Sports and Frequency

[steg]

Just wondering if a hosta tosses out a sport if it is more prone to do so again later.

Pictured below is Alex Summers. It tossed off an all gold sport. I believe this is called Summer Olympics, but I know there is some disagreement on that whole topic.

To make a long story short, it looks like Alex Summers is throwing out another all gold this year. Just interesting to me, that's all......

[Mark Raw]

My Fortenei hyacinthina is making a sport that at the moment looks like auroemarginata am I best to split it or leave it to get bigger?

[rockNhostas]

My Alex Summers did the same thing last year.

[jgh]

My Rascal is very unstable... my Alex Summers is pretty steady...

I believe the answer to your question is "yes." I think a sport appearing out of a hosta plant suggests there are probably more of the same cells in the crown. In big plants, I often have to divide them numerous times. I split a crown in half, let the pieces grow... then I find more of the unwanted growth the next year. I've divided Savannah Supreme multiple times to keep it streaked. If pieces have stabilized to a margin, I'll mark them Savannah and sell them. But the solids eye I plant in a grouping, and frequently I'll get another streaked eye out of those so I have more Savannah Supremes...

and why, for heaven's sake, when Alex Summers is a sport from Gold Regal, would gold sports from it get a new name? Seems to me, if you get one and it is different enough from Gold Regal, it should get its own name... but if that can happen, a solid sport different from the solid grandparent, then shouldn't every sport be considered separate and not lumped together as Summer Olympics?

[viktoria]

According to George Schmid, one should not presume all solid-colored "sports" from one hosta to be identical, nor necessarily reversions back to "mama". We recently had a discussion about this at Hostapix, in reference to gold sports out of montana 'Aureomarginata'.

My view is that, while the gold sports/reversions may look alike but be distinct on the cellular level, we do not need to be naming them all.

Viktoria

[steg]

Thanks for the help.

Here is what I get: Yes, once a plant sports, it's likely to retain the coding if you will for that sport and do it again.

For Alex Summer: It could be Gold Regal, Summer Olympics or something new (although not likely different). The second sport coming off his time could also be any of the above.

HOWEVER, it doesn't need a new name! (since I'm not in the business, I'm good with that.)

I might just call it 'Sport of that One' and be done with it. It's a really nice looking plant.

[Mark Raw]

Well I did split the sport off Fortunei no doubt it will be auromarginata...... pah

[Tigger]

If it looks just like 'Gold Regal', you can do what I did with my solid sport out of 'June'. I labeled it as "Halcyon ex June." Use double quotes so the nomenclature police don't ticket you.

David

[jgh]

Many of you know, this is a bugaboo with me. I know that they are culling the tc culture of June, for example, and instead of throwing away the blue ones they relable them Halcyon. And most of them will be indistinguishable from Halcyon and are probably the same genetically

but I've also seen sports from June that look like Halcyon - except on steroids. Remember where Halcyon came from - part of that Alex Smith tardiana grex breeding program. Nobody is going to confuse a Blue Arrow with Blue Heron or Osprey or Halcyon... there are genes for bigger and for smaller in that grex. So I'll bet there are people buying those Halcyons that will end up with a plant that is more blue-green than Halcyon-blue... and with leaves roughly twice the area of Halcyon... and diameters of clumps half-again or twice as big as Halcyon...

I haven't kept one labeled to prove this... best example I have is Olympic Sunrise, a sport from Halcyon that has a yellow center... sibling to June, but the colors are much slower to develop and the leaves are much larger than anything else in the June-First Frost-El Nino-Devon Green-June Fever bunch... and now that I mention it, doesn't June Fever keep a narrower leaf longer than all the others in that clan.

So there are only two solid sports that I've removed and relabled with a registered name. It seems the solid huge sport from Embroidery is universally taken to be Green Velveteen... and the big green sport off Jane Ward that would typically be thrown away unless somebody knows that it will develop the most beautiful flower bud in all of hostadom is identified as Lady Jane as it has shown that same dramatic flower.

I favor the "Sport of 'xxx'" form of labeling. An elephant is cool no matter what we call it... but I wouldn't want to mislead by calling it a toad...