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Hosta 'Don Stevens'
 

This plant of unidentified parentage was introduced by Mildred Seaver of Massachusetts in 1991 and registered by her in 2004. It forms a large size (24 inches high by 40 inches wide) mound of moderately wavy, slightly corrugated foliage. The leaves are broadly ovate, shiny on top and very shiny on the bottom. From mid-July into August, it develops pale purple flowers on 31 inch high scapes followed by viable seeds.

According to The Hostapedia by Mark Zilis (2009), "It shows a close affinity to 'Neat Splash', 'Yellow Splash' and other variegated H. sieboldii types."

The New Encyclopedia of Hostas by Diana Grenfell (2009) states: "A moderate to rapid increaser. Juvenile leaves can be streaked before settling down to variegated margins."

"Plant is small with medium-sized glossy, green leaves that have a yellowish white margin. Scapes are purple spotted and flowers are purple. A form that has treaked variegation is known  under the name H. 'Don Stevens Streaked."



An article by Warren I. Pollock in The Hosta Journal (1998 Vol. 29 No. 1) states that "Don Stevens was a retired school teacher in the Boston area, noted for his hybridization of daylilies...he thought he would try his hand with hostas. Needing seeds and knowing of Mildred Seaver...he purchased the H. 'Neat Splash' seeds from her...After germinating them and growing them on for a while, he...asked her to grow on the hosta ones. She did. Not long afterward in 1983, Don Stevens died. Of the H. 'Neat Splash' lot, she selected the best and named it for him."  The original plant was streaked but it soon settled into a hosta with a yellow marginal variegation.

 

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. 'Don Stevens', H. 'Duke of Cornwall', H. 'Earth Angel'  and H. 'Foxfire Gabriel'.





 

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