Sometimes I wonder...

renaldo75 · Post by **renaldo75** » May 16, 2007 12:50 pm

..how much attention I am really paying to some individual hostas. I say this because last summer I finally picked up Cheatin Heart from Gary & Kathy/pepper1 at the Des Moines Farmer's Market. I'd been wanting a small all yellow & it fit the bill. I knew I already had Faithful Heart which is a sport of CH with a green margin. All was well with the world.

So when I was out taking pics in HB-W2 Sunday, I did a double take when I saw Faithful Heart cuz it didn't look so faithful anymore.

No green margin to be seen on any leaf. Since I have tended to neglect this bed except to pull weeds a couple times a year

[& it's a small hosta] I couldn't tell you if it was still faithful last year at the time of my Cheatin Heart purchase or if it had already strayed back to its cheatin ways...

I'm pretty sure it had a green margin at one point in time

, but I doubt that I have any positive proof of that. I'll have to do some digging into my pic folders. Only problem is that I rarely took any pics in that bed.

At any rate I can say I've got 2 Cheatin Hearts now.

Is it just me or have others had an entire plant revert back to what it sported from or all sport to something different??

Mary Ann · Post by **Mary Ann** » May 16, 2007 1:57 pm

I noticed this one late summer (too late to be separated). One eye is all green, another yellowish, the rest is still Faithful.

JoshS · Post by **JoshS** » May 16, 2007 3:33 pm

Hold tight, Reldon...I think the margin will darken in a few weeks!

Post by **Chris_W** » May 16, 2007 3:43 pm

I was going to say the same thing as Josh. The margin takes a little time, same as Illicit Affair where the center takes some extra time to darken

Lessadragon · Post by **Lessadragon** » May 16, 2007 4:59 pm

Renaldo, Josh and Chris are absolutely correct.

They start out looking just like CH and then green up in a couple of weeks.

Lynn

Wanda · Post by **Wanda** » May 17, 2007 8:53 am

Well, glad to hear it didn’t change on you...

I seem to “find” sports that have obviously been there a while and not noticed before. I don’t know how it happens...the first thing I do each morn when going outside is to walk the gardens, looking at all the hosta. This now takes one full hour. I swear I look carefully at each one...but I tend to find the “changes” when on my knees weeding.

Last year the first one was Halcyon #3. Wow - two eyes doing the Goldbrook Glimmer thing (this year 4 of 8 eyes doing the same). Later it was Elvis Lives #1...looking carefully at #1 & #2 deciding which to divide, I found a leaf with a white edge!

Yesterday noticed a Jade Cascade leaf has a skinny white streak right down the midrib!!! Now how the heck did I miss that earlier?

Gosh, I just love hosta for their change-ability! Been growing perennials for 25 years and not one has ever changed...boring! (hehe)

wanda

renaldo75 · Post by **renaldo75** » May 17, 2007 12:15 pm

Thanks, Josh, Chris, & Lynn - as you can tell, I did not know that bit of useful information.

LOL I will definitely be keeping an eye on it from now on.

Mary Ann - Just read a catalog listing for the all green sport of Cheatin Heart last nite. Zilis/Solberg registration - the name escapes me at the moment, but it was ____ Heart. Guess they decided to make some $$ off of those all green sports they'd been getting.

Wanda - I do the same thing when I'm out wandering the gardens, but always see so much more when I'm on my hands & knees [up close & personal] weeding. And I still don't find the stuff you do.

That streaked Antioch is the one exception this year.

Arlene · Post by **Arlene** » May 17, 2007 4:05 pm

Well, just yesterday I separated a beautiful Masquerade from a completely green "Masquerade" -- Zilis says "It grows fairly well for a white-centered plant but its tendency to sport green leaves relegates it to the role of a high-maintenance collector’s plant" so I guess my little green guy isn't very unusual.