Hosta 'Wolcott'
 

This is a seedling of H. 'Sharmon' × H. 'Golden Sunburst' that was introduced in 1974 by David Stone of Connecticut. It was known as H. 'Stone's Fantasy' before being registered under this name by Piedmont Gardens of Connecticut in 1982.

This giant size plant (30 inches high) is green with yellow blotches and streaks in the spring that turn all green by mid summer. The foliage is deeply veined, slightly rippled and corrugated. Pale lavender flowers bloom from late June into July.

According to The Hostapedia by Mark Zilis (2009), "At first glance, 'Wolcott' appears to be infected with a virus, but that is not the case. The unusual yellow splotches mimic the symptoms of Hosta Virus X in some respects, but they usually disappear by July 1."

An article titled The Hosta Legacy of the Late David Stone appeared in the 1985 issue of what was then called The American Hosta Society Bulletin. The article was authored by Stone's former partners in the Piedmont Gardens nursery in Waterbury, Connecticut, F. Henry Payne and Philip R. Payne.

"An inventory of David's hostas should start with the unusual giant-leafed variety which he called 'Stone's Fantasy' but which was registered in 1982 as H. 'Wolcott', the town where Stone had lived. This has frequently won "largest leaf" award at shows of The American Hosta Society National Conventions. These leaves are not only colossal in size, they are also uniquely variegated.

Emerging a light shade of green, the leaves of H. 'Wolcott' show areas of dark green blotches which created an attractive affect similar to caladium. The clump grows to tremendous size, with the leaves held at a height of 2 1/2 feet. We think David selected this outstanding hosta from his series of crosses of H. sieboldiana x H. fortunei 'Albo-picta' (also known as H. fortunei 'Viridimarginata' and 'Aureo-maculata').

By mid-summer, 'Wolcott', loses its mottled variegation and blends into a uniform shade of medium green, contributing an excellent landscape effect for the rest of the season. In the early season, however, it's a knockout! The plant has pale whitish flowers on racemes similar to H. tokudama and is an early mid-season bloomer."

[Note: Name changes since this article was written include H. 'Tokudama', H. 'Fortunei Albopicta', H. 'Sieboldiana' and H. 'Fortunei Viridi-marginata' is now H. 'Crispula'.]

 

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