Yes, another Undulata just greening up. I see nothing unexpected in the leaves.

Another one. (almost at the end of my NOIDs, btw)

===>>> nooooo.. go to your friends house.. and lets start IDing hers .. lol ...

is that a pet raccoon in the first pick?

ken

These are just too young for me to be able to say anything. For now, enjoy.

There is one picture in the Library that seems to show that Undulata does at least sometimes have a propensity to become colored as your last picture shows. Check it out.

debra

Yes, another Undulata just greening up. I see nothing unexpected in the leaves.

Guess I'm just paranoid after the discovery of my diseased Sun Power.

===>>> nooooo.. go to your friends house.. and lets start IDing hers .. lol ...

Just might have to do that. LOL

is that a pet raccoon in the first pick?

He has a buddy too. 🦝

There is one picture in the Library that seems to show that Undulata does at least sometimes have a propensity to become colored as your last picture shows. Check it out.

Still a bit paranoid, and since I now know it's the same as 3 of my other hostas, and it's struggling anyway, I think I'm going to get rid of it, while it's still small enough to easily dig out.

No insult intended, but there are soooo many varieties of hostas......... why not treat yourself to a new desired one? Then no more guessing...... but that’s not as much fun for the rest of us! Lol.......lol

debra

Debra: I totally agree. And, despite all my NOID posts, I do have a few named hostas that I bought myself and love. And hopefully next year, I can rehome some of my duplicates, and get some newbies to fill their empty spaces. 😊

whether or not you are paranoid.. it really has nothing to do with this ID ...

its a NORMAL <<=== key word .... undulata ... doing what it does.. this time of year ...

there is simply no question about it ...

besides its not consistent with what they call the ink bleed characteristic .... do you need a reference to that???

ken

besides its not consistent with what they call the ink bleed characteristic .... do you need a reference to that???

Maybe I do, since I thought those leaves looked suspect.

I'm really happy, though, to know it wasn't, as if it was, that would have meant the Sun Power managed to infect others.

Anyway I dug that little one out, as I didn't need 4 of the same hosta. Now I have an empty space, though, so perhaps it's time for a visit with my friend. LOL.

Thanks for posting the pics. Absolutely gorgeous, liquidfeet.

@gardenchick2010, here are some photos I just took of my viridescent undulatas. They've finished blooming and are changing to green in order to get more photosynthesis done before the season is done. I understand that this change to green helps them set up what's going on underground now so they can come up bigger and stronger next spring. Some leaves turn fully green. Others go half-way, and some stay white. The clumps still look "white" in the context of the garden.

Of course I wish they didn't need to turn green. My White Christmas hosta doesn't turn green, but it also doesn't get any bigger. As in, years and years of growth and the stupid thing, beautiful as it is, still only has a few leaves.

Here are a bunch of undulatas in a clump out back, still looking more or less white right now mid-August. They are suffering from the drought, so look more thin than usual.

Close up of that clump. You'll see every variation of viridescence.

More closeups:

At first reading I thought you were wanting to get rid of a plant that was reverting right in the middle of the season, one white leaf at a time, because you were worried it would come back eternally green in the future. On second reading, I now realize you thought your hosta was sick.

Nope, not sick. It's just doing what it needs to do to get enough fuel to its underground parts now so it can work on growing bigger for the future. Those white leaf parts can't do photosynthesis. They are just decoration for our visual pleasure.

Another note about undulatas: they grow better in full sun. But the white parts burn out. In full shade they barely grow; not enough photosynthesis can go on. I keep mine in as much sun as I can, and I ignore the fact that they get holes in them. I can do that because there are so many close to each other, so they read as a white clump, not as specimens to be admired one at a time. This hosta is no good for that kind of viewing.

Here's my Night Before Christmas. It must be 8 years old. That's dianthus up next to it.

