H. 'Platinum Tiara'

Sunday August 7th '05 we were looking for some plastic saucers for some of our pots and we cannot go into a nursery without checking to see what they have in perennials, amongst which Hostas rate high on our list.

"Look dear, they have a 20% off sale on all their perennials". Well that's all the invite I needed and I started to nose around. I kept being drawn to this unusually coloured one labeled 'Platinum Tiara', Waita kept going towards a variegated Fuchsia and both ended up in the trunk of the car when all was said and done.

I haven't decided yet where it will find a permanent home, but where-ever that is it will be a reasonably sunny location in order to keep the pale colouration. Apparently 'Platinum Tiara' is a sport of 'Golden Tiara' and I know that cultivar varies greatly in its colours depending on how much sun it receives.

Certainly 'Golden Tiara' has been a solid performer for us. It grows well, develops new shoots fairly quickly and sets seed easily, although it remains to be seen how easy those are to sprout, but the variety is indicated as being fertile. Here's hoping that next year, 2006, will prove for us the same sort of vigour out of 'Platinum Tiara'.

We're now 5 weeks later and there is plenty of evidence of new growth in terms of both new leaves as well as new points. We'll see how big it is in another month or so before we make the decision whether or not to break the root in half before it settles down for the winter.

Quite evident is the gradual disappearance of the very light coloured leaves which attracted me to it in the first place. The new growth has taken place under very different conditions however, with much less direct sunlight than what I suspect is needed to get the albescence of those earlier leaves. I must make sure that it gets that direct light next year and there are a number of spots I have in mind where that requirement is met.

October 8th weekend I couldn't control myself any longer and I took this clump out of its pot to see how many points there were and how to best divide them. Well, out it comes with a very substantial root-mass, rinsed it off in water to get the soil out from in between and ended up with two 3-point roots that went back into their own 1 gallon pot and one small single point root that was planted into the Hosta nursery for growing out next year.

If ever you needed proof of how sun exposure influences the colour of Hosta leaves, just take a look at what this 'PT' does in 2006. It sees around 6-7 hours of direct sun and the leaves are that pale yellow with white variegation that attracted me to it when I bought it in '05. There's another one that sees NO direct sun at all and it's green with creamy variegation! This variety, like 'Gold Standard', needs a fair bit of direct sun in order for it to best show its colours.

Although not evident as yet in this shot from late June, by late July there is ample new growth, which will probably result in this one getting divided in half again. WI, the one crown that sees no direct sun has not shown that kind of new growth as yet, but, its roots might well have been smaller to begin with and it is much more concerned with getting itself properly rooted and established, though you would have thought that process would have been over and done with by now.

The two members of the Tiara family we have are both early risers. This is 'Platinum Tiara' beginning to unfurl, shown here on April 8th 2007.

Correction, we now have THREE Tiara family members as of mid-August 2007.

This 'Platinum Tiara' is slowly beginning to turn from green to yellow and while in a lot of respects not in the same league as my most favourite Hosta: BME, it reminds me once again of what I like about this cultivar: its colour! By early summer it should be almost creamy coloured. It's a fine balance with this one as to how much sun you give it: too much and you get burn-out, too little and it stays greenish.

It's also such a nice, vigorous grower, like all the other members of the Tiara family I presently have, which numbered 5 by the end of 2009.