Hello, I have one trade of Stapelia Leopard Starfish seeds. I'm looking for seeds from small varieties of hostas. Do hostas grow true from seeds? John

Thank you all for your help. I think the manner in which I posed my question was confusing. I am only referring to the 3 hostas that I named. I have done more online research this morning and I think I have answers. H. ventricosa grows true from seed. H. ventricosa 'Aureomaculata' is a registered cultivar and does not grow true from seed. H. ventricosa 'Aureomarginata' is a "reduced to cultivar status" for shows, and does not grow true from seed. Apparently the Aureomarginata goes through significant changes in appearance. (When I looked at the images of the plant at the Hostalibrary, every photo looked like a different cultivar.) This little project has added to my vocabulary. In addition to pseudogamous apomixis are a bunch of terms at the attached AHS link that describe hostas that change appearance with time and growth, (not due to sun exposure.) If you look at the site the info is in the 1st question. Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.americanhostasociety.org/GrowthHabits.html#JustGettingStarted

I once grew hostas from seeds bought from Thompsons, collected some from my own blue ones and did not label them. I grew the seeds under light in the basement over winter, and planted them out after acclimatizing. That went well, I gave away some 3 year old plants. Some blue ones are self-seeding, some seedlings growing in a gravel path. Now I think the lower leaved ones are Elegans, the tall upright ones are Blue Umbrellas. Then there are large puckered blue-green ones, might be Elegans. I would suggest that you label all seed-grown hostas to avoid future noids. Bernd

Terri, I would like to know the same, as Ventricosa is the usual species that is said to grow true from seed. I have some OP seedlings growing from Plantaginea, and they look identical to the parent so far, but were too young to bloom last summer. I really hope they will bloom this summer. I'll post about it if I get blooms. I did find that I could go out in the night and pollinate Plantaginea with their own pollen and it takes very well. But by morning when the bees are doing it, it's less fertile. I think the flower is so big that the usual bumblebees may miss the mark most of the time also. The pods will mature in about 40 days, maybe 30, so you should be able to get good seed from them pretty easily. I failed completely in trying to cross any other type of hosta pollen onto Plantaginea even at night, however I have many pods and a few fragrant seedlings from using Plantaginea pollen. Salute x Plantaginea has bloomed and is fragrant and blue; Cinnamon Sticks x P is fragrant and green with red pets, Spritzer x p not bloomed yet, Green Fountain x P, Shining Tot x P are first year seedlings. Some of my seedlings from crosses with P were not fragrant, but it may be possible that a bee got to it and introduced other pollen. Dave