Thanks everyone for the comments so far. It seems crosses involving Twilight Zone or any of the mauves are heavily favored, and I don't blame you! Twilight Zone just came out this year but it is such a gorgeous rose, and definitely an improvement over Ebb Tide. Diane, in my opinion I think you have the right idea with using Ascot in breeding. Cynthia, there is no time like the present, and don't be intimidated by the numbers! When they say worth keeping they mean is having commercial and market value, and most of the fun in rose breeding isn't about money or finding americas next super-rose, it's the anticipation of what you might get. Also every breeder, like roses, is unique and has his or her own personality and I believe that is reflected in the roses each breeder comes up with. For example I bet when I mention the names Radler, Swim, Carruth, David Austin, Moore, Sproul, etc. a certain type of rose comes to mind. I'm not sure I have a defined "style" yet but rest assured I am determined to revolutionize roses in my own way. My dream/goal is is to create thornless fragrant shrub roses, in beautiful colors, high petal count, with the disease resistance of knock outs. Some people say well that's just the perfect rose but l believe there's no such thing and never will be since different people value certain traits more than others. Sure my goal is ambitious, but just watch, eventually I will succeed! :)

Okay, let me say we go to the HOSTA SPORTS, and you choose from the list on the left, GOLD STANDARD (97). It shows the family tree of sports from Gold Standard, with the little color letters being like for example, Captain Kirk (yg) I know that means "yellow green" But which part is yellow and which green? Is the first letter an indicator of the middle (or leaf) color, and the second the margin/edge color? Like yellow leaf green margin? That's part one of the question. I could not find a KEY there to explain their lettering system. If you go into the descriptions of the names of some very changeable hosta, there are a bunch of letters which HAVE to mean something. WHERE IS THE KEY? What do these mean, when they are used one after another to explain the pattern of color change for the shape-shifting hosta? Let me give you an example of the complicated hosta, such as one I was puzzling over today: I was checking sports of FRAGRANT BLUE. specifically, SECRET LOVE. It's leaf color is shown with the abbreviations: bl,(y>w)e Now that just blows my mind!! I got Secret Love in a pot in my garden, but I could not look at it and with this abbreviation know what the heck to expect, or even figure it out... I can see that bl = blue? y = yellow w = white but they put the ( ) around it, and then wind up with the e = _________ what.....???? So if there was a key somewhere on the website, I could make a stab at learning it. Someone put a whole lot of time into adding that tiny little box of information for a whole bunch of hosta, and I know it could be useful, if I knew what it indicated. So do you need a link to MyHostas.BE Sports? Thanks, Ken. Here is a link that might be useful: myhostas.be sports index

American Woodmark Amish Loft Aristokraft Armstrong Bertch Brookhaven Cabico Candlelight Canyon Creek Christopher Peacock Clive Christian Columbia Crown Point Crystal Cuisines Laurier CWP Decora DeWils Diamond Downsview DuraSupreme Dynasty Fieldstone Elmwood Haas Hertco Holiday Kitchens Homecrest IKEA JSI Kabinart Karmen Kemper Kennebec Kitchencraft Kraftmaid Legacy Mastercraft Medallion Merillat Classic Merillat Masterpiece (made by Kraftmaid) Mills Pride Mouser Omega Plain & Fancy Plato Woodwork Premier Quakermade Quality Custom Cabinetry (QCC) Royal Cabinet Company Rutt Schrock Schuler Shenandoah Scherr Shiloh Showplace Siematic Starmark Thomasville Timberlake Ultracraft Wellborn Wood Harbor Wood Mode Yorktown

I have too many but that does not stop me. I am a keeper of files and I have a file for every hosta out there. I did do my shopping with the mind that the alphabet was coming. First year I played I had 11 hostas and I needed more. Now I do have A to Z. I make mental lists but buy from looking at eye candy. The wow factor from photos here will make me search out several plants