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 John Machen, Jr of Mobjack Nurseries
in Virginia registered this cultivar in 1994. It is a
tetraploid sport of H. 'White Christmas' that forms a large size (25 inches high by 63 inches wide) mound. The leaves are ovate
shaped, slightly wavy and smooth textured. Pale lavender flowers
are produced on 42 inch tall scapes from mid-July into August.
It is sterile and, therefore, does not set seeds.
According to
The Hostapedia by Mark Zilis (2009), "It is an impressive plant, perhaps one of the best
white-centered hosta cultivars. It makes a much larger mound
with taller scapes than 'White Christmas'..."
From the
Field Guide to Hostas by Mark Zilis (2014),
"As its mother plant, 'White Christmas', fades into oblivion, 'Night before
Christmas' continues to increase in popularity. The reason is simple: one grows,
and the other does not."
An article by Warren I. Pollock in
The
Hosta Journal (2006 Vol. 37 No. 2) says, "...'Christmas
Candy'...a new hosta discovered by
Gert van Eijk-Bos in tissue-culturing 'Night before Christmas'...at the Vitro Westland propagation laboratory in Rijswijk,
Holland...How do 'Christmas Candy', 'Night before Christmas' and the old timer
'White Christmas' compare?...all three have pure white leaf centers and dark
green leaf borders."
A summary of Pollock's comparisons of 'Christmas Candy'
(CC), 'Night before Christmas' (NbC) and 'White Christmas' (WC) included:
- Width of green margin: NbC - widest CC - mid WC -
narrowest
- Clump height: NbC - tallest CC - mid WC - shortest
- Upright growth habit: NbC and CC more upright than WC
- Resistance to melting out (leaf substance): CC - thick substance may be
a tetraploid - NbC somewhat resistant - WC often damaged
"In the International Code of Nomenclature
for Cultivated Plants 1995, Article 17.6 dictates that all words should have
an initial capital letter, with the following exceptions. Words that follow
a hyphen, conjunctions and prepositions, other than those which are the
first word in the epithet. Exceptions are also given where linguistic custom
dictates otherwise.
The following hosta cultivar epithets should be corrected as follows:
‘Night Before Christmas’ to ‘Night before Christmas’..."
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