I've got a number of seedlings that need names. I'd welcome your ideas on names for them based on their looks OR incorporating the names of any of my grandkids (bearing in mind we'd need to search the name first, probably on Hosta Library). Their names are Amy, Nolan, Leila (in this case pronounced Layla), Heidi.

Here goes. I'll give you their age, pod parent (all are OP), and a brief description.

1. 2009 seedling from 'Little Red Rooster'. Bottom of petioles is red, but not as red as the parent. It's a fast-growing, very small hosta. Has been divided several times.


2. 2012 seedling from 'Christmas Pageant'. This is a solid green hosta, but it's got ATTITUDE in spades and is becoming the largest hosta in my garden. I took a couple of divisions from it two years ago.


3. 2012 seedling from 'Lemon Frost'. This one is one of the smallest in my garden. See that table knife being used as a marker? The whole plant, which has never been divided, is about the size of my hand.


4. 2013 seedling from 'Touch of Class'. It has lovely red petioles and is in an 11" pot; so while not a mini, it's definitely small, but a fast grower. Has been divided once.

5. 2014 seedling from 'Emerald Ruff Cut'. Was divided last year and this is half of it. It's also in a pot as I didn't think it was doing as well as it could in its previous location and I'm seeing a lot of growth on it this year. I love the ruffled leaves. It's currently in an 8" pot.


6. 2016 seedling from 'Curly Fries' which looks very similar to its parent except that it doesn't have a hint of red at the base of the leaves.


7. 2016 seedling from 'Emerald Ruff Cut'. It's quite similar to #5 above except it's green and it seems to bloom more readily.


8. 2016 seedling from 'Purple Heart'. This one has very red petioles and a lovely deep purple, late season bloom on red scapes. It's become quite a large plant. I reached in and divided out a couple of eyes in early June and you'd never know they were taken.

9. 2016 seedling from 'Salute'. This one is more green than blue and is quite a lot larger than its pod parent. Currently in a 13" pot and has a nice upright habit.


10. 2016 seedling from 'Spilt Milk'. For a long time, this looked nearly identical to my 'Milkmaid', but it has now surpassed it in size and is looking more and more like its pod parent.


11. 2016 seedling from 'Tickle Me Pink'. I REALLY like this seedling and just moved it into a prominent spot in the garden. It's got leaves like leather that are a dark, shiny green and a nice upright habit. Nice purple blooms on red scapes. I've also added a picture from last year of it in bloom.



12. 2018 seedling from 'Deja Blu' is developing into a very nice blue plant.


I've got others, but they are from 2018-2021 and seedlings take awhile to mature and often change a lot along the way. I'll show you a couple of the 2019 ones next year if they are still as nice as this year.

#11 above has been named 'Emerald Fountain'.

Are you planning on naming ALL of them? I'd caution against it for following reasons:

1) they've not been extensively trialed in different environments for any extended time (or you didn't mention this)
2) to be rude: what's so special about them that no other hosta has? I see this race for naming in Galanthus too.
Too many people want to name as many new seedlings as possible without considering "what makes them special or so different from any other?". Sooooo many named cultivars are practically look-a-likes that in my opinion only bring more confusion.

Probably Garden Names. I'm not looking into doing registration. And all except the last are 5 or 7 years old.

Lee-Roy, really not sure how much Hosta's are tested in different climates by any of the breeders.

To your second point, that was rude.

crawgarden said:Lee-Roy, really not sure how much Hosta's are tested in different climates by any of the breeders.

To your second point, that was rude.

Well fine on the first point.

I stand by my second though. Here's a link of someone who dropped a truck load of named Galanthus this year (the 'Wifi collection'). There are SOME a little different, but for most you need a fricking magnifying glass and miniscule tape measure to see any difference: https://coolplants.com/nl/sear... (just type in 'wifi' in the search box)

Why in the world would you care if Ann wants to name her plants? Never said she was selling them. Yes Rude.
There are some that I would not mind having in my collection. Getting a streaked plant out of Spilt Milk is not an easy thing to accomplish.

NJBob said:Why in the world would you care if Ann wants to name her plants? Never said she was selling them. Yes Rude.
There are some that I would not mind having in my collection. Getting a streaked plant out of Spilt Milk is not an easy thing to accomplish.

Then tell me the difference between 'naming' and 'registering' because I don't know, hence my commentary

Naming seedlings on your own property is just that. A way to keep track of them . It is nice to have something named after a relative or friend that you can share with them. It does not mean you are selling them. Or you can use a mixed name of the parent plants for ID.

If you don't know the difference between naming them and registering them, perhaps you should learn before making rude comments.

ViolaAnn said:5. 2014 seedling from 'Emerald Ruff Cut'. Was divided last year and this is half of it. It's also in a pot as I didn't think it was doing as well as it could in its previous location and I'm seeing a lot of growth on it this year. I love the ruffled leaves. It's currently in an 8" pot.


6. 2016 seedling from 'Curly Fries' which looks very similar to its parent except that it doesn't have a hint of red at the base of the leaves.


7. 2016 seedling from 'Emerald Ruff Cut'. It's quite similar to #5 above except it's green and it seems to bloom more readily.


8. 2016 seedling from 'Purple Heart'. This one has very red petioles and a lovely deep purple, late season bloom on red scapes. It's become quite a large plant. I reached in and divided out a couple of eyes in early June and you'd never know they were taken.

#7 reminds me of a..... a.... salad... I'm kinda hungry right now..

We've talked about Registration and that is done by the American Hosta Society. There is a well-organized procedure. http://www.hostaregistrar.org/... There's also an option to reserve a name for 3 years if you think you would like to register a hosta in future. I DO have another hosta, not pictured above, that I'm in the process of registering in the name of a recently deceased friend. The decision to register the hosta came about as a group effort.

I love the 2014 seedling from Emerald Ruff Cut! If it was mine I think I would name it Party Dress or Girlie Girl. It has lovely ruffles and if you do decide to sell a piece, I would be interested.

Susie, unfortunately, there's an international border between us. That makes sharing that hosta rather difficult but it certainly did look good this year. That piece is still in a pot. I had it in the ground in one location for a year or two but obviously not the right location as it didn't impress and I let some of it go last autumn when I sold off a few divisions and put the rest of it in a pot.

ViolaAnn, instead of naming some of us use numbers and keep a log of what we have. I'm not sure if
Hostas are tested? Glad you are keeping track of them. You have some nice ones.

I know it might be wise to contact the society for Hostas to get their requirements for registering.

#2 how about Super Trooper ?

karmahappytoes, I actually just registered a hosta. Not one of those shown above, but a yellow hosta with reddish petioles and red scapes and pods. A group here liked the hosta and we decided to name it after a recently deceased friend and I registered it. Not difficult.