Pic of the Day--Undulata Univittata
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- Posts: 3262
- Joined: Oct 11, 2001 8:00 pm
- Location: Stoddard, WI
Pic of the Day--Undulata Univittata
Hi All--If widespread use is an indicator of whether a variety is a "classic", then Undulata Univattata is one of the true classics. There seems to be little doubt that it is the most widely used white centered hosta variety. Univittata is like all the Undulatas, it doesn't get no respect. I don't know why that is so because UU is a very attractive plant in my opinion, with good growth habits under various conditions. I purchased Undulata Univittata back in 1994 when I was still learning about how to properly space hostas. Since I'm reluctant to move an established plant I have left UU squeezed into the spot it was originally planted, next to a Black Walnut tree. None the less, the plant has done fine. Although its size has dropped down a bit in the last couple of years, probably due to tree roots, it has usually averaged about 50x22. Zilis lists it at 45x18. On the down side, UU needs slug protection and tends to get a somewhat ragged, worn out look by the end of the season.
Hosta Registry - http://www.hostaregistrar.org/detail.ph ... Univittata
MyHostas Database - http://www.myhostas.be/db/hostas/Undulata+Univittata
Hosta Library - http://www.hostalibrary.org/u/uu.html
Hosta Registry - http://www.hostaregistrar.org/detail.ph ... Univittata
MyHostas Database - http://www.myhostas.be/db/hostas/Undulata+Univittata
Hosta Library - http://www.hostalibrary.org/u/uu.html
Hank
Better Gnomes & Gardens
zone 4B-5A
Latitude: 43° 48' 51" N
Better Gnomes & Gardens
zone 4B-5A
Latitude: 43° 48' 51" N
- newtohosta-no more
- Posts: 15270
- Joined: Oct 25, 2001 8:00 pm
- Location: Ohio, Zone 5
this is a great plant and a real classic imo
I would like to meet the one person that bought the first one in this area to thank him. I do not know anyone that bought one. The story always seem to go something like this, someone gave it to me but they got it from some other guy who got it from a friends, friends, friend............ etc.
A true friendship hosta
I would like to meet the one person that bought the first one in this area to thank him. I do not know anyone that bought one. The story always seem to go something like this, someone gave it to me but they got it from some other guy who got it from a friends, friends, friend............ etc.
A true friendship hosta
Hank, I think you can dig up UU, chop it up in small pieces and it will still do fine
Pia
Pia
Against stupidity the gods themselves struggle in vain.
E-mail for pics hostapics@gmail.com
E-mail for pics hostapics@gmail.com
- Tigger
- Posts: 2727
- Joined: Oct 14, 2001 8:00 pm
- USDA Zone: 6b - 7a
- Location: SE Penna Zone 6b (7a?), lat. 39°50'
- Contact:
A classic, most certainly. So old that botanists don't even know what it is! (a hybrid of unknown origin) That said, "Good habits under various conditions," IMO, doesn't apply as well here on the hot and humid east coast. This is a great, eye-catching plant for the spring garden, but by mid-summer it's best to avert your eyes. And for some reason here, [uninformed] people do plant this in full sun, which exacerbates the problem. I guess in a real "spring" border (with bulbs and early-blooming shrubs) it can be an outstanding plant. (and it helps that it grows like a weed)
Oh, and cut the blooms off of this one. Really. There are some who actually cut these to the ground mid-summer and get a later flush of reasonable looking leaves (but that may hasten the progression of the plant towards its all-green sibling, Undulata Erromena).
Oh, and cut the blooms off of this one. Really. There are some who actually cut these to the ground mid-summer and get a later flush of reasonable looking leaves (but that may hasten the progression of the plant towards its all-green sibling, Undulata Erromena).
I can't agree more - this really is the Rodney Dangerfield of hostas. Tigger is right though, there seem to be a tone of these planted in full sun in this area too... yeesh - that is an UGLY sight come July.
But in the spring... not much is prettier!
But in the spring... not much is prettier!
Spring - An experience in immortality.
- Henry D. Thoreau
- Henry D. Thoreau
a few words about Undulata... ready for a little background on names??? (forgive me, all of you for whom this is "old hat." I only learned this stuff because patient elders passed it on to me in forum posts...)
with plants, species are listed with small case and no apostrophes and cultivars are capitalized with apostrophes.
