Re: Hosta foliage types
- Subject: Re: Hosta foliage types
- From: h*@open.org
- Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2001 00:16:32 -0700 (PDT)
Bill:
>what climate did the evergreen daylily species come from?
There is only one truly evergreen daylily species (aurantiaca) and it
comes from southern China. It was used extensively by the southern
hybridizers in the early days of daylily hybridizing because the
deciduous daylilies didn't perform well in the very mild winter
climate of the deep south - they didn't get enough cold treatment to
break dormancy.
>How do they perform in temperate climates? The modern day
non-deciduous daylilies are mostly winter hardy up to zone 6, but are
variable in colder climates. It depends to a great deal on how
dependable a snow cover there is. One of the big complaints about the
Florida bred hybrids is questionable winter hardiness, especially from
some of the hybridizers. The non-deciduous types stay green until a
cold enough frost comes along and turns them into mush. However, long
periods of inclement weather can make them look pretty poor before the
frosts do them in. They never go truely dormant like the deciduous
types.
>What happens when they are bred with deciduous types?
The non-deciduous types are dominant over the deciduous types. It
behaves mostly as a simpe singe gene, but there are some modifier
genes involved that influence when and how quickly a deciduous daylily
goes dormant.
>Do you think hosta show any similar characteristics to daylily
>foliage?
I really haven't looked at this all that critically. I do know that
when I'm down at Charlie Purtymun's place in mid to late November
there are still some daylilies that will be reasonable green even with
some light frosts while most of the others are well browned off. When
you read daylily catalogs you generally will see a reference to its
foliage type, as either dormant, semi-evergreen or evergreen. For
some reason daylily people insist on using the incorrect term
"dormant" for the correct term "deciduous." However, I don't see
hosta people giving any reference to foliage type in hosta catalogs.
Its obvious that there is variation within the hosta genus for foliage
traits. One way to study foliage types is to grow them in a
greenhouse and observe if they are photoperiod sensitive or not.
Joe Halinar
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