to grower. Will report back if I get a response.

Patent office description

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=PP15490.PN.&OS=PN/PP15490&RS=PN/PP15490

That's very interesting because other reading claims BS is a hybrid not a cultivar. That patent is old. It seems that knowledge has changed since that patent filing. It is now x intermedia

I didn't yet read all the nitty gritty...only skimmed. Need to get my glasses for all that detail :-)

Thanks for posting.

Yes, 'Blue Shadow' would be F. x intermedia as discussed on the MOBOT page. There is a shared history of incorrect listing of the parent plant 'Mount Airy' under F. major as well. The true F. major has thicker branches and larger leaves (see key on page below) than anything I have seen in commerce under the name for a very long time. With large fothergilla being therefore more like an Asian witch hazel in aspect than F. gardenii or garden origin hybrid selections like 'Mount Airy'.

http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=112962#:~:text=Species%202%20%282%20in%20the%20flora%29%3A%20temperate%20regions%2C,to%20other%20genera%20of%20the%20Hamamelidaceae%20is%20unclear.

The grower did respond:

Yes, this appears to be reversion. I would prune out the green foliage at the source. I'm not sure if your plants came from tissue culture, but I know there are some issues with TC with the plants reverting and or showing traits unlike what they are supposed to be. Unfortunately, tissue culture is the only way to mass produce certain varieties.

The "and or" is interesting.

Overall, I'm kinda relieved because I started to freak out that I removed 1/3 of the plant wrongly! Can't wait to see what sprouts next year. Think blue :-)

If not, I'm just going to buy another one!!!

I remembered today that I forgot about my typical reference on woodies -- Michael Dirr. That's my bible and it usually has good stuff in it. So I looked it up to see if he had any info about reversion. It was kinda interesting. The manual I have is too old. (Fifth Edition Rev 1998) It pre-dates Blue Shadow. But his last reference in the gardenii Notes section had this: "Arnold Arboretum has identified a hybrid between the two species which offers intermediate size and other characteristics. This could be a most valuable shrub for modern landscapes..." goes on to name the particular chromosomes involved.

Interesting but makes me feel old!!!!

Dirr has more updated info in 2011's "Encyclopedia of Trees and Shrubs":

"'Blue Shadow' is a glaucous blue branch sport of 'Mt Airy.' Have tested for five years in Georgia. In full sun makes a perfect mound. 3 ft. by 4 ft. with abundant flowers, beautiful glaucous-blue leaves, yellow-orange-red fall color. All who witness the plant ask its identity. Has shown some reversion tendencies to green. From Gary Handy, Boring, Oregon, who first showed me a branch at the 2000 Farwest Show."

My own Blue Shadow is definitely showing some reversion to green, but I find it pretty interesting, especially the multicolored effect on individual leaves:

I had also reached out earlier to the breeder/patent holder (Gary Handy) for a response.

Shared with permission:

"It has been determined without doubt that a small percentage of the population will occasionally throw a truly reverted shoot – from the secondary cell (L-2) layer, which always originates below the soil line. Comes out green, stays that way and wicked fast compared to Blue Shadow. In my greenhouse production its less than 5% but I only sell them small and it takes awhile to show up so I don’t really have any data on how serious the problem might be on populations going forward."

After I shared with him my pictures of the cuts I had to make above the soil line, he refined the definition of soil line:

I agree that your images do show some shoots right above the soil line but my guess is that is still from that l-2 cell layer – which is the layer that is generally associated with below the soil level, or right at.

– also keep in mind when noodling “soil level” it can be argued that it’s a reflection of when, as a cutting, when in a container in production, or when planted. All those stages have variabilities.

All I can tell you with certainty is that I have never seen anything by way of reversion up in the branching, it’s always way down low or within the first half inch or so.

