That's what retirement allows you to do - play or get lazy, which ever you prefer.

bkay

Paula they are looking good! It is great that you will be able to participate more this year. I hope it adds to the pleasure you get from hosting the Alphabet. I know it will make me feel less guilty lol!

Looking good Paula! Nice to have time to "play".

Pretty fuchsia flowers! I bet the hummingbirds are drawn to them.

Thanks for the kick in the you know what to take some pics. I think all of my hostas are smaller this year, the ones that came back, that is. I feel like I'm starting with new little ones. But they still deserve recognition, even more so for their perseverance!

I am glad you are enjoying doing things you love in retirement. That is what it is about.

Your hostas are looking great. Mine are just starting. It’s been cold spring here. Now sun is shining.

Nice variety! I’m wanting to add more to a semi shady area that looks like it really needs some : ) I think I have the hosta bug.

Here is my shadiest area that I’ve been tweeking the last couple years. I had to move some from here as they were crowing out neighbors. I just added a few diff varieties up top which are hard to see from this view...

Okay! Your beautiful pics inspired me to take some today for my summer progress shots while checking to see if I needed to water because we’re headed for mid 80’s today! That’s very high at this time of year for my Southern WA locale. So, in no particular order of my back yard, here’s what I saw during my wandering.`Thank you @ilovetogrow z9 Jax Florida for this post & your mid winter alphabets. Love them!

Pretty sure this is ’June’.

Pretty sure this is Halcyon. I cut out some eyes that were reverting on June, saw some roots & stuck them in last fall & surprise! They took hold!

Have to pull out my plant tag file to put names to most of the rest.

The 2 white edged Hosta were planted at same time a couple years ago - don’t know why the size difference. The smaller bright green at left end is a mini I relocated from a too crowded spot next to the big June. It’s Lime Fizz I think - it loves its new location!

Blue Mouse mini - started as one small plant & I brought it here from my last yard. It now lives at both ends of this bed. The larger yellow striped one I have high hopes for - second year in this spot.

Couple more pics

This is the bed my June lives in & the mini Blue Mouse ears at both ends. This bed faces

East so is shaded by house by 1 - 1:30 as sun moves around South to West.

This one’s been in for years. It’s on North side of my house & is fully shaded by the Strawberry tree (Arbutus Compacta) to left of itl

This one also has been in for couple years & is also on North side of house but I’m watching it. The bright green Kalaiedescope Abelia to left was just planted & replaced a large overgrown Rock Rose Cistus ”Micki” that had shaded the Hosta. The Strawberry tree behind it give it no shade.

Halcyon & another mini that are enjoying first season in their new space - North side of house in shade side.

I forgot my Hosta in pots!! Just a couple more…I promise - last post!

Isn’t the Stained Glass on right just gorgeous? It had one enormous flower stalk last year & soo fragrant. Fire & Ice on left. Second summer for both these guys that I bought last summer from Sebright Gardens in Salem OR

More Minis also bought from Sebright - 2nd year. growing in pot until large enough for planting bed somewhere.

The two on North side by Strawberry tree

KW, your photos are really terrific! They do show off your lovely garden. Your ID on June and Halcyon is spot on. I had part of a large June revert, so I separated it out and planted the Halcyon in a new spot. A couple of years later, I noticed one of the Halcyon eyes was coming up as June…..go figure—- a reversion of a reversion?? Lol……

If you want to learn the interesting background of Halcyon and how it became the parent of many, many blue hostas, check out this old post.

The lineage of Halcyon
djacob Z5b SE WI2 years agolast modified: 2 years ago

I was able to go back to link, which still works in the original post in my post: Discovering new Relationships. Ken is the one that sent this info to me.

“The “Longiana” Story (Solberg 2009)

Way back in the fall of 1961 Eric Smith took some pollen from a late, reblooming plant of H. sieboldiana and crossed it on to the first flowers of a H. ‘Tardiflora’ scape. He had to finish ripening the seeds inside in a solution of sugar and water. He was able to germinate about 30 seeds of which 14 were blue. The result was his famous group of “Tardianas”, of which ‘Halcyon’ was the first introduced from this historic cross in 1974. He was never able to set seed on ‘Tardiflora’ again. (The Hosta JournalVol. 13, page 18.)

He was able to cross this first generation (F1) with itself and produce a second generation (F2) of very blue hostas with variable leaf shapes. ‘Blue Wedgwood’, ‘Blue Dimples’, ‘Hadspen Blue’ and ‘Blue Moon’ are some of the most widely grown. Eric Smith was able to achieve his goal of producing small, heavily substanced, blue hostas for the very small garden.

As a group of maybe 30 in number or more, (they have become collector’s items now and many have been named after the fact), “Tardianas” are all small to medium size plants with at least some white wax so that they appear blue in color. They have good substance and a sort of stiffness and sturdiness to their personality. Their clumps are usually pretty tight with dense foliage. They are almost the perfect hostas, (you certainly could argue that ‘Halcyon’ is), although some of the second generation seedlings are very slow growing, like ‘Blue Moon’.

Being a student of hosta history and a great admirer of the insight of Eric Smith, when the rare opportunity of a reblooming H. sieboldana presented itself to me in 1997, instead of repeating Eric Smith’s cross, I decided to use ‘One Man’s Treasure’ as the second parent. ‘One Man’s Treasure’ is a seedling of H. longipes hypoglauca and for all intents and purposes a form of the species, H. longipes. My new hostas were to be “Longianas”. I expected them to be blue, larger and more vigorous than the “Tardianas”, and well suited to all growing conditions.

I recovered 15 seeds from that cross and five seedlings made it to maturity. There was not a ‘Halcyon’ in that group, all were mediocre plants brimming with genetic potential. In 2001, hundreds of second generation seeds were taken from the F1 seedlings and germinated. Several hundred seedlings were then culled, first for the best blue color, and second for interesting leaf shapes, and soon there were only 25.

In 2010, 13 years later, I am introducing four of my second generation “Longiana” seedlings. They are a very special group of hostas, a new genetic combination, not of the historic proportions of the “Tardianas” by far, but a new line of breeding for all hosta hybridizers to incorporate into their seedling programs. All four are vigorous growing medium to large hostas with good color and distinct leaf shapes. They have good substance but lack the stiffness of the “Tardianas” and are more interesting to the eye. While none may ever rival ‘Halcyon’, ‘Summer Squall’ and ‘Sun Shower’ are great hostas.”

debra

Debra, thank you for the kind words about my yard. I’ve liked Hosta for a long time since discovering the minis. Blue Mouse Ears was one of the first of the minis that I got while attending the big annual Northwest Flower & Garden show in mid 2000’s. That was my hooked on Hosta moment! But, it wasn’t until 2012 when I moved south to Vancouver that I started planting the large Hosta for my very empty new garden which has much more shade than my Seattle garden did. When I discovered the Hosta forum on Houzz only then did I realize just how many kinds there are - 6,000 + I read! It was through this forum that I learned about sports and reversions. Ken Adrian is who sent me down the path to dig out the reversions - I bet he’s the same Ken who sent you the Halcyon history. Interesting about your experience with June reverting & the newly separated Halcyon sporting again! Did I say that right? 😁 Thank you for posting the Halcyon story. I found it pretty interesting and also informative. I think Hosta is such a fascinating plant with all its varieties, sizes, colors.

Kathy