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Hosta 'Frosted Mouse Ears'

This slow growing tissue culture sport of H. 'Royal Mouse Ears' which was registered by Mark Zilis of Illinois in 2006. This small size (7 inches high by 12 inches wide) cultivar of broadly ovate shaped, nearly round foliage with thick substance bears pale purple flowers in July.

The Book of Little Hostas by Kathy and Michael Shadrack (2010) says: "Will take some sun and is ideal for a large container or alpine tray. This plant suffers greatly from splashback and needs a firm mulch to keep the leaves clean."

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 'Mighty Mouse' and 'Lucky Mouse' are the same hosta. Also, 'Frosted Mouse Ears' comes up from the ground with plain blue-green leaves. After a month or so, a creamy-white margin develops somewhat more yellowish than others in the variegation group. This is in agreement with Tony Avent's observation that the margin of 'Frosted Mouse Ears' seems to be slightly less white than 'Mighty Mouse'. Recall: 'Frosted Mouse Ears' is from 'Royal Mouse Ears'."

 

"H. 'Royal Mouse Ears' is described as having blue-green foliage with numerous gold and creamy-white streaks throughout the leaf blade. Jan van den Top reports it emerges with plain bluish-green leaves and streaking appears a month or so later. In addition to streaks in the center, also expect distinct creamy margins. Further, don't be surprised if 'Royal Mouse Ears' settles out as a margined-leaved 'Frosted Mouse Ears'. Recall: 'Frosted Mouse Ears' and 'Holy Mouse Ears' originally came 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. 'Frosted Mouse Ears', H. 'Lucky Mouse', H. 'Mighty Mouse', H. 'Moonshine Mouse Ears', H. 'Mouse Madness' and H. 'One Iota'.

H. 'Mighty Mouse' was included in two separate look-alike lists in the article. One was a list of medial (center) variegated plants while the list above includes marginally variegated hostas. Since 'Mighty Mouse' is marginally variegated, the inclusion on this list appears to be correct.

 

11 4.7
2010 #9
2011 #5
2012 #4
2013 #7
2014 #5
2016 #5
2017 #3
2018 #4
2019 #5
2020 #5
2021 #4
 




   

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