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Mouse Ears plus sports anyone?

11 years ago

I did not realize that Itty Bitty is a member of the mouse ears family. It is a sport of Green Mouse Ears. And I have it. I got it because it was variegated with a big white center, not realizing I was buying into the Mouse Ears family.

Here is mine. What sports or hybrids do you have?

Notice it has no holes so far, and no melting in the white areas. It is small of course, but doing a lot better than I expected when I put four hosta in this one trough.

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Comments (16)

Steve Massachusetts
11 years ago
I moved my BME to a pot earlier this year and I like it much better there.

Here's GME year two with a leaf from Frisian Pride intruding.

Snow Mouse year 2

That's all. I really haven't started to collect these yet. I still have some room to fill.

Steve
User
Original Author
11 years ago
I agree they stand a better chance of survival in a pot, plus it brings them into prominence.

I just realized that the Naylor Creek order I got today included Snow Mouse, from their HL Auction, and it is cute as a button. Very blue, very creamy white. Like a tiny leafed Half And Half, same coloring. Different vigor though.

Do not have a picture taken or uploaded, but hope to remedy that by early morning light.
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This may need to be a new thread but since you are talking about it I have a question. I do the signage for the Mid-South Hosta Society's AHS National Display Garden at Memephis Botanic Garden. The other day I was reading Warren Pollack's Potpourri article in the AHS journal..volume 40, #2 and he gives the new requirements for minis and then goes on to name several "minis" which are no longer considered minis Towards the end he says...."the AHS Mini Hosta Popularity Poll has been revised to the AHS (Very) Small Hosta Poll"......and then on down he says "Speaking of Very Small Hostas, this a new size category for hostas that have outgrown the AHS Mini Criteria but have the appearance and characteristica of minis" Now...my question...Does anyone know if this has been changed and is set in stone? Or do you know who would know?If so I will change our sign at the gardens to read "Miniature and Very Small Hostas" Someone said I should email George Schmid... Denny? Are you there? Thanks for any input. Mississippi has hostas popping everywhere....3 weeks late but waking up now! Gloria
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I note that Don's list above (which has already been updated) includes 'Country Mouse' (Hansen 2007). That's one that is NOT a member of the BME family. But still a cute "mouse". The updated list - http://www.pwk.resteddoginn.ca/lists/hosta_list_me.php 'Blue Mouse Ears' (E. & J. Deckert 2000) 'Blue Mouse Ears Supreme' (W. Silvers 2007) 'Calico Mouse Ears' (M. Zilis NR) 'Cat and Mouse' (H. Hansen 2007) 'Crazy Mouse Ears'(J. Schwarz NR) 'Dancing Mouse' (M. Fransen NR) 'Desert Mouse' (Jan van den Top NR) 'Frosted Mouse Ears' (Zilis, E. & J. Deckert 2006) 'Funny Mouse' (Fransen NR) 'Green Mouse Ears' (E. & J. Deckert 2004) 'Holy Mouse Ears' (M. Zilis, E. & J. Deckert 2006) 'Itty Bitty' (M. Zilis 2010) 'Jumbo Mouse Ears' (H. Philips 2011) 'Lucky Mouse' (Jan van den Top NR) 'Mighty Moe' (W. Silvers 2009) 'Mighty Mouse' (Walters Gardens 2006) 'Mouse Tracks' (Walters Gardens & A. Bergeron 2009) 'Mouse Trap' (Shady Oaks Nursery NR) 'Mrs. Mouse Ears' (M. Testart NR) 'Mystic Mouse' (D. Van Eechaute NR) 'One Iota' (J. Anderson NR) 'One Iota Supreme' (J. Schwarz NR) 'Pure Heart' (Walters Gardens & J. Westendorp 2009) 'Royal Mouse Ears' (E. & J. Deckert 2004) 'Ruffled Mouse Ears' (C. Wilson NR) 'Snow Mouse' (M. Fransen NR)
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Comments (8)
The mouse named ones I have thus far are: Blue Mouse Ears (of course!) Green Mouse Ears Frosted Mouse Ears Holy Mouse Ears Mighty Mouse Cat And Mouse Mouse Tracks Country Mouse (as said, not a BME sport) And coming within the next couple weeks, Royal Mouse Ears. I plan to make a bed of miniature and small hostas sometime in the future, and mix in some miniature perennials and maybe some conifers as well, and maybe a dwarf Japanese maple too. The mice will get grouped together, the others just mixed about in the bed. The spot I have in mind will be between two silver maples, but it will be a raised bed, perhaps two-tiered, with a thick layer of landscape cloth to keep the tree roots from making their way into the bed. This may be next spring's project. The maples have been limbed up, so I'll get plenty of light shade, dappled with sun, so I think everything should be happy. Karen
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I understand the dilemma. My spouse and I are basically doing both. We built what we intended to be our retirement home in a rural area; we visit on weekends, and I love it and find a lot of peace there, and we can both easily get out and do all the outdoor activities that we love. But I'm also a city mouse. After years of living in the suburbs and not liking it very much, I decided that after the kids moved out / left for college, that I needed to live back in the city. So we're now in the process of building a city house, that will be walking distance to stores, restaurants, a big park, and short public transport distance of a lot more. My spouse is NOT a city mouse, but reluctantly agreed to the move to the city. This will be our primary house until we retire, then we'll split our time. One option that we considered was to rent a place in the city, to decide if that was the right choice. Could you rent a place somewhere in a rural area for a while, to help you decide?
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paul_in_mn
11 years ago
Pure Heart came back for a couple of years then disappeared.