Thus we have H. ventricosa - a species that occurs in natural environments. We might get a bunch of seedlings, hybrids and sports from it, but as a species, it can self pollinate and self-reproduce.
and we have H. 'Golden Tiara' - a named cultivar that doesn't have a naturally occuring species in nature.
Why all this basic backgroud? Because I've seen lots of changes in undulata/Undulata in my time with hostas.
Zilis does a nice job of describing the history and heritage of Undulata. Its origins are lost in history, but there has been lots of confusion over the years. When I first started collecting, Undulata was H. undulata - a species. Indeed, Maekawa listed it as such in 1973. but he also noted that its habitat was "cultivated in gardens of Japan" which made one suspect it wasn't really a species, but a cultivar. More evidence that it wasn't a naturally occurring species was its variegation and the fact that it never reproduces itself from seed. Indeed, it very rarely produces fertile seeds at all.
George Schmid, in his amazing book The Genus HOSTa firmly insisted on removing undulata from the species list and selected H. 'Undulata' as the proper epithet.
Usually, when cultivars are names, the species epithet is not used. It just adds complication and confusion. (Like our discussion of whether it is H. sieboldiana 'Elegans' or just H. 'Elegans') But in this case, it had been undulata for so long that even though H. 'Suji' might have been more accurate, but Schmid said H. 'Undulata" and hosta name sticklers breathed sighs of relief.
But even as Undulata, it provides us with complications. First of all, it commonly sports to all green. Current convention is to name the all green sport H. 'Undulata Erromena.' There is also a white-margined cultivar that is probably a sport of Erromena and is officially H. 'Undulata Albomarginata.'
With the white-centered version, there is great variation in the width of the center. In naming, convention is that the version that is 2/3 white, it is called H. 'Undulata' and if the center is narrower, maybe 1/3 of the leaf surface, it is called H. 'Undulata Univittata.' Hank's clearly fits in this category.
And then there are the named sports, hybrids and seedlings from this family, which include Kiwi Spearmint, Outhouse Delight (a seedling), Paintbrush, White Wall Tire, and White Feather.
So... I have a spot right by the entry to my house and gardens... right by the garage corner, by the garage, by the sidewalk... stomped on all winter, piled on, beat up by every hose or electric cord dragged around the corner... hmmm... what hosta should I put there... something I don't have to worry about damage or losing it completely... hey, lets stick an Undulata Univittata there!
The irony is that I have 600 plus varieties labeled and displayed... and people very frequently ask about that beautiful hosta right by the driveway!
[and yes, smarty-pants... before you reach for your keyboard... I DO know that I've got it incorrectly named in my photo files... I do have some regular Undulatas in my garden, but this display plant is clearly a Univittata... nobody is perfect!]
with plants, species are listed with small case and no apostrophes and cultivars are capitalized with apostrophes.
Thus we have H. ventricosa - a species that occurs in natural environments. We might get a bunch of seedlings, hybrids and sports from it, but as a species, it can self pollinate and self-reproduce.
and we have H. 'Golden Tiara' - a named cultivar that doesn't have a naturally occuring species in nature.
Why all this basic backgroud? Because I've seen lots of changes in undulata/Undulata in my time with hostas.
Zilis does a nice job of describing the history and heritage of Undulata. Its origins are lost in history, but there has been lots of confusion over the years. When I first started collecting, Undulata was H. undulata - a species. Indeed, Maekawa listed it as such in 1973. but he also noted that its habitat was "cultivated in gardens of Japan" which made one suspect it wasn't really a species, but a cultivar. More evidence that it wasn't a naturally occurring species was its variegation and the fact that it never reproduces itself from seed. Indeed, it very rarely produces fertile seeds at all.
George Schmid, in his amazing book The Genus HOSTa firmly insisted on removing undulata from the species list and selected H. 'Undulata' as the proper epithet.
Usually, when cultivars are names, the species epithet is not used. It just adds complication and confusion. (Like our discussion of whether it is H. sieboldiana 'Elegans' or just H. 'Elegans') But in this case, it had been undulata for so long that even though H. 'Suji' might have been more accurate, but Schmid said H. 'Undulata" and hosta name sticklers breathed sighs of relief.
