H. 'Ice Age Trail'

Never in a hundred years would I have dreamed of receiving one of these as part of my Secret Trade in August 2007, what a nice surprise!

The batch of 8 varieties I was blessed with in this trade looked a little battered and tattered, like this one. That would be primarily because the lady who grew them had been hit with 2 hail storms within the month prior to shipping. No big deal though, it's fairly late in the season, I'm seeing early signs of senescence all over and as long as these get a decent chance to establish their roots for the winter I don't really care.

In retrospect those were not early signs of senescence I was seeing, they were signs of the presence of foliar nematodes, unwelcome guests that hitched a ride on this plant and at least another 3, likely 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 is mid August 2008, the long term outcome of the attempted elimination is at least a couple of years away.

I must admit that I was a little concerned over how well I would fare with this cultivar after the bleaching I gave it mid-September. It was very gratifying therefor to notice by October 21st that the crown is now showing 2 new buds as you can see, my biggest concern will be to make sure they make it through the winter; a bit of extra mulch will go a long way to help with that.

By early March '08 it would appear as if we'll see FOUR shoots this year... let's keep our fingers crossed them thar wormz iz a goner... It's good, no great to see this, particularly in view of the fact this supposedly is NOT one of the fastest growing Hosta cultivars.

A little over 2 weeks later, March 24th, and they're making great progress, don't you think? In another 2 weeks we should be close to the beginning of unfurling I hope.

Well, look at how we're doing April 12th! And while I didn't take any pictures, by the 15th you could start to see them far enough along to show streaking.

I'm tickled pink with how well it is doing this year. It would seem that this year we're going from last year's single shoot to possibly as many as 5 shoots this year, judging by the number of apical buds still showing, but it's only these two shoots for the time being.

A mere 2 weeks ago I harboured high hopes for as many as 5 shoots on this crown. As you can see on the far right, the largest one of those that have shown any growth as yet has now started to dry up and shrivel. This may well be the result of inadequate water supply and to that end, particularly in view of the fact this and the other 'bleach babies' are actually sitting on a fairly high shelf and receive a lot of direct sun, all of them have now been placed in trays where they will sit in a constant supply of rainwater to make sure they stay well hydrated.

In 2009 again, while there were early signs of more than just the one shoot developing, the others simply dried up. The main shoot though does look absolutely marvelous.

While I don't specifically recall seeing flowers on it last year, there certainly is in '09 and it has the distinction of being the first Hosta in bloom this year. Others, such as the multitude of Undulatas, were all showing scapes and buds earlier than this one, but Ice Age Trail has its buds open first on June 3/09!

While perhaps the leaves weren't quite as large as last year, in 2011 it did show more offsets. And while I don't have any pictures, it sure as heck didn't flower as early as in 2009, but I think I know why. That year it spent the early parts of the season in a spot where all day the sun would heat up the pot it was in. I have no doubts that lead to a much earlier scape/bud formation that year.

BTW, a recent posting on one of the forums I frequent shows a quite different form of streaking, one I must admit to rather like. It makes you wonder if there are 2 different versions of streaking, or whether this more medio version I have -which would appear to be more common, judging by the pictures in the Hosta Library- is part of a reversion or stabilization process.

Undoubtedly the bleaching the crown received here its first year will have set it back, nonetheless, it has been a slow grower, which has a deserved reputation for being just that. Now in its 5th year in our yard, it managed to emerge with a grand total of 4 shoots, WHOOPEE! It also seems to me the amount of streaking is lessening over that time frame, compare this year's with what it was like when first received.

No-one will ever accuse this cultivar of being a fast grower. Finally, by late May 2013 it is starting to look fairly impressive. What's notable here is how much more glaucous it looks compared to when I received it in '07, undoubtedly a reflection of the location it grows in.

For more information about this cultivar visit Hugo's Database.

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Pages last updated 28 November 2018