Lakeside Beach Captain Lost Its Stripe

Long Island, NY(Zone 7a)

I have had Lakeside Beach Captain in my yard for a few years now (maybe 5?) It's doing beautifully and this year was the best year yet except for one problem. It seems to have lost its stripe in the center of each leaf. Some of the earlier leaves have the stripe, but some (mostly the upper leaves) are just solid green.

What would cause this to happen so suddenly? There's nothing else wrong with the plant that I can see--no damage of any kind, no other color variations.

Thanks!

Clarksville, TN(Zone 7a)

This is an older post that got no replies. Simple answer: not all hosta mutations are stable and they can revert back to their original pre-mutated state.

Long Island, NY(Zone 7a)

Thank you, Cvill_Gardener! Once it reverts to its pre-mutated state, can it switch back? I hate to dig it up and replace it--it's big and beautiful and has taken a few years to get to this stage. But it looks like a plain generic blue-leafed hosta now. I miss that stripe!

Clarksville, TN(Zone 7a)

No, it won't switch back. (I like the striped hostas too.)

Long Island, NY(Zone 7a)

Well, boo. Oh well. It's a good excuse to buy a new one! ; )

Does anyone know what makes a hosta revert to its pre-mutated state?

Long Island, NY(Zone 7a)

Another quick update--I looked closer at this yesterday and it appears that some of the plant still has striped leaves, and some of it doesn't. I'm going to dig it up and separate the striped from the solid--then replant them separately. Now I have two hostas where I previously had one. Lemonade out of lemons! ; )

Clarksville, TN(Zone 7a)

Sounds like a good idea. Keep us posted.

Powder Springs, GA(Zone 7b)

A lot of variegated plants can and will revert back to its original green parentage if you let the green parts grow. Not sure how that pertains to hostas but a lot of shrubs that start showing green shoots should have the green shoots cut out to keep the variegation going strong.

Another side note - I visited the garden of one of the officers in the hosta society of GA recently and he had many hosta hybrids that he grew from his own crosses. The ones he was getting rid of were the streaked hostas (which I took one of his to try in my own garden) and some blues/greens that he considered too common (I took one of those as well). He said the streaked ones are too unstable to use for breeding purposes. YIKES?

Here is one of the streaked ones I picked up and a row of his blues and golds that he was keeping to trial in northern gardens to see if they would be worthy to introduce.

Thumbnail by hcmcdole Thumbnail by hcmcdole

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