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Plantain Lily

Hosta 'Bill Dress's Blue' Asparagaceae

Growth habit

Herbaceous

Perennation

Long-lived polycarpic perennial

Source of plant

Steve Chamberlain

Description

Plant: 9.0 in. (22.9 cm.) diameter, 2.5 in. (6.4 cm) high. Mound-like and fast growing. Leaf: 2.5 in. (6.4 cm.) long, 1.75 in. (4.4 cm.) wide, 6 pairs of veins. Medium blue-green. Glaucous bloom on top and underneath; lightly cupped, broadly ovate with a flat base. Scape: ranging from 9-18 in. (22.9-20.3 cm.) in length; green. Flower: 1.5 in. (3.8 cm.) long, medium lavender, striped, bell-shaped; Manlius NY: 7/2 – 7/15 – 7/25 (codes: 4 – 4 – 4). Seed: viability unknown; pod is purplish green. Clump History: a third generation division of the original, 3 Years old, growing in Manlius, NY. Notable Characteristics: a vigorous blue miniature. [parentage unknown] Note: Since registration, the seed has been shown to be viable. H. ‘Little Green Griffonage’ (S. Chamberlain – 2005) is a registered seedling of H. ‘Bill Dress’s Blue’. Additional Registration Information: Clump History. The clump chosen for registration is a division of a clump in Ellen Hornig’s garden in Oswego, NY. She obtained her original division from Marion Toby of Lansing, NY who obtained it from Bill Dress of Ithaca, NY. Additional Information. This is an old cultivar that has been distributed among the members of the regional rock garden society for years. I first saw it in the garden of Eric Neff in Binghamton, NY. As described in the attached letter from Bill Dress, it was a seedling selected from seeds obtained from one of the early American Hosta Society seed lists about 30 years ago. The seedling was raised at the Bailey Hortorium at Cornell University by Bill Dress. The identity of the original pod parent, if it was ever known, has been lost. It is a particularly vigorous miniature blue which stays small and forms a flat, ever broadening clump with age. Although the appearance of the clump is mound-like, the plant itself is modestly rhizomatous with the divisions in a multi-division plant having some separation. (The habit is similar to that of H. ‘Bill Brinka’.) The cultivar will be nationally introduced by Naylor Creek Nursery in 2000. Significance of the name. The name honors William J. Dress, retired from the Bailey Hortorium.

USDA Hardiness Zone

5