This is a seedling of H. 'Sharmon' × H. 'Golden
Sunburst' that was introduced in 1974 by
David Stone of Connecticut. It was known as H. 'Stone's Fantasy' before being
registered under this name by
Piedmont Gardens
of Connecticut in 1982. This giant size plant (30 inches high) is green with yellow blotches
and streaks in the spring that turn all green by mid summer. The
foliage is deeply veined, slightly rippled and corrugated. Pale
lavender flowers bloom from late June into July. According to
The Hostapedia by Mark Zilis (2009), "At first glance, 'Wolcott' appears to be infected
with a virus, but that is not the case. The unusual yellow
splotches mimic the symptoms of
Hosta Virus X in some
respects, but they usually disappear by July 1."
An article titled
The Hosta Legacy of the Late David Stone appeared in the 1985 issue of
what was then called
The American Hosta
Society Bulletin. The article was authored by Stone's former partners in the
Piedmont Gardens nursery in Waterbury, Connecticut,
F. Henry Payne
and Philip R. Payne.
"An inventory of David's hostas should start with the unusual giant-leafed
variety which he called 'Stone's Fantasy' but which was registered in 1982 as H.
'Wolcott', the town where Stone had lived. This
has frequently won "largest leaf" award at shows of
The American Hosta
Society National Conventions. These leaves are not only colossal in size,
they are also uniquely variegated.
Emerging a light shade of green, the leaves of H.
'Wolcott' show areas of dark green blotches which created an attractive affect
similar to caladium. The clump grows to tremendous size, with the leaves held at
a height of 2 1/2 feet. We think David selected this outstanding hosta from his
series of crosses of H. sieboldiana
x H. fortunei 'Albo-picta' (also
known as H. fortunei 'Viridimarginata'
and 'Aureo-maculata').
By mid-summer, 'Wolcott', loses its mottled
variegation and blends into a uniform shade of medium green, contributing an
excellent landscape effect for the rest of the season. In the early season,
however, it's a knockout! The plant has pale whitish flowers on racemes similar
to H. tokudama and is an early
mid-season bloomer."
[Note: Name changes since this article was
written include H. 'Tokudama', H. 'Fortunei Albopicta', H.
'Sieboldiana' and H. 'Fortunei Viridi-marginata' is now H. 'Crispula'.]
|