It's been such a disappointment, given my desire for it to replace the undulatas. It's prettier and has more dense substance, though, than the undulatas. It just won't expand to fill a space that can be seen as part of a designed garden bed.

liquidfeet: So much interesting info in your post. And, yes, I thought the baby undulata was sick, but I see now the leaves I was worried about was just the normal summer transformation. Oh well, it's gone now, giving me space for something else.

My 2 undulatas in mostly shade are pretty small still, but the one that get part sun/part shade is getting larger.

I did have a 4th one that came up in the spring with solid green leaves, which I didn't like, so I got rid of it and got something else for its space.

I love all the hostas with white centres, and your Night Before Christmas is beautiful. I have a Fire and Ice, and it also is slow growing. I did split it once, and both pieces survived, but still aren't getting much bigger. One of them finally had one stalk with flowers, so that's a good sign, I hope.

Last summer I dug up some undulatas that had gone all green, ALL green, and replanted them in an area I call my parking lot. I wanted to know if they'd do the same thing two summers in a row because their DNA made them especially willing to go green.

This year they came up white and still are fully white. It's mid-August, so this year they aren't going to go green. When they turned green last summer they were in nearly full sun. In the parking lot they have been in deep shade, with no direct sun all season. Not only have they stayed white. They've also not grown at all. Small and spindly they are.

This is evidence that the amount of viridescence these undulatas express has to do with environment, not with the individual plant's DNA. So I've dug them up again and am planning on putting them back in full sun maybe today or tomorrow. I have a sunny spot I use for this purpose. I put little hostas in there so they can soak up the sun and get big, then I move them out. There's room there right now for these little troopers. After they spend time in this sunny spot, I expect they will thrive and get bigger. I also expect them to go greenish again in order to fulfill their destiny. Once they get bigger and look happy, I'll put them somewhere where they can contribute their whiteness to the garden's design.

Here they are waiting for me to plant them in their new home.

Liquidfeet, I love your posts as you are a wealth of information! Regarding your NBC, I actually wondered if it was NBC when I compared to mine and HL pic. But I know you are a gardener that really knows her stuff. My NBC is at least 8 years old and much bigger, although it is not a huge plant. Have you checked the roots? Or tried moving it? Mine gets a fair amount of morning sun and seems to do well with it. Here it is in end of June.

debra

Btw, liquidfeet, what is that Blue Hosta next to your first picture of your viridescent undulatas? Abiqua Drinking Gourd????

debra

@djacob Z6a SE WI I'm not sure which photo/hosta you are referring to. I don't see a blue hosta in the first photo. I do know that whatever hosta you are looking at, it is not Abiqua DG because the two I have are in the back, in pots, and those pics don't include those two plants.

perhaps it's not blue, it looked blue to me, but what hosta is that to the right of the viridescents?

debra

@djacob Z6a SE WI you must be referring to the first photo I've posted below. Those blue hostas, planted close to each other, over on the right, are Rock and Roll.

--deeply cupped, extremely thick substance to the leaves

--leaves are heavily puckered and thus unruly

--stiff upright petioles

--a sturdy hosta cultivar

I bought three of these from HostasDirect back when Tom Carlson had the place, and he told me this hosta kept its intense blue all season. So true. I have moved them several times while teasing the individual roots apart to get more plants. At this point I think I have nine separate plants.

Rock and Roll is a slow grower. None of these individual plants is mature, and I must have bought these 8-9-10 or more years ago. I planted them close to each other and may one day move them even closer to get the look of one huge hosta. Right now they are simply filling a space. They are in full shade, but there is a lot of indirect ambient light. Maybe they'd grow faster in sun, and I bet the wax is thick enough to not disappear in full sun either.

I took that photo the day I posted it, so it is still as blue in August as it was back in May. The new photos below were taken this morning.

I'd definitely recommend this hosta. I think at maturity this one's leaves are more unruly than Abiqua Drinking Gourd, while ADG's leaves are smoother. But my ADG is not yet as old as these Rock and Rolls so I'm not sure.

Just saw this liquidfeet, thanks for the ID!

debra