by Bob Solberg
I know many of you consider hostas to be a foliage plant and their flowers are just a necessary evil to be removed at first sight. Yes, I agree that the pale lavender flowers and floppy scapes of the ‘Undulatas’ that lined your grandmother’s sidewalk should be cut before they become a menace to mowing.
But change is coming… no it is finally here! Hosta flowers are no longer just white or purple or some shade in between. Some are red, yellow, and even green. Believe it or not, there are 9 pigments, anthocyanins, that may be found in hosta flowers. That is a palette of nine colors that we can mix and match to make hosta flower colors.
Think of the produce department in your favorite grocery store, the fruit section. There are several colors of plums, purple, even black. blueberries a rich blue, cherries are red, but the Rainier cherries are partially yellow. The same pigments that cause these colors are the ones we can find in hosta flowers. Think of the possibilities!
If you look carefully, hosta flowers are not just a solid color, even the
lavender ones. Yes, the veins are often darker purple, but the petals may be speckled or seem to have a “variegated”, pigment-less margin.
The good news is that the future is here. Several hosta hybridizers around the world are now actively trying to produce red, yellow and blue flowers. ‘Miracle Lemony’ is the yellow flowered hosta from Japan that has increased the interest in flower color hybridizing.
We are introducing some of the first of Doug Beilstein’s “red” flowered
hostas as a collection this spring. Check them out in our Shop here on Hostaguru.com. They will all bloom together in late summer, so group them together in the garden for a spectacular “red” hosta flower display. And don’t cut these flowers, unless you want to take them for an arrangement in your kitchen.