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Hosta 'Janet'
 

This medium size (17 inches high) plant is a sport of H. 'Fortunei' and has smooth textured foliage with average substance. It bears pale lavender flowers that bloom from late July into August. This cultivar was registered by Russ O'Harra of Iowa in 1981.

According to The Hostapedia by Mark Zilis (2009), "Over the years I've noticed that specimens of 'Janet' vary a bit. In the 1980s, most had fairly narrow, medium green margins, but now many exhibit much wider, darker green margins. The latter group may just be the effect of good, fertile growing conditions, but some probably could be classified as wider-margined sports...a smaller version of 'Gold Standard' with thinner green margins."

An article about leaf color change by Warren I. Pollock in The Hosta Journal (1991 Vol. 22 No. 1) cites an extract from The Genus Hosta by W. George Schmid on seasonal changes in hosta leaf colors:

Viridescence Emerging with yellow or whitish color that ultimately become increasingly green. An example is H. 'Fortunei Albopicta' whose green-bordered leaves have a beautiful, bright yellow-colored center in the spring that turns to green by midseason.
Partial Viridescence Emerging with yellow or whitish color that turns to chartreuse (yellowish green), sometimes a dark chartreuse. One example is H. 'Kabitan'; two others are 'Golden Scepter'...and the center leaf coloring of 'Golden Tiara'.
Lutescence Emerging green or chartreuse and turning yellow or whitish yellow. The coloring of leaf centers of 'Gold Standard'. ..is an example.
Albescence Yellow, yellowish green or green areas that turn to near white. Examples are the center leaf coloring of 'Janet'...and the margins of 'Antioch'...and H. ventricosa 'Aureomarginata'.
 

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. 'Janet' and H. 'Gold Standard'.

4 23.8
1985 #20
1990 #22
1991 #28
1993 #25
     




Looks like the specimen shown above has begun to revert back to the green H. 'Fortunei'-type of hosta.

 

 
 

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