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Apr 12, 2016 6:39 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Ann
Ottawa, ON Canada (Zone 5a)
Hostas Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Region: Canadian Enjoys or suffers cold winters Composter
Seed Starter Annuals Herbs Canning and food preservation Native Plants and Wildflowers Vegetable Grower
'Purple Heart' was new to me September 2014 and was a bit of an impulse buy. It has grown well in its first full season in my garden but the background history on this hosta is a bit murky.

From a post by Don Rawson on a chat list, <br>
"According to a September 2010 posting on the Hosta Hybridizer's webpage at http://www.hostahybridizers.co..., Dan Heims gave the following vague description of the background of 'Purple Heart': "Our plants are a 10 year culmination of crosses that started with an amazing group of Hosta that I brought back from Japan. A particularly black-marked H. rupifraga started it, then select backcross, select, select. Gary Gossett was our Hosta breeder back then. I heard rumors of yellow-flowered and red-flowered Hosta when I was in Japan, but never saw them."

The patent for 'Purple Heart' gives this statement regarding the background: "The plant is the culmination of a breeding program for red petiole and leaf base Hosta. It was bred in Canby, Oreg. using unpatented proprietary parents. The exact parents are unknown."

I have some very tiny (just germinated) seedlings from 'Purple Heart' that are already showing signs of nice red petioles.

Please feel free to share your pictures of this hosta.

July 3
Thumb of 2016-04-13/ViolaAnn/e4c6b5

Aug. 2
Thumb of 2016-04-13/ViolaAnn/9b30fa

Aug. 31 - flowers
Thumb of 2016-04-13/ViolaAnn/f09241

Aug. 31 - notice that the flower scape was so long I couldn't get it in the picture.
Thumb of 2016-04-13/ViolaAnn/7eb7d7

Sept 21 - the seed pods were so heavy I needed to stake the scape. But it held up well to the end of September.
Thumb of 2016-04-13/ViolaAnn/9d3170
Ann

Pictures of all my hostas, updated annually and tracked since 2008 begin at: https://violaann.smugmug.com/G...
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Mar 26, 2017 2:58 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Ann
Ottawa, ON Canada (Zone 5a)
Hostas Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Region: Canadian Enjoys or suffers cold winters Composter
Seed Starter Annuals Herbs Canning and food preservation Native Plants and Wildflowers Vegetable Grower
2016 update - Sept 14

Thumb of 2017-03-26/ViolaAnn/efd24c
Ann

Pictures of all my hostas, updated annually and tracked since 2008 begin at: https://violaann.smugmug.com/G...
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  • Started by: ViolaAnn
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