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Tardiana Group Seedling Numbers
 

Briefly, English plantsman, Eric Smith created a special group of blue-green hostas in the 1960s from a chance cross of what was then called H. sieboldiana 'Elegans' (now just 'Elegans') and H. 'Tardiflora'. At first, he only numbered the seedlings which were later named by him and others.

From the first cross, Smith select 4 outstanding blue-green seedlings. When these reached maturity, he crossed them with each other and saved 27 from the second generation. The third generation of cross breeding added only one plant. These 32 hostas are now known as the Tardiana Group. The name "Tardiana" is a composite word taken from the "Tard" in 'Tardiflora' and the "iana" from 'Sieboldiana'.

The system he used had the format of TF 1 x 2 where the first number indicated the generation and the second number was for the individual seedling. So, the example would indicate the second plant selected from the first generation of crosses.

Click Here for greater detail on the Tardianas.

TF 1 x 1 = 'Dorset Charm' TF 1 x 5 = 'Happiness'
TF 1 x  4 = 'Dorset Flair' TF 1 x 7 = 'Halcyon'
 

TF 2 x 2 = 'Blue Moon' TF 2 x 21 = 'Sherborne Profusion'
TF 2 x 3 = 'Harmony' TF 2 x 22 = 'Blue Belle'
TF 2 x 4 = 'Dorset Blue TF 2 x 23 = 'Blue Diamond'
TF 2 x 5 = 'Curlew' TF 2 x 24 = 'Blue Danube'
TF 2 x  6 = 'Blue Skies' TF 2 x 25 = 'Goldilocks' ***
TF 2 x  7 = 'Hadspen Blue' TF 2 x 26 = 'Sherborne Swift'
TF 2 x  8 = 'Blue Dimples' TF 2 x 27 = 'Camelot'
TF 2 x  9 = 'Blue Wedgwood' TF 2 x 28 = 'Kite' ***
TF 2 x 10 = 'Hadspen Heron' TF 2 x 29 = 'Sherborne Swan'
TF 2 x 13 = 'Grey Goose' TF 2 x 30 = 'Brother Ronald'
TF 2 x 14 = 'Osprey' TF 2 x 31 = 'Eric Smith'
TF 2 x 17 = 'Kingfisher' TF 2 x 32 = 'Hadspen Pink'
TF 2 x 18 = 'Purbeck Ridge' TF 2 x 34 = 'Sherborne Swallow'
TF 2 x 19 = 'Sherborne Songbird' TF 2 x 35 = 'Wagtail'
TF 2 x 20 = 'Hadspen Hawk'  
*** 'Goldilocks' probably does not exist and 'Kite' does not exist leaving 27 existing hostas from the second generation according to The Hostapedia by Mark Zilis (2009).
   

TF 3 x 1 = 'Blue Blush'  

 

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