by jgh » Mar 18, 2007 9:09 pm
Wow... I did this long reply this afternoon, then kept getting a "server down" message... oh well, I guess I'll try again!
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Aren?t food-based hosta names just the BEST!!!
I love Guacamole... both the hosta and the dip. (in Guatemala they drop the last vowel and call it "wok ah MOLE" and make it very simply with just the juacate and lime juice and onion and salt, pepper, and oregano... no sharp spices... recipe available on request)
Most of you already know the heritage, but the family is so large that it bears repeating.
Fragrant Bouquet was registered by Paul Aden in 1982, a hybrid of Fascination and Fragrant Summer. There is plantaginea in the heritage as is evidenced by the large white or near-white fragrant flowers. In those years, when tc was rare, it would take a while for a hosta to "catch on." FB was selected "Hosta of the Year" in 1998.
Frankly, I was surprised. I just wasn't enamored of the apple green and cream color scheme... and FB didn't grow as fast as I'd like and the leaves didn't have great substance. (By '97, I was already agitating for the vastly superior June to be HOTY and was miffed when anything else was selected. I had to live through 97, Patriot; '99, Paul's Glory; 2000 Sagae; finally, in 2001, June got selected and I was able to end my personal boycott of the HOTY label.)
So FB became common in the trade, but its sport Guacamole (Solberg, 1994) also rapidly gained recognition. G was widely tc'd, so it was immediately popular. I am not the only one who finds the color combination of G more appealing than its parent. I also found G to be a more rapid grower and a larger overall plant than FB. G was selected HOTY in 2002.
G. also was the first hosta I know of to result in an all-to-common trend of naming and selling not-true-to-type culls from tissue culture. They got a lot of all green and all yellow sports when they tc'd it. Normally, you cull all those and throw them away, but Bob Solberg found that these were fast growing plants with the same good fragrant flowers, so he registered Fried Bananas in 1994 and Fried Green Tomatoes in 1995. I can't fault the registration in this case... both plants are garden-worthy and valuable additions to my garden. (But can we really say the same of Green Lama???)
G also resulted in a wider-margined sport named Avocado... (shshhh - don't tell G I said this...which I might even like even a little better than G)
The only bad rap on Guacamole is that it doesn't emerge fully colored. Its color develops as the season progresses. Since I like subtle colorations, I think this just adds to G's interest - see the early to mid-season picture attached - but there is no denying that some people prefer the bright center to appear on emergence or early in the season.
Enter Stained Glass (Hansen, 1999)... much brighter than its parent. Very popular, as attested by its position in the Hallson poll... and its selection as HOTY in 2006.
So by any account, G is part of a pretty impressive family. Not only the 3 outright HOTY, but also So Sweet, HOTY in 1996 is a FB x seedling hybrid. All easy to grow, vigorous, attractive, and having excellent fragrant flowers.
There is another whole crop of sports from this family popping up with similar characteristics. Miss Saigon is a FB sport, green-with-cream margin. Fragrant Dream is also from FB with a similar description, margin going from yellow to almost white. Fragrant King is out of FGT, but with a creamy white margin. Fragrant Surprise is a Sweetie sport... but Sweetie had FB as one of its parents, so we'll add both of them to the family tree as well. Frozen Margarita comes out of FB, with greenish-yellow leaves and a white margin.
I?m sure there are more that I?m missing? please add to the list.
If I could only have one family of hostas, it would be a Sophie?s Choice between the Halcyon-June-Touch Of Class-First Frost-ETC family and the FB family. If I had limited space, it would go to the first. If I had lots of space, and needed more sun tolerance, I?d go with the latter. Thankfully, I?ll never have to choose! (and don?t ask me to get rid of the whole collection of August Moon sports? just too painful to think about!)
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I think Guacamole is one that has several variations on the market due to tissue culture. The margins on the ones that I have are usually not much darker than the centers. In fact several years ago the margin wasn't even noticeable at 1st glance. And I've read descriptions of Guacamole as having a yellow-green center. Not sure how accurate that is, but the centers of mine are 
[I sent an email to Carol Brashear but haven't ever heard back from her. Not sure if that is an email related problem or if she was at Hosta College over the weekend.] I get a few - but not yours today. Don't think I got your Dick Ward email either.
So I'll give it another shot.
Mockingbird feeding juvenile yellow raisons - never leave home without them.