Hosta ID?

[sweetee]

Okay, I think I'm a bit confused. I bought Venetian Star at the end of last season. Since it was fall the leaves were already brown and shriveled.
This is the prettiest blue with pointed leaves, but from what I know Venetian Star to look like, this does not. No rippling leaves. Does V.S. ripple immediately or take some time? If not V.S., then who? Thanks

[bkay2000]

Well, I could not find a photo of Venetian Star online. There's no photo of Venetian Star in the library. There is a plant named Venetian Star registered by Mark Zillis. It's blue. I'm not knowledgeable enough to know if your plant matches that description.

Your plant looks like Venus Star in the library. www.hostalibrary.org

bk

[Tigger]

Venetian Star/Venus Star/Venetian Blue all should have some piecrusting, but the (high) vein pair count is right. Becky's Choice is a newer Zilis introduction (our local society sold it this year) that is a bluer but less ruffled seedling of Venetian Blue. Still, yours seems to have no tendency toward ruffles at all. Hmmm... Maybe it just needs more time?

David

[Ludi]

Looks an awful lot like 'Awakening Angel' to me ... or an immature 'Ultramarine'. There is also 'Mikawa-no-Yuki'.

Just my three cents
Ludi

[sweetee]

Thanks for all the info. I'm going to check those out to see if I ordered any of those. I do know that this came from Q&Z Nursery when it closed, just don't know why the label says Venetian Star unless it was mislabeled somehow.
Will do some further investigation but appreciate all opinions. Thanks

[bkay2000]

There's the possibility it's a tissue culture anomaly. I had one of those. It was labeled plantaginea, but it was Aphrodite. It was from either Q&Z or Walters. I don't remember which. I'm sure they would not have seen the difference in the tissue culture lab. Yours is close enough not be be noticed either.

bk

[sweetee]

Thanks, either way, I love it!
It has stiff-like leaves and the prettiest blue color. I will shoot pics of it next to some other blues to compare. The picture really doesn't do it justice.
I cannot wait to see it flower and see if it has good pollen or produces seed.

[Chris_W]

I was also thinking Ultramarine, so I would guess it is a tag mixup or a plant mixup. When Q & Z closed they probably didn't care that much about getting things 100% correct, so they might have mixed up a different plant within a batch. That happens all the time to us with lots of different plants and just about every vendor we buy from, including hostas. One year it was Little Miss Sunshine - had a dozen or so Designer Genes mixed into the tray. Another year it was multiple trays of coneflowers that were all mixed up with different varieties. When they are young it is harder to tell.

In time you will probably be able to ID it, and like I said I think the most likely thing is a plant or tag mixup rather than some TC mutation.

[sweetee]

Well at least it's one I don't already have! Yes, I think after I see it bloom I may have a better idea.
Mixed up tags ... UGH . Seen it too many times. Nothing like finding a Pandora's box tag in a Sum and Substance! Nursery said it's so frustrating that people move around the labels.
Saw a worker once who was just picking tags off of the ground and sticking them in any pot in front of them. Not even the same hosta.
Totally understand especially how busy it is.
Well, I'll keep my eyes posted on this one. Thanks.