Re: The reverted H.Dorothy benedict
- Subject: Re: The reverted H.Dorothy benedict
- From: J* H*
- Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2001 20:07:07 -0400
Dear Hosta-Openers,
I know that I am getting old and "not with it" sometimes. At other times I
become baffled that the younger of our hosta-openers also are "not with it"
occasionally. I refer to the comments I made to Toyozo Nakayama today in
suggesting to him how a reverted hosta such as a green 'Dorothy Benedict' might
be modified to regain its streaky characteristics. My comments are in direct
opposition to comments made by Alex Waterhouse-Hayward and earlier by Andrew
Leitzow in a post to Andrea.( Andrew has apparently has left us for the summer)
. Andrew referred to a streaked plant being actually a series of sectorial
chimeras, all of which are stable in the apex of the meristem. This is a
definition that I have never heard of before. Similarly, Alex states rather
boldly that if one removes the leaves that emerged unstreaked from a streaked
hosta, that one can maintain the streakiness. This also is the first time I
have heard of such a claim . Frankly, I do not believe either claim. I thought
that we had discussed the conventional wisdom of the origin of sports adequately
so that the most progressive and scientifically bent among us understood the
status of the incomplete sorting out processes involved in streaked hostas.
Likewize, sorting out has nothing to do with the suggestion s made by Andrew
that cutting up the plant is " an intriguing technique to isolate a gene pool
that might remove the dominant , stabilized genes out of the gene pool" . Where
do these new theories come from? Please, I , and I am sure others , would be
willing to discuss this subject in more detail if necessary, but reaching out
into left field for new theories without more complete evidence seems rather
irrational. Have either of you two contributors to these new theories even read
what was discussed for a period of about six weeks on hosta- open about the
comprehensive discussion of the origin of sports? It is worth reading to learn
what authoratative researchers have learned during the last 20 years. It will
also be published in the Fall Journal hopefully, according to Kevin's plans.
Look for it there as well.
Jim Hawes
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Alex Waterhouse-Hayward wrote:
> Dear Jim,
>
> In plain language the gentleman did nothing about the reversion of his
> 'Dorothy Benedict' until it was too late. Had he removed in time the leaves
> that emerged unstreaked he would have maintained the streakiness. Every
> spring I keep a watch on my Hosta 'Reversed' and remove all green or almost
> all green leaves. Some of the leaves of my 'Paul's Glory' emerge green so I
> snip them out. One of my bad hostas, H. 'Colour Glory' is reverting but I am
> allowing it to as it manifested good old 'Frances Williams' necrosis. I
> don't think it's worth saving. Another hosta that reverts that I keep
> monitoring and snipping for old time's sake is my Hosta 'La Vista'. It's in
> a pot and when visitors to my garden say goodbye, "Hasta la vista," I
> immediately respond, "Oh, it's over here if you want to look at it."
>
> Alex
>
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