It may mean nothing at all or it may mean the crown heaved a bit during winter. Depends how hairy your eyes are. Hairy ears, on the other hand, refers to corn and needs addressing in the vegetable forum. Hairy nose...well nobody knows what Harry nose...

tj

This post was edited by tsugajunkie on Thu, Apr 11, 13 at 20:25

I went to high school with a Harry Eyes...

Don B.

I don't know Paula. Some eyes seem to be hairy and some aren't. I don't know if it's the type of hosta or the weather. I know some of my hosta have had hairy eyes, and we don't have heave.

bk

I think the hairy part is just remnants of when leaves were yanked off last fall.

Paul

I don't know the answer either, but I'll take a shot.

In another thread it was discussed that when an eye does NOT put up a flower stalk it returns the next year with leaves. If it DOES put up a flower stalk then it will not return next year and will put out new eyes around it. Doing this for many years is how fairy rings are made.

So I think, the hairy eyes are old eyes that have bloomed and are not returning.

I saw this when I reset Elegans. The flower stalks were still attached to the crown since I hadn't removed them in the fall. Where the brown stalk lead down, was a hairy eye, but I could see all around new eyes emerging.

I'm completely guessing and don't know if any of what I just typed is true, but intuitively it could explain the term . . . maybe ?

Good question Paula. :)

My ex worked with a guy named Harry Pitts.

Karen

Karen, was his nick name stinky pitts?lol

Karen - at least his mother could spell - he could have been Hairy Pitts!!

I thought 'Harry Eyes' was a hosta name when I read the title of this post! Oh - HAIRY - well, different thing.lol
Jan

On this clump of 'Blue Hawaii', there are brushy hairy stalks that are around eyes that are coming up this season, and also around 'extinct' eyes that were petioles last season. Why? I have no idea. Maybe it depends on the variety. Maybe it is a fiberous tissue that helped anchor the petioles to the crown? Pure speculation on my part.

Cheers,
Don B.

This post was edited by Don_in_Colorado on Fri, Apr 12, 13 at 14:41

I have Harry VanDe Laar, no relation I think to Harry Eyes.
But I understand the hairy eyes being referred to by, was it Babka?

Yes, they have the fibrous threads of previous growth still hanging around the crown. Don't know nuttin about whether it indicates a dead-eye or a fairy ring--which term I love--or if as it appears in some of my hosta with a hairy eye the dormant eyes now have a chance to gorw. I wonder what George Schmid has to say about it.

And here is the Rhino Hide sending up 8 eyes from a hairy eye/crown. This spring.

8 eyes! Fantastic growth from a 'slow-growing' plant. How many eyes did it have when you got it? Two?

Don B.

Don, I'm pretty sure that Rhino Hide from Naylor had two eyes. It was bare root of course, and if it had any dormant eyes, I was ignorant of the fact. Many times with Naylor they ship two separate eyes as a single order, and that is probably the case with their Rhino Hide.

I wrote "slow" on the tag because Don Rawson, its originator, mentioned once that it might be a little slow in getting established. However, I am about to cross that off the tag! Nothing slow when its first year really planted it brings about 8 eyes.

I'm waiting to see the Rhino Hide OS from Don Rawson himself come forth in a week or so, it was dormant when it reached me last fall. One of my favorite hosta with a leaf easily recognizable from 10 feet at LEAST! I restrained myself about buying it, thinking it would not like our hot weather. But other than keeping him in good light but a shady location, I have not noticed any hesitation about growing nicely.

Although I would love to take credit for "hairy eyes", it was Flowerchild who coined the phrase, in her post "Getting Back on the Hosta Wagon" a couple days ago.

I can say for sure that it is not a "dead" eye, because here comes a fresh eye smack in the middle of a hairy part of the crown.

Regarding Fairy Ring, Mark Zilis's The Hosta Hanbook has this very good photo and description.

-Babka

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Babka . . . just curious . . . do you remember that single eye flowering the year before in the picture you linked ?

Thanks,
Ludi

Ludi, I have to ask this question - do you know which eyes flowered last year? If so, I'm impressed. All I know is that the flower comes up from the middle of the leaves.

bk

In my reply earlier I said that I had noticed the hairy eyes on my Elegans were the ones that my flower stalks were still attached to from last year.

Babka presents us with a single eyed plant, they don't come any smaller than that.

If her single eye DID bloom last year, according to my guess, it should not have come back this year and instead be putting out new eyes all around the hairy one, like the one you posted in your thread. I'm not saying this is the case with yours, but your picture is a good illustration of what I'm trying to describe.

It was an innocent question, I swear. :\

Ludi

Sorry Ludi, this particular one is new for me this year.

-Babka

Duplicate.

Damn touch pad. I'm trying to learn the difference between a gentle touch and a tap. When I don't see what I want with a touch, I TAP, then CLICK. Be glad you aren't getting triplicates of my nonsense!

-Babka

This post was edited by Babka on Fri, Apr 12, 13 at 20:36

Ah haaa, the plot thickens. Thank you Babka. :)

I have a Mikado that is coming up with a single eye this year and I had it last year with no bloom stalk.

So I am going to keep an eye (no pun) on him and see what happens.

I feel like someone along the lines in the many pioneers of hostadom would have an explanation.

I'm absolutely sure that I am overthinking this, but dag nab it ya'll got my gears going and now I have a curiosity.

Hosta will never cease to intrigue. :)

Ludi

Just when you thought you figured it all out...

My Olive Bailey Langdon has 3 flower stalks up NOW, with flowers forming on their ends. There are other eyes , leafed out, around them, but these stalks are coming up all by their lonesome. She's overcrowded and desperate, I guess.

I give up trying to figure out hostas. I'll yield to those who know a whole lot more than I. I'll just enjoy them.

-Babka

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