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Smith used a numbering
system to identify the plants resulting from the
original and subsequent crosses. The parental generation (P) is the first set of parents
crossed. In this case that would be H. sieboldiana
'Elegans' × H. 'Tardiflora'. The offspring of
this cross are called the Tardiana Filial (i.e. sons and
daughters) designated as TF.
- The TF1 (first
filial) generation consists of all the offspring from
the parental generation. In other words, these are the
sons and daughters of H. 'Elegans' × H.
'Tardiflora'.
- The TF2 (second filial) generation consists of the
offspring from allowing the TF1 individuals to interbreed
with each other. So, once individuals in the TF1
generation became of reproductive age, pollen was
taken from the "sons" and applied to the pistols of
the "daughters". Seeds were germinated and the
resulting plants are part of theT F2 generation of Tardianas.
- The TF3 (third filial) generation consists of the
offspring from allowing the TF2 individuals to interbreed
with each other. Finally, when members of the TF2
generation reached maturity, the pollen from some
plants was used to fertilize the pistols of sibling
plants. The resulting seedlings are called the TF3
generation.
Within each generation, each seedling was given a
number. An example would be plant
TF 1 x 5. This would designate a plant number 5 from the
first generation as assigned by Eric Smith. It was later given the cultivar name
H. 'Happiness'.
Alex Summers, one of the founders of
The American Hosta Society, gathered many of the original Tardiana
plants into one collection. According to Eric Smith's
wishes, he and others including
Paul Aden and the
British Hosta and Hemerocallis Society named the plants and
registered many of them.
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The
Tardiana Group or Grex as it is called by
