Hosta Milkmaid (Seeds)

Description

Open Pollination (O.P.) seeds from Hosta Milkmaid. A first time offering here in the 2021 harvest sale. I think the first year it set O.P. seeds. Limited.

I obtained mine from Naylor Creek the very first year they were released…and only one survived. It has proven a very slow-growing hosta, but also quite the showpiece. Small, thick pointed leaves, super thick substance, and extreme splashed variegation far more intense when compared to Spilt Milk, one of its unproven, but highly likely parents (Milkmaid was discovered by Wisconsin gardener Janet Harvey as what some might call a “weedling”…a seedling that grows up on its own, in the hosta beds, without any intention or effort on the part of the gardener…so the parents are technically unknown). With all the misting/splashing/streaking going on, it’s hard to really classify the basic leave color as either blue or green…I think of it myself as more of a blue, but I grow mine in pretty deep shade.

Given that Spilt Milk, which shares this type of variegation, is generally regarded as extremely unlikely to pass on the trait, I’m hesitant to even guess as to whether you’ll get anything variegated out of these seeds from Milkmaid. The first indications I’ve come across suggest no streaking. But I know if I had more room to grow out hosta seedlings I’d probably be saving some of these back for myself!

See more at the Hosta Helper and the Hosta Library.