Yep, they are reverting to one of parental lines. When a reversion occurs, you have to remove that division from the rest of the hosta because eventually the reversion could take over the whole clump. Cutting the reverted leaves will do no good at all. You have to get the genetic material that generated the leaves and that is the crown of the reverted division.

Happy digging.

Lainey

Lainey--somehow I knew that was the answer I'd get but didn't want to hear. Sob. I think I got all the Revolution clean, but I just pulled the Risky Business' leaves-- which means I will eventually have to dig that and strip it. At least I know now what to do with the next one that reverts! But oh how I hate to disturb those lovely growing Hosta. Do you know if some Hosta are more prone to that problem? On Stage was the only other H I've had a problem with. Thanks for your help! Mary

I'm not positive Greenthumbz, but knowing a little about botany and the nature of hostas, I think all but the species hostas can easily revert. Someone with more knowledge than me would know which hybrid cultivars are more prone than others. I've read here, that Spilt Milk, for instance is highly prone to reversion, probably a lot of others too.

I recently had to dig up a Revolution to take out a reversion. Like you, I hated to do it, but it has to be done.

Lainey

Lainey

For the sedum, I have been told that the plant was buried too deep.

Hope this helps on the sedum, I just pull the green stalks out (on the sedum) the Hosta I would seperate it out, it will come back green

Ps I dont think that cultevars turning green actually are considered reversions, they cant GO BACK to something that they never were to begin with? revolution didnt start out as a green hosta, it is a sport of Loyalist, and Loyalist is a sport of Patriot, and Patriot is a sport of Francee (none of these are solid green) unless you go back all the way back to Francee is a sport of fortunei . its just turning into another green hosta. Hosta dont actually revert, there are way too many genes in the pool for them to go back to the original parent plant (and about 4 or 5 plants seperated from the original, wouldnt their genes be even more of a cocktail?), I believe. My Revolution is doing the same thing, there is no picture in the Hosta Library of fortunei, the leaf shape is the same as Revolution, it looks like a green Revolution. Oh gees.. that was just way too taxing on my brain! Any thoughts here from anyone else? I dont understand why we call it a Reversion. My June has some solid blue leaves coming up, but they are not as nice of shade of blue as Halcyon. I would name it 'Trailer Trash Blue' if I keep it. yah, and that would definatley fit in with another thread about not buying a Hosta for it's name LOL

Sorry to exhaust anyone here, just thought I would say what was on my mind. can we just call them NEW? (cause they are) and that is How we get new Hosta,,, from sports (even if they are green). and other means.

Paul

I second that!

Paul--Your explanation really taxed my brain also, Butt it made sense to me to call these aberrations Sports. I'll take it one step further and call them Weed Sports as many sports end up becoming beautiful new Hosta where these hunky green things are just plain weedy looking. And I can't imagine digging up a really big Hosta to get rid of one of those clumps! Thanks all for your input--I always learn so much from your help. Mary

We dug out the big green shiny leaves last year. It didn't show up this year. However, we replanted the big green leaves in another location last year. They came up great this year - I think it's a pretty plant and it's extremely slug resistant.

All hosta "wants" to be green....green plants survive better and grow faster than those with other colors because green leaves have more cholorphyl...but I don't know by what means they do that....could you call it an "un-sport"?...I like the term weed sport though.
But you really don't have to dig up a hosta to remove an all green eye. Just pick off all the green leaves and keep doing it and the green leaved eye will die. It might take 2 years, but if you have a lovely clump you don't want to disturb, just pluck out the green....and repeat until no more all green appears.
I have another reversion question, but I'll start another thread.
Linda C

here is the short version of what paul MEANT TO SAY ... lol

all hosta are inherently unstable ....

they can sport forward to something new

or they can revert back to something old ....

[and yes.. they can look like they are going back to something old and green and really be sporting forward to a new green .. but do we really care] ...

green is the most dominant of colors and if left on the plant.. will take over .... it must be removed

or whatever the first color was.. e.g. jewel of the nile came from a yellow.. and it WILL return to a yellow.. no matter how many times you cut it off ... and that is.. to come full circle... because the plant is inherently unstable ....

and every plant varies on how stable it is .. some will remain decades without ever doing anything.. others.. just a couple years .. though that is rare ..

ken

I think whether or not you call it a sport or a reversion is whether or not the new leaves actually look like the most immediate parent plant. I suppose you would have to do genetic testing to prove it, however. My Revolution "sported" a solid green leaf, so I separated them, and I now have a great new plant that I call Green Revolution. My Ice Age Trail "reverted" to a solid blue that looks just like IAT's parent, Blue Daddy, so that's what I called it.

This might be a simplistic view of things, but it makes sense to me.

I agree with Linda C. No need to dig up the whole plant. Mine are in pots which makes it easier, but I don't even un-pot those when I have a reversion or whatever. I just cut out the leaves as close to the crown as I can. If I can get some crown with it, fine. Sometimes they grow back, and I cut them back again. I think it was Van Wade (in an old Hosta Journal), who addressed a similar problem. As he was walking thru his fields and saw a sporting eye, he would just cut back the rest of the plant to the ground, leaving the sporting eye to grow without disturbing the roots. I'm guessing that if it came back next year as a good sport, he'd dig it and seperate it.

Mary, just make yourself a note to watch that one when it comes up in spring, and if you see all some all green shoots you can notch them out of the clump w/o digging up the whole plant. By the time all the leaves unfurl they will cover the notch you made.

-Babka

What a lovely gift having this post re-appear with so much more additional info on this problem. It sounds like a plant is going to do what it wants whether you want it to or not. And since I pulled Risky Business' green leaves this spring with no re-appearance as yet, I am going to continue just pulling the leaves as they show up as it sure beats digging and splitting. I was fastinated with how Van Wade treated his sports--most of us probably want to hang onto the mother plant, but I could see in some situations that Wade's method would really work. Lois and Ken--by saving those green sports, one really does come up with great plants--I'm thinking of Second Wind as an example. Hosta are indeed fastinating plants and part of the allure is all the crazy things they do that we have no control over but often reap great benefits from. Mary