How weird can we get with ... HOSTAS

By Hugh G. EARNHART | OSU Ext. master gardener volunteer

It is snowing outside and the hostas that survived the long fall and this weird winter are now a sad specimen of their earlier elegance. Mail order listings of new and exciting hostas turn thoughts to spring and some futuristic ideas that might intrigue the hybridizers to do something different in their hosta breeding programs.

How weird can we get with hostas?

How about a twisted, up-right leaf hosta? We already have several hostas such as Gentle Giant, Bamse, Praying Hands and One Man’s Treasure that have established themselves as up-right pillars of the shade garden. The hosta kingdom has the blue, green and gold leaf hostas in the registry and looking good in the garden. Now, we need only to hybridize the red leaf and add the “Chubby Checker” twist to the mix and we have another reason to dance with even more hostas.

Oh, but what about the hosta flower? While most hostas are grown for their leaf color and structure and win blue ribbons for the wide variety of shapes and colors that hybridizers have developed, they also have a stunning flower. The hosta flower is generally open for only one or two days, and the gardener cuts it off. What a lack of respect! Might the hybridizer be thinking about a daylily appearance for the hosta of the future? As I travel the country showing and judging hostas, there is talk in the exhibition hall about such a flower. Some talk has generated over showing the current flower of the “friendship plant” that has been underrated over the years.

With flowers on the brain, how about developing a fragrant hosta flower? There are close to 10,000 registered hostas today and only about 250 have fragrant flowers. The best fragrant hosta flowers trace their lineage to the H. Plantaginea family. There is a real need to hybridize a hosta that fills the atmosphere with a perfumed fragrance about the garden.

And finally, there is that darling of the hosta world classified as “minis.” There is a need to develop strong sports of the current yellow, blue and green hostas, add the red later, to improve the miniature hosta line up. We have come some distance from the H. Pandora’s Box and the quaint Mouse Ear collection that have been so marketable. This dream will come true because there is an intense interest in these little fellas of the hosta kingdom.

To learn more about growing hostas and to make your plan for planting this growing season, go to http://go.osu.edu/growinghostas.