I think that last sentence is meant to clarify that reversion would not start midway up the branching.

soil line or not, it is very clear Blue Shadow does revert. I should show this to the garden center people so they don't continue to convey misinformation about sun levels. :-(

One more thing:

“Any shoots once blue will stay that way regardless whether they were derived from above or below the soil line.”

So my gappy and holey blue plant will remain with at least as many blue branches as it has now. Any new shoots may or may not be blue. Maybe my gaps will get filled in with new midway blue branching. I'll prune it and feed it next spring to encourage it to put out new growth.

I on the other hand think the takeaway from this thread is that the cultivar just isn't stable and continued greening can be expected. That it has been established that the answer to your original question is yes - it reverts.

Agree. Same hand.

New growth already! Can't wait to see what color it is next spring (or the one after???). Seeing as they are originating from the cut point, probably greeen. The growth on the upper left looks more hopeful. How long does it take those teeny shoots to become a sizeable branch?

Also, fwiw, the remaining blue plant is still very nice even though thin.

Just today I noticed how much of my two Blue Shadows have reverted. I'm sure they were solid blue when i purchased them 4 or 5 years ago. In fact I made the landscaper return one to the nursery because if was green, not blue (it was labeled Blue Shadow, though) Without thinking I just got to work and removed the green stems. Yes, they were green from bottom to top and no reversions began half way up a branch. Then I realized I'd cut off branches that would have had good fall color and blooms in spring. I should have, could have, would have (if I'd thought about it for a minute) waited until after they bloomed. Oh well, act in haste repent in leisure (or in winter) I too would replace them if the plant becomes "too" green.

Thank you for all the research. It was interesting.

Wendy, your fothergilla still looks so beautiful (even if a tiny bit sparse)! I bought one this spring and it turned pretty greenish by August, not from reversion (yet!!), but I think due to the glaucous coating just wearing away over time from summer rains (seems most likely reason, anyway). I'm amazed that yours was still SO blue even in August!! Does it not rain much where you live- or other reason?? Anyway, I'm disappointed to hear from the comments that it only gets to be 3 feet tall:( The website I bought it from said it would grow to be 5 ft. tall. Oh well!

Wendy, if you see this I’d love to hear how it is doing this year? I just bought this plant and it has one green shoot that I was going to remove prior to planting. Also, any thoughts on pruning this to keep it in check? I have space, but have read descriptions that say this ends up with a 4ft spread and others that claim 7ft!

Sadly, all the new growth is coming in green.

Actually, in this picture, some of that green looks as tall as the blue. I should go see if it's new or coming from the cuts I made last year.

In any case, it would be nice to find a stable one, but even if I found another one in a garden center, it could still happen again. It's always something... If it isn't rabbits or insects or mislabelled plants, it's plants that defy their genetics!!!

Could you bear to simply let it grow on and see what it does? It looks like a healthy plant and might be a winner.

yeah, probably will for now... the path of least resistance... I am not hitting garden centers so often any more to go look for a replacement. From what the breeder or the grower said, my takeaway was that tissue culture propagation is at the root of instability. And if that's the primary propogation method in commercial stock, that doesn't help my odds.

Plus, the more mature the bed gets, the less inclined I am to put a small plant in to start again. It would look off-balance for quite awhile. If the proportion of blue to green stays as-is (75/25), it's okay.

This was tagged in the nursery as ”Mt. Airy” when I bought it back in April, but as it leafed out, it’s clear it has some ”Blue Shadow” in it as well. I don’t mind the 50-50 look for the time being.

That's interesting. Just yesterday I was at a friend's house who has Mt. Airy. It had a little blue here and there. And it was definitely Mt airy because of the size... it was a 4-5 ft tall. She had never noticed it before I called attention to it.

I just took a closer look at this year's green growth on my Blue Shadow. Most of it are short new shoots and is a result of where I cut back last year. However, one tall shoot is not new but is newly green from the base to the tip. It is a lateral stem about 2" above the crown. The main trunk that it comes off of has blue growth. Looks like that main trunk may be defective with probably more green in its future.