But even as Undulata, it provides us with complications. First of all, it commonly sports to all green. Current convention is to name the all green sport H. 'Undulata Erromena.' There is also a white-margined cultivar that is probably a sport of Erromena and is officially H. 'Undulata Albomarginata.'
With the white-centered version, there is great variation in the width of the center. In naming, convention is that the version that is 2/3 white, it is called H. 'Undulata' and if the center is narrower, maybe 1/3 of the leaf surface, it is called H. 'Undulata Univittata.' Hank's clearly fits in this category.
And then there are the named sports, hybrids and seedlings from this family, which include Kiwi Spearmint, Outhouse Delight (a seedling), Paintbrush, White Wall Tire, and White Feather.
So... I have a spot right by the entry to my house and gardens... right by the garage corner, by the garage, by the sidewalk... stomped on all winter, piled on, beat up by every hose or electric cord dragged around the corner... hmmm... what hosta should I put there... something I don't have to worry about damage or losing it completely... hey, lets stick an Undulata Univittata there!
The irony is that I have 600 plus varieties labeled and displayed... and people very frequently ask about that beautiful hosta right by the driveway!
[and yes, smarty-pants... before you reach for your keyboard... I DO know that I've got it incorrectly named in my photo files... I do have some regular Undulatas in my garden, but this display plant is clearly a Univittata... nobody is perfect!]
Re: Pic of the Day--Undulata Univittata
2014 - This is mine. Again, one of my older ones except that mine came labelled as 'Joyce Trott' of all things. I didn't know the difference until I'd had it for a decade or so. This one was divided up maybe 4 years ago and moved to a new location. And I just moved it again this year, but didn't divide it because I had a much smaller hosta behind it that was getting lost. Photo July 16, 2014.
Ann
Pictures of Ann's Hostas:
http://violaann.smugmug.com/Garden/Host ... 361_qL3gHS (SmugMug gallery now updated for 2016)
Pictures of Ann's Hostas:
http://violaann.smugmug.com/Garden/Host ... 361_qL3gHS (SmugMug gallery now updated for 2016)
Re: Pic of the Day--Undulata Univittata
2015 - July 25. Seems to like its new location in the garden.
Ann
Pictures of Ann's Hostas:
http://violaann.smugmug.com/Garden/Host ... 361_qL3gHS (SmugMug gallery now updated for 2016)
Pictures of Ann's Hostas:
http://violaann.smugmug.com/Garden/Host ... 361_qL3gHS (SmugMug gallery now updated for 2016)
Re: Pic of the Day--Undulata Univittata
Undulata Univittata in my garden with a little (for now) blue weedling hiding under it on the left - probably from Elegans. That's Minuteman above/left and El Capitan left edge.
Ed McHugh, Sicklerville NJ
Mockingbird feeding juvenile yellow raisons - never leave home without them.
Mockingbird feeding juvenile yellow raisons - never leave home without them.
- Tigger
- Posts: 2727
- Joined: Oct 14, 2001 8:00 pm
- USDA Zone: 6b - 7a
- Location: SE Penna Zone 6b (7a?), lat. 39°50'
- Contact:
Re: Pic of the Day--Undulata Univittata
Maybe a good place to tack this link: All about Undulata
Re: Pic of the Day--Undulata Univittata
Fine. I put it in the Index.
Ed McHugh, Sicklerville NJ
Mockingbird feeding juvenile yellow raisons - never leave home without them.
Mockingbird feeding juvenile yellow raisons - never leave home without them.
Re: Pic of the Day--Undulata Univittata
2016 update
Ann
Pictures of Ann's Hostas:
http://violaann.smugmug.com/Garden/Host ... 361_qL3gHS (SmugMug gallery now updated for 2016)
Pictures of Ann's Hostas:
http://violaann.smugmug.com/Garden/Host ... 361_qL3gHS (SmugMug gallery now updated for 2016)
Re: Pic of the Day--Undulata Univittata
I bought this un-tagged pot last season. I thought it was Fire and Ice. But when the flowers opened the anthers were the wrong color. The dark anthers led my to Undulata Univittata.
The similar looking plant at the bottom/right is a white-centered sport of Searing Flame.
The similar looking plant at the bottom/right is a white-centered sport of Searing Flame.
Ed McHugh, Sicklerville NJ
Mockingbird feeding juvenile yellow raisons - never leave home without them.
Mockingbird feeding juvenile yellow raisons - never leave home without them.