Pic of the Day--Lunar Orbit

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Hank Zumach
Posts: 3262
Joined: Oct 11, 2001 8:00 pm
Location: Stoddard, WI

Pic of the Day--Lunar Orbit

Post by Hank Zumach »

Hi All--Guess what? Another hosta variety with questions about its expected size, Lunar Orbit. It is another variety that I purchased in 2001 and planted in a bed under some Black Walnut trees. In that spot the plant only receives some filtered light. Along with the other hostas planted in that bed, it has had a very nice growth rate. Its measurements have been 27x12 in 2001, 43x18 in 2002, 55x26 in 2003, 52x28 in 2005 and 58x27 in 2006. The size is way, way past Lemke's listing of 30x12 and the Hosta Library's and Wade & Gatton's 30x15 for a mature plant. If anyone has some information or comments, I'd be glad to get them. Lunar Orbit has had slug problems but the use of Deadline MP brought them under control. The photos are from 2002, 2005 and 2006. I would also like to encourage everyone to post their own photos of the Pic of the Day plants.

Registry - http://www.hostaregistrar.org/detail.ph ... ar%20Orbit
MyHostas - http://myhostas.be/db/hostas/Lunar+Orbit
Hosta Library - http://www.hostalibrary.org/l/lunarorbit.html
Lunar Orbit 6-26-06c.jpg
Lunar orbit P62705c.jpg
Lunar Orbit 6-24-02c 021.jpg
Hank
Better Gnomes & Gardens
zone 4B-5A
Latitude: 43° 48' 51" N
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renaldo75
Posts: 10306
Joined: Jul 15, 2002 8:00 pm
Location: SW Iowa Z4b

Post by renaldo75 »

Another nice one, Hank. :P I don't have this one, but I've been trying to post my pics of the plants your showing when I have them - and more importantly - I can find them in my files. :wink:
GO HAWKEYES!!!

Renaldo's Hosta List
Latitude: 40° 59' 17.6676"; Longitude: -94° 44' 28.014"
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MikeWI
Posts: 1889
Joined: Oct 24, 2001 8:00 pm
Location: the Land o'Milorganite

Post by MikeWI »

Not sure if I have this one... it's either this or Bright Lights... so it's hard for me to comment. Like it though... I've never had any issue with slugs with mine, what ever it is... do have a problem with leaf cutter bees.
Mike
Milwaukee
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jgh
Posts: 5135
Joined: Oct 14, 2001 8:00 pm
Location: Plymouth, Minnesota zone 4

Post by jgh »

We all know that Hank grows his hostas bigger than most of us can achieve. I think that's partly because Hank finds a good spot for them and then leaves them alone long enough to really mature... and of course, he takes very good care of them.

So my Lunar Orbit never gets into the gargantuan 50" plus sizes, but

August Moon is listed in Zilis as a 42" width. Lunar Orbit is an AM sport. One of the reasons I'm such a big fan of this family is that most of the sports mirror the parent in size and character, varying mostly in the variegation. They blend together perfectly in the landscape due to this similarity.

Ran Lydell registered several AM sports... L Orbit in 1991, Lunar Magic - sport of LO with a wider margin - 1994 and a dark green leafed sport from LM he named Lunar Night - 1998. I don't know what he was thinking, since he was clearly familiar with the parent plant. There was no way to expect a healthy sport of August Moon to stay at 30". In fact, mine is consistently in the 40+" diameter range in spite of my consistent neglect. I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between LO and September Sun (Solberg, 1985) without a plant tag. In fact, I don't think most of us would identify the slightly wider margin on Lunar Magic as terribly distinct from the other two varieties.

I grow all the members of this family I can get my hands on - but I think most gardeners would be happy with any one of these three, combined with a green-centered sport like Abiqua Moonbeam, and the parent August Moon... lovely trio.

One oddity in this family... some of the leaves become very corrugated - some don't. Some will have parts of the leaves corrugated, and some will stay relatively smooth.

I like the casual, informal beauty of this whole family.
Lunar Orbit rdcd.JPG
AM Family Lunar Orbit rdcd.JPG
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jgh
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Joined: Oct 14, 2001 8:00 pm
Location: Plymouth, Minnesota zone 4

Post by jgh »

and for comparison, my Lunar Magic... actually, now that I look at it, Zilis describes both LO and LM as gold-centered with wide green margin. Lydell registered LM as a sport of LO, so he clearly saw a difference... can you?
AM Family Lunar Magic  rdcd.JPG
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jgh
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Joined: Oct 14, 2001 8:00 pm
Location: Plymouth, Minnesota zone 4

Post by jgh »

And Mike - my experience has been that Bright Lights is advertised as a more vigorous tokudama - but it is still a tokudama. It stays slightly shorter than the AM sports, and the leaves have more corrugated character - and it is much slower than any of the AM sports.

I think the character of the tokudamas is more "refined" than the AM family... I think you should be able to tell which you have based on vein pairs... Bright Lights has more finely divided leaves...

for comparison...
Bright Lights closeup rdcd.JPG
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LucyGoose
Posts: 17710
Joined: Nov 14, 2001 8:00 pm
Location: Zone 5, Northwest Indiana

Post by LucyGoose »

Man oh man!! You two are excellent together!! (Meaning Hank & Jim)

Don't have it either, but love the picture's....I sure hope the garden club I just joined recently, is looking in......a couple of them I would like to join....

Thanks again guys!! :D :D

edited because of spelling.... :oops:
Last edited by LucyGoose on Apr 09, 2007 9:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Nathalie23
Posts: 1031
Joined: Feb 17, 2006 10:08 pm
Location: Quebec, Canada (zone 4) 46 25'/-72 35'

Post by Nathalie23 »

Wow! Very nice :D I didn't know this one!
Nathalie

I usually speak french so sorry for my mistakes in english
Nathalie23 Hosta List
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