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Our
list of hostas changes frequently, so some of the varieties mentioned
here may not always be available. We realize it would be better if
everything was always up to date, but it doesn't work that way around
here.
I get a
lot of emails that start out "My neighbor says he/she saw a white
hosta...." Inevitably, the writer thinks it would be great to have a
pure white hosta in their garden. Well, it would, except that the hosta
would die. Of course, if it didn't die, you would really have
something, cause everybody else's died. But it would die.
If we
think back to biology 101, plants use chlorophyll to produce food, and
chlorophyll is green. My friend Jim Anderson of Winterberry Farms has
pointed out that white areas of the leaves, on the margins or in the
center, or wherever, are essentially made up of parasitic tissue. These
areas without chlorophyll must be supported by the plant, but do not
produce any food.
So, if a
white hosta can't survive, how did your neighbor see one? Well, because
not everything I write here is totally true. Some of it's mostly true,
and as I've said before, sometimes I just make stuff up. In this case,
the information above is mostly true. Hostas with pure white leaves
cannot survive because they cannot make food to keep the plant alive.
But there are some pure white hostas that are only pure white for a
little while. If the white hosta should turn green long enough each
year to produce enough food, it can survive. The process is called
viridescence. At some point during the growing season, the white areas
of the leaf turn green, and so technically, it's no longer a pure white
hosta.
Obviously,
most of us would prefer that the plant would not turn green, but then we
would have the pure white hosta, until it died. There are a number of
white, viridescent hostas, and most of them that I have tried have not
been very vigorous. We grow two cultivars that emerge with pure white
leaves in the spring, 'White Wall Tires' and our introduction, 'Mountain
Mist'. Both of these plants gradually turn green early enough in the
season to allow them to survive and multiply.
White Centered Hostas
White
centered hostas are very popular now, and our comments about white leaf
tissue applies to them also. Whether these plants are easy or difficult
to grow depends on whether the white center turns green in summer and on
the ratio of white center area to green margin. Again it all boils down
to whether the plant has enough green tissue, either in the margin or
after the white center turns green, to produce enough food to support
the plant. And for many, the trick is to give the plant as much light
as you can without burning the more delicate white tissue to a crisp.
Plants
like 'White Christmas', with a lot of white in the leaf and relatively
narrow green margins, can only be grown because the white centers turn
green in the summer, and they can only be grown well if they are given
plenty of light. Sometimes you may have to experiment with locating a
plant like this to find an area that provides plenty of light without
burning the leaves. And of course, if you are going to give the plant
more light, you may have to give it more water to make sure it doesn't
dry out. 'White Christmas is certainly more of a challenge than most
hostas, but if you can get a plant that looks like this for even a few
months, it's certainly worth it.
There are
some white centered hostas that are not at all difficult to grow.
'Night Before Christmas', at right, which is a tetraploid form of 'White
Christmas', has a large, dramatic white center, but it also has wide,
dark green margins, so there is enough green tissue in the leaf to
produce a large vigorous plant. 'American Sweetheart' is another
tetraploid that we have had good success with. Because they are
tetraploids, these two also have thicker leaves, and so they have less
problem with the white areas developing brown areas and holes, or
"melting out", in the summer.
There are
a number of other cultivars that are not that hard to grow, but since
they are not tetraploids, their thinner leaves may melt out in the
summer, especially in warmer areas. 'Summer Music', 'Cascades',
'Lakeside Meter Maid' and 'White Christmas' are among the many white
centered plants that are certainly worth trying, even if they are a bit
more of a challenge.
There are
also a number of these plants that we have given up on. The fact that
we stop growing a hosta doesn't necessarily mean you shouldn't grow it.
It just means that for one reason or another, we can't produce the plant
profitably. It may not grow well in containers or grow so slowly that
it takes too long to produce a salable plant.
For us,
the most disappointing of the white centered hostas was 'Remember Me',
the white centered form of 'Halcyon'. Our supplier donated a portion
of the cost of each plant to breast cancer research, so we wanted to
sell it. It wasn't that we couldn't grow the plant, it was just so slow
that we finally gave up on it. On the other hand, we've seen some
beautiful specimens in other people's gardens, so you might want to try
it.
We've also
given up on all of the white centered sports of 'Francee', Patriot', and
'Minuteman'. There are a number of these on the market, 'Fire and Ice',
'Loyalist', 'Flash of Light', and probably more that I can't think of.
All of them are beautiful plants, but I've not had good luck with any of
them.
Some
gardeners are adventurous types who consider hard to grow plants a
challenge and are willing to try anything once or twice. And there are
those who cry for three days every time a hosta dies. If you like to
experiment, don't let my experiences hold you back. Just because I don't
grow some of these plants for sale doesn't mean I don't grow them for
myself. Not all hostas perform equally in all areas of the country, and
plants that may not do well in my area often grow much better further
north.
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