This term describes how spring leaf colour is lost as the season progresses.
It is a characteristic that can add seasonal interest to the garden and extend the value of those cultivars that exhibit it. As many viridescent cultivars are now showing their summer plumage we thought this an ideal time to return to the subject...
| Green
is the colour Every spring the wait for the newly emerging hosta shoots is doubly rewarded by the viridescent varieties exhibiting their spring colour. It is important to realise that viridescent varieties will turn green as the season progresses but this colour change doesn't always happen quickly. Indeed, the more shade you give a viridescent variety, the longer the spring colour will generally last. We take a selection of viridescent varieties to the early spring shows and usually find they have lost quite a bit of their colour when they are put back into the collection alongside the other plants on our return. This is because they are subject to much more light than they experience in our shade tunnel. A very popular cultivar is h. 'War Paint' and we took this variety out to the Harrogate Spring Show earlier this year. As the photos show, the parent plant, that went to the show, has begun to lose its colour whereas its companion is still looking colourful.
It is like having two cultivars for the price of one and if space is a premium in your garden then perhaps choosing a viridescent variety can make better use of that space. Some viridescent cultivars lose their colour more quickly despite their growing conditions. One such cultivar is h. 'Guardian Angel', which although it loses its colour quite quickly, does retain the grey-green characteristic that makes it a good foil for other plants which take longer to emerge in the spring. H. 'Fallen Angel' is a sport of h. 'Guardian Angel' but less dramatic in its variegation:
The creation of a 'white' hosta seems to be grabbing the hosta breeding world and there have been a number of introductions over recent years that show how this may eventually be achieved. However, unless the plant has a degree of green in the leaf it will not be a strong grower. Plants need to produce chlorophyll in order to be able to photosynthesise and grow - white leaves do not permit this to happen. The plant weakens quickly because it cannot produce sufficient food. Even the newest white introductions are not strictly white, more a very light shade of green or streaked green and if they are not viridescent they will not survive for long. This sums up the properties of h. 'White Feather', the number one cultivar currently seducing customers with the promise of something different. H. 'White Feather' is a problematic plant and will not reliably turn green. We have had so many queries about it this year and we cannot believe how many people spent good money on it, so we issue the following warning: |
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| Caveat emptor...
buyer beware of h.
'White Feather' Naturally the companies selling this plant are not willing to disclose its short-comings because it would impact sales. We do not recommend people buy it without considering the fact that it is unlikely to survive beyond a couple of years. |
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Gardeners' World Live 2009
Although we found Gardeners' World Live 2009 to be
a bit of a disappointing show, we were delighted to be judged 'The Best
Exhibit in the Plant Mall' and receive this lovely glass vase:
This is the highest award we have achieved to date for an exhibit and the vase is a lovely shape for displaying cut leaves.
Unfortunately, this year the show did not
attract as many gardening visitors as usual or as many horticultural exhibitors.
We were pleased to see many of our regular customers but whether there
was sufficient content to encourage them to return again next year remains
to be seen.
Stand details
As we head into our busiest month of the season, we
would like to remind you that we will be exhibiting at the Hampton
Court Show inside the Floral Marquee (FM19) and outside in the Plant
Mall (B74). We will also be at the Tatton Park Show exhibiting
in the Floral Marquee on stand FM39.
We have a new show to add to our 2009 tour, Wisley Flower Show on 11-13 September. More details about these shows can be found by following the show links on our shows page.
| Next month: | We complete the parentage story of h. 'Dorothy Benedict'... |