How to deal with Hosta Reversion
- John Plant
- 17 hours ago
- 3 min read
Here is a technical definition of a sport and a reversion.
Sport: An individual arising from the result of mutation, chimeral rearrangement, or mitotic recombination that is genotypically or phenotypically different from the original individual.
Reversion: (in Hosta) The change of a variegated sport back to its original solid colour predecessor.
Sometimes a Hosta will show one or two leaves that are different to the leaves of the original Hosta variety. These could be a plain colour leaf on a variegated Hosta, of usually green or even blue.
The generic term for this happening is called ‘Reversion’. It is not an unusual thing to happen. All variegated Hostas were a plain colour at some point in its past. It is only natural that a Hostas might want to ‘revert’ back to a previous form.
Some varieties are more prone to reversion than others. Often, there are only a few leaves or buds on the plant that have reverted. In extreme cases it may be the whole plant that has reverted. Green or blue varieties may not be a true reversion. It may be a sport, or new variety.
It is always a shame when a beautiful variegated Hosta has its looks spoilt with a growth of plain coloured foliage. It is not what you want to happen.
So! - What should we do about reversion?
The plain coloured reversion is usually a stronger growing part than the variegated bit and if left alone will eventually take over the whole plant.
If caught early enough, it is often just a leaf or two. All that is needed in this situation is to take out these leaves by removing them from the base taking out the whole section including the crown and roots. This may need to be repeated in certain cases.
We covered, how to deal with reversion in container grown Hostas in a previous blog . Here is the link if you want to take a look "Understanding Hosta Reversion: Tips for Managing and Correcting This Common Problem"
In this blog we look at the bigger task of dealing with reversion of a larger Hosta Paul's Glory grown in open ground.
In rather more extreme cases, it may be necessary to dig up the plant to get access to all the reverted growth.
Certainly, some of my older, larger varieties have started to revert after a few years in the garden.
This video shows Hosta Pauls Glory and how this has reverted. This will be dug up and divided to remove the unwanted green parts of the plant.
The un-reverted chunk of this Hosta will be replanted in the same spot, with fresh compost ready for a few more seasons. It is just a small part of the clump but will be happy enough if looked after well. Make sure it has plenty of water for a few weeks to establish the new planting.
With this particular planting I have put plenty of just one year old leaf-mold into the hole together with a mix of compost and well-rotted manure. The Hosta is at the top of the rockery in quite a dry spot and we want to try and retain as much moisture as possible beneath the Hosta.
The reverted piece will be split into two large plants and planted elsewhere in the garden. A little bit of research has indicated that the reverted Hosta may well be from Hosta Perry’s True Blue, but we are not certain enough to label these as such.
There are many Hostas on the market that are solid colour versions of there variegated parents. The reversion may well be worth keeping. Check the parentage before deciding to discard the reverted piece.
Check out the link … https://www.myhostas.be/sports/index.htm
If a Hosta has completely reverted, it is unlikely to return to its variegated form. You have left it too late. The sooner you address the reversion the less extreme the method to eliminate the reversion.
Good luck and happy digging!
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John Plant
Rewela Hostas
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