gracillima or Yakushima Mizu or Saishu Jima or ??? HELP

7 years ago

I have a miniature green hosta - origin unknown. It has been quite happy with my other minis in a clay bowl. I thought it was gracillima but a friend came over and said no, it wasn't gracillima. I have done quite a bit of research but need the help of those who have one or all of the above minis. I included my research cards but all indicate the top is shiny and I don't consider my green hosta shiny. Any input would be appreciated - especially photos of one of yours. My NOID if front and center. The scapes belong to Limey Lisa in behind. I checked the dimensions of the other minis which I am pretty sure about and some of the them didn't agree with the hosta books. So frustrating.

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hostas_for_barb
Original Author

7 years ago

Thanks for your input Jo. You are correct, moving them around has probably had an impact on their growth. I have just signed up for a hypertufa workshop and we are making troughs or pots. If I can find a large enough form I hope to make a trough for my mini hostas. But I guess even if I do this, they will still need to have the soil amended periodically if they are in a container.

I went on a garden tour yesterday and my hosta friend and I found ourselves in a garden full of hostas and we were having fun trying to ID the different hostas when the homeowner came out and we questioned him on one or two we weren't sure about. When he found out how knowledgeable we were, he went in and grabbed all his plant ID markers that came with the plants - many of them he had forgotten. We had lots of fun trying to figure them all out. I even IDed Gentle Giant in one garden and I don't have one and know no one who does but chalk it up to this forum and the alphabet game etc. It is a great place to learn about hostas.

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Comments (12)

josephines167 z5 ON Canada
7 years ago
Just a question:. are your mini hostas mature?
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
7 years ago
where did you get it ...

look up 'minor' in hosta library ...

i once got one from van that he called koreana ... or something.. and i thought of yours ... but i cant find any named that.. but some google reference to minor ...

easiest thing to do.. would be to get rid of it ... and your troubles are gone.. lol .. give it to your smart butt friend who uselessly argued with you about the name.. with apparently no reasonable suggestion .. lol ...

ken
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Barb Ure Drouillard 6b Canada
7 years ago
Yes Jo, I think they are mature. This is their third year in the saucer and they were all moved there from the garden. As they are clustered together in the saucer I could see the clump size being smaller. I checked cracker crumbs both in my garden and in the saucer and my leaf size is smaller than the registered size. Makes me wonder if it is wrongly IDed as well.
Barb Ure Drouillard 6b Canada
7 years ago
Ken, thanks for your suggestions.

I found Hosta minor in the hostapedia. It has some of the same characteristics but the leaf is wider (2 3/16 up to 3 7/8) and more vein pairs, 5-6. Each of the leaves I checked had exactly 3 on mine.

I also found a listing for Korean Snow but it is heavily misted and mine is not .

I only have one hosta friend so I can't alienate her, and she knows much more than me and is generally good with the ID but this one has us stumped.
Barb Ure Drouillard 6b Canada
7 years ago
Could be Greenie Weenie Bikini? I did have Teenie Weenie Bikini very close to the same spot this one was located in the garden. Could it have come up totally green one year?
josephines167 z5 ON Canada
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Barb, I don't know why I think this, but from my own observations, it seems to me that it takes longer for minis to mature than any other larger hostas. It takes them much longer to establish a strong root system so it would also take them longer to mature, no? My BME is 8 years old so chronologically, yes, it is mature but since it has not been left alone in one place, I won't know until I actually allow it to grow undisturbed for years to see the difference.

As far as being moved from pot to ground, or vice versa, the minis have to get readjusted and roots reestablished all over again to their new location so the size of plant, and leaf is relative to those variables. All this interruption in growth takes its toll I've found for I am forever moving stuff around. Fwiw. :-)

These comments are more in response to your concern about size, not ID. I'm sorry I have nothing to offer there, not being familiar with them.
josephines167 z5 ON Canada
7 years ago
Hope you post pictures of your finished hypertufa containers, and the minis in them! What fun that class would be.

How lucky for the homeowner that the two of you were there! You cleared up his mystery hostas....and he didn't even have to post pictures here, lol! You are so right about getting to know hostas by sight - we really have a goldmine here in this forum where we can view hosta pictures 24/7 and learn which is which. The fun part is going on a garden tour and applying that knowledge by seeing how many you can identify. I have yet to go on a garden tour.

Enjoy your hypertufa workshop!
brucebanyaihsta
7 years ago
Doesn't look like any on those three - too broad a leaf
Barb Ure Drouillard 6b Canada
7 years ago
Any ideas on what it might be Bruce?
popmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
7 years ago
Where's dhaven? He seems to know a lot about minis!
Lee
7 years ago
Could be Minor Korean? I'll try to find mine tomorrow.