H.'Fortunei Hyacinthina' sports

I saw an unusual light streak in one of my Hyacinthina clumps and I noticed upon further investigation in early May of 2005 that there was more than just the one leaf which showed this streak of colour.

For good measure, 4 days later this is what that patch looks like. There are 2 or 3 leaves that year that showed minor streaking, and I was waiting with baited breath to see if we'd see those again in 2006.

Sure enough. We're now into early May 2006 and look at what is happening. This is right at the same spot of the crown as those streaked leaves were last year. It'll be interesting to see if more leaves on this shoot do the same thing and if they do, this shoot will get separated to see if it stabilizes.

A week later, May 13th to be precise, the leaf has now unfurled and other leaves on two shoots, which appear to have come off the shoot that first showed streaking last year, are showing similar streaking.

On May 26th 2006 we can see a fair number of leaves that have not only streaking, but also variegation. This picture also does justice to the blueish overcast this cultivar can show, just look at the solid coloured leaf in the center, but it's actually much better looking in real life. In full shade I've seen it so dark as to make you think the leaves are almost black.

By early August 2006 thoughts were being given to separating the sporting shoots, but perhaps I'm best off to see how things start off in 2007 and make the division while the leaves are starting to unfurl.

Just for fun, go back to the first picture with the first signs of sporting and compare that to what we now have in the middle of May 2007.

Did I mention I discovered another 'Hyacinthina' sport? These two leaves are actually on two separate shoots. I noticed them almost by accident after the pot they're in had been on our plant sales table for the 3 weekends in April/May. It was quickly removed from the sales inventory and these shoots will quite likely get separated off later in the season for growing on next year.

There actually is a 3rd one I'm keeping an eye on and this is it. If you see it up close you would notice a slight yet quite noticeable streaking just along the right side of the center vein, pretty much the full length of the leaf.

It's funny how these days when I look at my various 'Hyacinthinas' I pay a lot more attention to subtle changes in leaves and I have found several potted ones where one or more of the leaves are showing what could very well be early signs of sporting in that I notice a mottled, sometimes almost streaky character to those leaves. Time will tell obviously, but I'm now holding back more and more of them to keep a close eye on next year.

June 19th 2007 I took the bull by the horn and divided off a 3-year old 'Hyacinthina' sport, four shoots in all. Here it is freshly potted up, but by day's end the leaves had all started to hang their head. The rootball wasn't quite as large as you would expect from a regular potted-up 3-year old and with that loss of water uptake I'll have to make sure to keep it well watered and out of direct sun. I'm quite prepared to have these leaves pretty much all gone in a couple of months, but there should be plenty of new growth at that point and I'm really looking forward to what next year will bring from this sport. It's interesting to see how this sport has developed over the past 3 years. From a couple of barely noticeable streaks to a decidedly medio-variegated part of the plant in 3 years is hard to fathom perhaps, but it sure is exciting and here's the proof in pictures.

It's now September 2nd and I'm happy to say the vast majority of leaves survived the division process. One of the four shoots in this division is clearly medio variegated, this one, the others are mostly degrees of streaking.

With the variability even among these 4 shoots I would think that there is further division in store down the line for this.

When this division was taken the leaves were the same size as what you'd expect from a mature Hyacinthina. Next year I fully expect them to be smaller since this crown is now being fed by a much smaller set of roots. Every step was taken to encourage as much root growth as possible this year, it was kept out of direct sun, the 2 gallon pot it is in was sitting in a tray that had a constant supply of water and it must have helped as I lost none of the leaves.

It's really quite exciting to have all this sporting happening and be witness to how long it will eventually take each one to stabilize.

Now you have made it this far down the page, see what is happening in 2008 on page 2 of the Hyacinthina sports.