First off......great looking hosta! My sum&substance is doing the same thing. I thought it was due to me just moving it. We are experiencing a very cool summer so I guess I'll blame it on global cooling ;)

What zone are you in Mac? We're having a nice summer - not overly hot with enough rain fall to keep the hostas looking healthy. So I'm not sure what gives.

DD

Dd, thanks for posting this, I've been trying to figure out what is wrong with my Blue Angel, it is smaller than last year and the flowers are blooming under the leaves, you can't even see them unless you lift the leaves.

It was wonderful last year and I thought it would be humongous this year. Am so disappointed.

Sorry, double post

This post was edited by maggiepie on Sun, Jul 27, 14 at 6:41

Maggiepie - There seems to be a pattern here. I hope someone can come up with an answer.

DD

well??? ..... you win.. i am stumped ...

aliens... lol

ken

well, putting on the thinking cap that has very few brains in it, we have had a relatively dry past couple of years, and the plants may have been used to struggling a bit to survive, so this year is a change, less of a struggle, eager to bloom and put on seed pods ⦠we are getting all sorts of sports and some interesting fasciations going on ⦠so it could be just par for the course ⦠another oddball thing. Of course, it could have been happening for years, but as you hang out here, where we live and breathe hostas, we may just be paying closer attention and being more observant, and reporting those observations, making others look for things to report, as well.

it is like food stamp fraud, child abuse, etc. ...the more we report it, and hear about it, the more people look for it and report it, and the incidents APPEAR to be on the rise.

*takes the 'stupid hat' off*

dave

Upon doing some research, it said that the height of the scapes vary from year to year depending on the size of the plant. It stands to reason to me that an older plant would have taller scapes.

Checked, and their are no small aliens lurking under the leaves.

DD

Well, environment effects blooming... then I imagine it would effect scapes. If there is drought like conditions in spring or early summer, it may trigger the plant to slow down so the only thing working is the roots. Clearly, I am no pro on hostas, but I don't think they are any different than any other plant in that they react the same to triggers in the same ways. More sub factors, some are finickier than others, some may be in a microclimate, some may be more exposed to the elements, etc.
.

Let me clarify... blooming time is genetic but can be disrupted by the environment. If the plant is triggered into a brief dormancy by drought it will not put energy into scapes, Just as when a late bloomer is hit by an early frost it starts its shut down and may never reach blooming. It just cant... its a survival mechanism.

My poor Blue Angel has had a double whammy this year.
Hit by late frost just as it had poked up eyes, then we have had extremely hot and dry weather for past month or so.
It looks awful.
Much smaller than last year and some leaves twisted.

Flowers all below leaves.

Flowers close to ground.

I guess it is totally stressed.

and I see other ppl reporting more weird stuff going on with their hosta than usual, like me. More sports and fascination, etc. Maybe there is something to be said in that when a hosta goes under stress like conditions, it may actually provoke the instability of the plant, as well?

I would just say it's been the weather and this past winter. I have some hostas I wasn't sure were even going to appear at all after the horrendous winter we had. But they came up, albeit looking a little weird - like half leaves growing. THey really look like they were cut down the middle in half - very weird. Not sure if the scapes are smaller though - I don't really pay attention to the scapes. I'm a leaf lover. They could not grow scapes at all and I wouldn't care.
The only odd thing I noticed, other than the half leaves, are the scapes on my new-ish sum and substance hostas are so long and heavy on top the scapes are laying on flat on the ground. I think the scapes are overestimating the current size of the hosta! ;)

DD,the one thing about the statement about how plants produce scapes goes out the window,when you think about Elatior,which always produces scapes that are very tall,sometimes 6 feet tall,every year. This year,one of mine did that,and the other one,though a bigger one,didn't even produce a scape! I think it was the weird spring weather,because I have some plants that bloomed the first time ever this year. Phil

I agree that a lot of unusual occurrences are weather related.

Smorz's comment re stress and instability also make sense, as does Dave's - becoming more aware of our hostas in general makes us automatically zero in on anything unusual. Dave, your remarks encapsulate brilliantly.

I think more and more of us are "stopping to smell the roses" - not just admiring them from a distance.

Flower scapes on Krossa Regal are tall but not as tall as last year, Sagae had noticeably shorter ones. Pandora's Box is re blooming with 2 new scapes! It came with 2 flower scapes back in May when I first got it. Generally speaking, in my garden it appears that flowering on ALL perennials is earlier than last year...even with our very late spring. I attribute that to our cooler nights and fluctuating temperatures.

I have absorbed all the information provided, and it does make a lot of sense that climate and environment would affect growth patterns of plant scapes. In a lot of ways I'm still a neophyte when it comes to growing hosta.

DD

DD, I think in your case the stalks are the same size, your plant is just higher???

Jon