Not Pic of the Day 6-03-08 Gunsmoke

[jgh]

In 2003, Shady Oaks listed a whole bunch of plants new to tissue culture in their catalog. There were lots of really good hostas and some truly great ones that year... Allegan Fog, Captain Kirk, Earth Angel, Jewel of the Nile, Praying Hands, Risky Business, St. Paul, Touch of Class...

So a small grower with limited space, trying to decide which varieties to start, a dozen teeny tc plants of each... I remember agonizing over the choices. When I polled my "buyers club" I was surprised to see that one of them, given all the choices, suggested Gunsmoke. The catalog description was:

Hosta 'Gunsmoke' (R. Herold,
2000) L A mature clump of Hosta
'Gunsmoke's majestic 5 foot mound of
foliage is comprised of elongated heartshaped
leaves. The metallic blue leaves
are prominently veined and have a
wonderful ruffled edge. Lavender
flowers open in early summer. An
impressible feature for the shade garden.

(I see from Marco Fransen's site that Gunsmoke has Sagae as a pod parent and Blue Piecrust as pollen parent)

Hosta Registry - http://www.hostaregistrar.org/detail.ph ... y=Gunsmoke
MyHostas - http://myhostas.be/db/hostas/Gunsmoke
Hosta Library - http://www.hostalibrary.org/g/gunsmoke.html

To which I said... "ho hum..." But my friend wanted a half dozen, so I got some. Sold off the extras and ended up with one little baby and tucked it "temporarily" into a spot in my rock garden that had gotten too shady for the original plantings. And we promptly forgot about it except for the occasional weeding foray into a largely neglected part of the garden.

Then last year, fifth year in the ground from tc, we looked up and saw a quite magnificent hosta towering in the back of the rock garden. There are lots of nice solid colored hostas around, and lots of great rippled, pie-crusted hostas coming down the pike... but Gunsmoke is one of those special delights for me, an unexpected pleasure.

The pictures, as I look at them, do a good job of capturing the form of the plant but really don't portray the metallic blue well (and please forgive the excessive tree poop in some of my photos - oak blossoms are exceptionally heavy this year and sticking to the leaves due to rain)... still, might be one not everyone has seen...

Gunsmoke with companions Gaijin, Island Charm, and Sadi

[Justme]

I have a Gunsmoke and it is thriving in spite of my neglect. A very nice hosta.

Tami

[flowerchild59]

That is alot of growth for 5 years. I would love to see it in another 5!!!

[renaldo75]

Very nice!! One I've heard of, but not seen in many gardens.

[DBoweMD]

I had the opportunity to buy it for $11, about 3 years ago, hesitated and went back for the half price sale a month later, at which time it was gone. Still wondering what might have been...

[jgh]

A lot of seedlings have been appearing in the gardens near Gunsmoke... and they have rippling unlike that of any of the other plants in the area except maybe Reptillian. I'm wondering if it is a really productive pollen parent - maybe I'm going to have a whole bunch of Marshal Dillons and Miss Kittys and Festuses and Chesters around! Maybe someday I'll post a few of the babies...

[FreakyCola]

Hi Jim!

I bought a Gunsmoke TC maybe 4 years ago and it just poked along, but this year it's about 20" wide & really looking cool! Darn, I planted it by the driveway so I doubt if it will throw any seeds where they can grow.

I still think this is a glorious growth year as many of my hostas that have looked ho hum before are either colored up really pretty or have grown tremendously.

GS has really grown! I may move it before it gets any bigger to the other side of my sidewalk. I have a flagstone sidewalk with sand between the rocks. Baby hostas keep growing in the sand all over it! It's a breeding ground! They pop up so fast & I haven't had a chance to dig them up so I had to close down my sidewalk! People just have to walk around to the driveway! I'm sure you all understand, but I think it does tick off the mailman!
Ellen

[Patrushka]

Mmmm, I like this one too! My Dad was a fan of the tv show.

Oh my gosh, I have little oak trees coming up everywhere!