H. 'Miss Grace'

'Miss Grace' came my way as part of my 2007 Secret Trade and I was absolutely blown away by those red legs when I first saw it! I started to try and find a bit more detail about the plant on the web and all I could find was reference to the hybridizer who developed it, Arthur Wrede, and some note about him releasing this variety for sale at the 2006 AHS Convention, along with 'Miss Linda Smith' and 'Miss Susie', but that was absolutely the ONLY information I could find. I did not find it for sale anywhere, not even the nursery site where I found this information.

Needless to say I'm over the moon! There is reason to believe this is a fairly vigorous grower and I cannot wait to see what next spring brings.

With those red legs I wonder how dark the flower scapes will be? There is no sign of a scape developing at this point, so I will have to hold my horses until next year most likely.

This is what I saw September 16th on 'Miss Grace' and that for me was the last straw. Already 3 plants out of the 8 I received in my August trade had very definite signs of foliar nematode infestation and for a couple of weeks I had been checking these somewhat suspicious areas getting lighter and lighter and that Sunday I decided there was no doubt in this cowboy's mind as to what we were looking at here as well. Why do I keep hoping they won't show nematode damage, only to be disappointed next year? Why take a chance? Why not take the bull by the horns and deal with them all, cut off their foliage, bleach bathe the remaining crown and roots and repot them. Yes, I know it's late in the season for re-establishing roots and perhaps one or two will be a no-show next spring, but I'd rather have tried the bleach bath on all of them and have the survivors clean and clear of nematodes than to pitch them all. And if one or two don't come back up in the spring, too bad, that's the way the cookie crumbles, you makes your bed and you lie in it.

Foliar nematodes, unwelcome guests that hitched a ride on this plant and at least another 3, probably more, of the batch of 8 I received early August 2007. That whole sordid affair is detailed a bit more on another page and while some fairly drastic steps were taken, the short horizon still is mid August 2008, the long term outcome is at least a couple of years away.

We're now into the end of August 2008 and this division has nicely re-established itself. Unlike some of the 'bleach babies' this one has not yet produced a scape, but that's not that critical to me just yet. Let's get it to a decent size first and it sure looks as if it is well on its way. Then again, it's only late August and I really have no feel for when it is supposed to flower, it could well be a late bloomer after all. Next year is soon enough to flower for me. I'd like to try some crosses with it and see if we can get those red petioles into a wider leaf with more substance... oh well, I can dream, can't I?

Well, I guess I was being impatient late August. The plant DID flower in 2008, but much, much later than any of our other Hostas. This picture was taken October 5th, when a good many Hostas were already going down for the season.

The seemingly late flowering of this cultivar is to be expected by the sounds of it, as all the red-petioled Hostas are noted for their late flowering period and it is not unheard for breeders to have to finish the maturation process indoors by placing the scape with the seedpods in sugar-water solution, something I cannot see me doing myself any time soon.