This large
(26 inches high) cultivar was registered by the daughter of
Frances
Williams in 1986. It
was "discovered" in a Connecticut nursery in 1936 and is
considered a sport of
Hosta sieboldiana 'Elegans'.
The leaves have thick substance, are heavily corrugated, have a
deeply lobed base and a distinct tip. It bears large clusters of
near white flowers in mid-June to July.
According to
The Hostapedia by
Mark Zilis
(2009), this cultivar "...is named for the
most influential
person in the modern history of hostas. Her correspondence with
other collectors, hybridizers, and botanists from the 1930s
until her death in 1969 fanned the flames of interest in hostas
and let to the formation of The American Hosta Society. She also
developed some of the first hosta cultivars including 'Green
Piecrust', 'Louisa', 'Sweet Susan' and 'Frances Williams'."
This cultivar has been awarded the Royal Horticultural Society's
Award of Garden Merit in the
UK.
Over the decades, several
cultivars that are very similar (but different) to
Hosta sieboldiana
'Frances Williams' have been introduced including.
One of the negatives of the
cultivar is that it often shows signs of "burn" around the edges
of the leaves and between the veins. This seems to be more of a
problem in the spring and does not appear to be related to heat
stress. It is commonly called "
