Wow, this thread has had many more unique plants than I guessed it would. sung to the old song "THE STREAK" Oh yes they called them the streaks.. boogie da boogie da In the ground three years ... looks like two weeks... boogie da boogie da They're the coolest thing you've seen, Until they go back green.. At least thats my Philosophy !

I have several streaked hosta seedlings which overwintered in the ground from last year, but got nipped by a rabbit. One h.'Blue Lightning' seedling is promising and just now develops a scape which I want to use with pollen from large blues. Last winter I started in November to grow streaked hosta seedlings from seeds provided by Mr.Hosta of Land of the Giants. Here are those seedlings of h."Blue Lightning', 'Topo Gigio', 'Fickle Blue Genes' and 'Dorothy Benedict'. They are bigger than last year's already. I got last year a freebie 'Powder Keg' from LOTG but that hosta did not survive. I bought this year h.'Justice' at a Hosta Library auction. How do I like them? I do not know yet. The seedlings which will survive my culls will probably have some stabilized divisions, but it will be interesting. I am interested to create a streaked large blue one. Bernd This post was edited by berndnyz5 on Tue, Jul 2, 13 at 19:32

BTW, people will tell you to "Set a goal." That's good advice. But when you are a newbie, you don't know how to set a goal. So here is what I did (my daughter taught me this), I walked around my garden or looked at other gardens and decided what I liked. Then I would take a look at a plant I really liked and say to myself, "What if that plant were variegated?" or "What if I had a blue one of those?" So I would play this "What if..." game until I decided which of these What if's excited me the most. Then I sat down to figure out how to make that happen. What plants would I need, what crosses would I make in order to get closer to that goal. Write this stuff down. And remember if you have 20 goals, you really have none. I would suggest 3 or 4 goals to begin with. If you want, start a thread about what you want to accomplish, and email me if you want help. Steve

Thanks everyone for your comments! Denise, To answer your question (sort of) as to why I haven't purchased a streaker before now---I've never really been a fan of them. You know how we all have our *preferences* and *druthers*! :o) Actually--'Spilt Milk' is a streaked hosta, of sorts, isn't it? So, I guess the IAT is my second one. I never could see what folks saw in SM but when I saw one this year, I thought--- "hmmmmmm--maybe that IS neat"! The ones I HAVE liked better than most, are the pricey ones--'Gunthers Prize', 'Blizzard' and one other I can't remember right now---! Wait--is a striped 'Jewel of the Nile' considered streaked?? Jersey, your IAT really looks great!! I hope mine proves to be as *hosta-worthy* as yours!!! Thanks for the encouraging pic,--I remember it from another thread, now!! Janet---no--I do not know where I'm going to plant them!!! Ridiculous--I should stop with getting more--REALLY!! You'd think, losing 39 of them, (mostly those in pots) this Spring, would have given me *pause* in getting more, that will likely have to spend the winter in their pots!! Insane!!! Art--really good to see you posting!!! Hope things are getting less crowded and more settled for you these days!!! :o) To answer your question, "why Ice Age Trail...?", it was an impulse buy! I had to spend at least $60 on something, since it was the balance of some Nursery--'bucks' that I had spent on a huge set of wind chimes, that were so heavy they wouldn't ring in anything less than a tornado, so I returned them. They were very nice about it, but I knew, that the right thing for me to do was spend the $60, at least, of the value of them since it was the deal with the bucks! I remember our discussion about your preference of 'Dream Weaver' or 'Thunderbolt' and since you favored it and I have seen some pics. of ones that are mature, and they are stunning--I succumbed! :o) I was reluctant about 'Morning Light' because of the white/cream centers--again an implulse I may regret! Thanks again, for all your comments!!! :o)