P00 Hosta 'Pure Heart' from The Hosta Helper - Presented by PlantsGalore.Com

Hosta 'Pure Heart'

This slow growing tissue culture sport of H. 'Blue Mouse Ears' was registered by Walters Gardens, Inc. of Michigan in 2009. It is a miniature size plant about 3½ inches high by 5 inches wide with slightly blue-green foliage that has a creamy white medial (center) variegation. The leaves are broadly ovate, flat, dull on top and have a rounded base. Medium lavender flowers with darker veins bloom from June into July. It sets seeds but their viability was undetermined at the time of registration.

According to The Book of Little Hostas by Kathy Guest Shadrack and Michael Shadrack (2010), "...a fine addition to the H. 'Blue Mouse Ears' dynasty...Needs tender loving care when first planted. An excellent plant for the shaded rockery and fairy garden, and a fine addition to the H. 'Blue Mouse Ears' dynasty."

Jan van den Top, hybridizer from the Netherlands, believes that H. 'Pure Heart' is actually the same as H. 'Desert Mouse'.

Warren I. Pollock wrote comments about the many sports of H. 'Blue Mouse Ears' (which he termed BME) in The Hosta Journal (2012 Vol. 43 No. 2). He stated, "Jan van den Top reports 'Pure Heart' and 'Desert Mouse' are the same hosta. Also, 'Holy Mouse Ears' comes up with plain blue-green leaves; after a month or so, a creamy-white center develops somewhat more yellow than others in this variegation group. Recall: 'Holy Mouse Ears' is from 'Royal Mouse Ears'."

An article by Warren I. Pollack in The Hosta Journal (2020 Vol. 51 No. 1) titled Doppelgänger Hostas: Fancy Name for Look-alike Hostas, included a long list of hostas which various hostaphiles, published articles or other sources have indicated "look" the same. Some of these are, in fact, the same plant with two or more different names. Others are hostas that vary in some minor trait which is not immediately discernable to the casual observer such as seasonal color variations, bloom traits, ploidy, etc. So, as Warren mentions, hostaphiles may differ as to the plants listed but then, their opinions are based on visual observations and interpretations.

H. 'Pure Heart' is included on two look-alike lists in this article. Following an algebra rule I learned in the last century, if A=B and B=C, then A=C so all the hostas on both lists should be look-alikes...right? Also, all the hostas on both lists are medially (center) variegated except for H. 'Mighty Mouse' which has marginal variegation.