Miniature Hostas

[Lesley Cox]

I'm not surprised you wife was pleased with that one Mark. What a stunning colour and lovely curvaceous form. I love the way the golds light up dark corners so well and seem quite startling. Considering how many hostas are almost identical to so many others, I think I'd be naming this one. I've not seen anything like it or so fine in pure golds.

[TheOnionMan]

A few newer additions to my miniature hosta collection, the first 3 received last summer, the last one from a friend a few years ago.  I believe the first two are new cultivars, with patent pending.

Mighty Mouse - named after the cartoon superhero mouse popular back in the 1940s-1960s.  A real favorite of mine (hosta, that is).
Pureheart - the inverse coloration of Mighty Mouse, named for Pearl Pureheart, Might Mouse's girlfriend.
Little Treasure - don't know much about this one, nice striped lanceolate leaves
Island Charm - very small and slow growing, nearly all white.  Very expensive here, glad to receive this from a friend.

[mark smyth]

Island Charm and Pure heart are very nice. I must add them to the wants list 

[TheOnionMan]

a few more:

Partially seen in the photos of Hosta 'Sukey' I posted earlier, is the dwarf H. 'Little Wonder', here are two more photos of that one.  I like it because it is very low and densely leafed. Photo 1: early in the season, the leaf edges are chartreuse, the edges changing over to white by summer in Photo 2.  A real good clumper.

Photo 3 is 'Wet Bikini'.  Slow growing (too slow, I'm not impressed with it yet), very compact glossy green pointed leaves.  Maybe eventually it'll build upon into a respectable clump.

Photo 4 is an overhead view with three plants labeled 1-3.  If you cross H. 'Bridegroom' (#1) with 'Wet Bikini' (#2), you get 'Little Wonder' (#3)    The yellow one is H. 'Sukey' again, and the small green ones on the lower left are H. 'Tiny Tears', looking like a small H. venusta type.

Photo 5 - Hosta 'Tiny Tears' in flower.  Last summer I separated the clump into lots of divisions.

[mark smyth]

My brother calls his wife Sukey

[TheOnionMan]

My brother calls his wife Sukey

It's an uncommon name, although found in some English nursery rhymes and a few popular songs, like Mack the Knife by Bobby Darin, where a character named Sukey Tawdry is mentioned:
... and that last line "now that Maggi's back in town... look out ol' Maggi is back!"

[Graham Catlow]

Nice selections Mark and McMark.
I have a small collection of Miniatures and an extended selection up to very large, but like many others things it could easily become an obsession, so I have to be careful.

McMark I particularly like Mighty Mouse and Wet Bikini. I think that Wet Bikini will look really good in a few years time. It seems quite different. Blue Mouse Ears (see photo) is a slow grower and seems to have a similar growth pattern.
I googled Hosta Wet Bikini to see if it was available over here, and came up with a lot of web sites not associated with Hostas 
Couldn't find it though.

Some of mine
Graham

Thumb Nail
Paradise Puppet
Cherish
Hope
Pandora's Box
Blue Mouse Ears
H. venustus

[Lesley Cox]

Brilliant little gems Mark and Graham.

[TheOnionMan]

Nice selections Mark and McMark.
I have a small collection of Miniatures and an extended selection up to very large, but like many others things it could easily become an obsession, so I have to be careful.

McMark I particularly like Mighty Mouse and Wet Bikini. I think that Wet Bikini will look really good in a few years time. It seems quite different. Blue Mouse Ears (see photo) is a slow grower and seems to have a similar growth pattern.
I googled Hosta Wet Bikini to see if it was available over here, and came up with a lot of web sites not associated with Hostas 
Couldn't find it though.

Some of mine
Graham

Nice selection Graham, we seem to be on similar paths... I too could see Hosta becoming an obsession, so only allowed myself a small collection of the dwarf types, and a few selected mid-sized types. One needs lots of room, and much more shade that I have available, for the big monster Hosta such as Sum and Substance, Big Momma, and those giant puckered-leaf beauties.

Blue Mouse Ears looks like a real winner... nice! And 'Pandora's Box', a must have in any miniature hosta collection. I like the small venusta types too, such as your 'Thumb Nail', no variegation, but really tiny leaves and proportionally short flower stems, such pleasing and accommodating little plants.  Your H. venusta has noticeably undulate leaves... which I was led to believe is perhaps a venusta hybrid.  I too have such a plant, I called it H. venusta "curly form"; it was almost wiped out by mole activity a few years ago, still have a tiny bit left, it looks similar to yours.

You have convinced me to keep an open mind regarding 'Wet Bikini', maybe it'll eventually bulk up into something more impressive.  I have a similar thing from Collector's Nursery (closed as of last year) called 'Collector's Choice' I think, and it suffers from the same frustratingly slow increase (almost no increase at all).

Now, I'm off to google Hosta Wet Bikini for a few hours   But seriously, I'll ask my friend about this plant, she'll probably know the history behind it.  Now, if only I could hybridize Wet Bikini and get some yellow speckling on the foliage, I would name it Hosta 'Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini'    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itsy_Bitsy_Teenie_Weenie_Yellow_Polka_Dot_Bikini

[Maggi Young]

Gentlemen, I can see that I may be called to vouch for you with the authorities that you really were looking for horticultural information in your 'Wet Bikini' searches 

 I am very taken with the depth of colour in the flower of your last picture above, McMark. Very pretty.

Mark Smyth  gave me the link to Bali Hai Nursery some time ag, but I resolutely did not follow it.....since then I have seen a few of these little types and with all the photos here I have been tempted. So this week I did look properly at that nursery link and have been sorely tried with the urge to order some of those little cuties. So far my resolve is firm.....

[mark smyth]

Maggi did you look at all or just miniatures?

Here is a link to his miniatures http://www.mailorderplants4me.com/catalog/33

[Maggi Young]

I looked at the various section titles  but only looked through the minis properly...... well, and his ebay listings!

[TheOnionMan]

Maggi did you look at all or just miniatures?

Here is a link to his miniatures http://www.mailorderplants4me.com/catalog/33

Mark, some wonderful little hostas in that listing; almost too many... I feel the "collector's urge" coming on when I look through them all, easy to get hooked, wanting such things as Cat and Mouse, Bitsy Gold, Frosted Mouse Ears, and so many others.  Must also show some resolve, I'm just window shopping

[TheOnionMan]

a mystery hosta

[TheOnionMan]

 I am very taken with the depth of colour in the flower of your last picture above, McMark. Very pretty.

Here's a photo of what I called H. venusta "curly" (on the left), and it does have very good purple flower color; the Hosta on the right is one of several Hosta that Roy Davidson brought back from Japan, named "this Giboshi" and "that Giboshi", the word Giboshi apparently translating to "hosta".  Siskiyou Rare Plant Nursery sold these, as did George Schenk back in the 1970s, retaining what is probably the Japanese vernacular name of these imported plants and not indicative of what the plants really are.

In my photo on the right is the plant sold as H. 'Au-Fukurin Giboshi'.  As compared to H. venusta on the left, it is a much larger plant, but always struck me as an excellent Hosta for the floral show (not something you can say about many hosta).  A few years ago, both Hosta shown in this photo were devastated by mole tunneling and I lost most of each, but both hang on to life... must move them away from this location.