Well we are now well on our way into October and the season for growing Hostas is coming to a close. However a new exciting time of the year has begun! It is seed collecting and preparation for growing of Hostas from seed. This is when we collect all the varieties that we are interested in, I think this year we have collected well over a hundred seed mixes. Some of them should produce some quite interesting results. We don’t tend to seek streaked or variegated results especially at this stage. What we are interested in is leaf form, blues, golds, red-stemmed, miniatures and fragrance. So quite a broad brush stroke really.
For us it starts in October, we then put all the seeds in the fridge for a month or so to simulate winter before selecting the seed mixes we wish to sow.
We then sow hopefully earlier than last year’s season in December under light and look forward to new life. Some varieties can germinate within 5 days, whilst others can take a month, and it has been known that whilst tidying up we have discovered some late arrivals.
We then grow them on over the winter, up-potting them as required until the weather improves in the new year. Some of our results have grown exceedingly fast, whilst others just sit for ages before developing into something exciting. We have produced some lovely little miniatures, some fragrant, some fast-growing fountain varieties.
The current breeding programs we are working on at present are the development of large red stemmed, fast growing hostas with blue leaves. We are also working on large blue fragrant hostas. After that it is what every takes my fancy with the surprises that turn up in the mix.
From this year’s entrants some of the varieties that have produced seedlings of note have been:
• Several of the Tiara Series
• Diamond Lake
• Wundergold
• Mildred Seaver
• Firn Line
By the way this list doesn’t include the ones that really got us excited about. As they say for me to know and you to find out!
And finally in response to a lady that couldn’t see the point in sowing the seeds, I will tell you a story.
There was an intelligent lady who was brought up in the great depression in the United States, and she used to see people with lovely new varieties of Hostas but could not afford them. So, she determined to make some for herself. She later went on to create and register 95 varieties (including miniatures) and became known as the Queen of Hostas. She let the bees germinate the flowers, stating that they did it better than herself. (Admittedly she did manage which flowers were available for this process)
Her name was Mildred Seaver, producing such wonderful varieties as ‘Spilt Milk’, ‘Allan P. McConnell’, ‘Komodo Dragon’, ‘Queen of the Seas’, and ‘Humpback Whale’. She also believed that the Hosta is a great way to make friends and should be known as the friendship plant.