Paul
mbug_gw
11 years ago
BME in garden

another in stone planter
User
Original Author
11 years ago
Ohhh, cannot wait until tomorrow, so I used my tablet and took the picture of Snow Mouse, and directly uploaded it to Flickr. It is so cute....really a lot of substance, and about the colors of the Half And Half I got a couple of weeks ago. A creamy white center with blue green wide margins. ...well, wide for a mini hosta, that is.

Snow Mouse, sport of Blue Mouse Ears

I bet Steve is thinking about SNOW right now, with temps in the Boston area in the upper 90s today and tomorrow....actually hotter than here in south Alabama.
Cindy Johnston
11 years ago
Frosted ME, Holy ME, Mighty Mouse, and Cat and Mouse. I think I've lost the "cat" in my C&M.
User
Original Author
11 years ago
MBug, the scapes on your mouses (???) are so short, they look like a nosegay for a bridal bouquet. How sweet they look.

Mini gardening is so much easier than big hosta gardening. It is so civilized, you can take a glass of iced tea and a pitcher of water and take care of the mini containers in no time, then sit and admire them.

That is sure different than down on your knees checking for slugs or crowns buried or roots exposed and applying fertilizer pellets or Sluggo baits....minis have a lot to recommend them.
mosswitch
11 years ago
Great thread, timely for me as I just finished my "mouse trap" raised mini garden yesterday except for filling it with soil. Now to start hunting down plants! I have one small Blue Mouse Ears to go in there for a starter. So far I've found a list of 11 "mice" plus some relatives.
Besides BME, there are

BME Supreme
Cat and Mouse
Green Mouse Ears
Dancing Mouse
Mighty Mouse

Mouse Trap
Royal Mouse Ears
Snow Mouse
Frosted Mouse Ears
Mouse Tracks
Funny Mouse

and cousins One Iota, Pure Heart, Itty Bitty and Mighty Moe.

Does.anyone have them all? It's going to be a fun treasure hunt searching for them.

By the time I find some, I'll have the soil ready!

Sandy
landlady
11 years ago
Oh I like that picture of Holy Mouse Ears. I have Blue, Frosted, Snow, Dancing and Mighty, but am almost ready for more. Now where did I put that mouse trap????
veryblessed
11 years ago
Here is a thread from a few weeks ago that contains a full list. I have 9 on the list but I am very quickly realizing that some are going to be VERY hard to Find. James

Here is a link that might be useful: Mouse Ears Thread
mosswitch
11 years ago
Wow, I just checked out the latest complete list on that thread. Maybe I should make my bed a little bigger, lol! I suspect I might not find them all, tho.

Sandy
Babka NorCal 9b
11 years ago
I just checked the latest list on the Mouse Ears Thread that Mosswitch linked to, and it says Ruffled Mouse Ears is a NR from Chris Wilson. The Hosta registry says it is a Zilis ONIR in 2011.

What gives?

-Babka
User
Original Author
11 years ago
Veryblessed, sorry, I did not see the thread begun by Don_R when I started this one. I brought it forward just now.
Babka NorCal 9b
11 years ago
Keeping the current thread going... (rather than resurrecting the 2009 one)... Yes, Moccasin, BME has just the cutest little flower stalks that you ever did see! It is one of only two or three hostas that I don't cut off stalks when I see them. Here is a link to the originators home page. There are some cool photos there. Boy, oh, boy, did they every start a mouse invasion.

-Babka

Here is a link that might be useful: Home of the First Blue Mouse Ears!
veryblessed
11 years ago
Moccasin - No big deal I thought I just saw that thread a few weeks ago, and thought it might add to your thread. I had no idea it went back to 2009 LOL... Might need to get my glasses checked! Anyway, I have managed to find 9 but I suspect to get some of them you may have to go to the originator, I had no idea there were so many. James

PS I got Snow Mouse a few weeks ago from Naylor, They have several of the "mice" :-)
hostahillbilly
11 years ago
It's beginning to seem that 'rodent' Hostas deserve their own forum, teehee!

I'm glad to see it, though.

After all, what other group of cultivars has caused the AHS to 'redefine' the definition, in this case, the qualifications of what is a 'mini'?

curious, and a demonstration of the power of BME, huh?

sheese, sounding like ken_adrian again?

hh

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