Okay, let me say we go to the HOSTA SPORTS, and you choose from the list on the left, GOLD STANDARD (97). It shows the family tree of sports from Gold Standard, with the little color letters being like for example, Captain Kirk (yg) I know that means "yellow green" But which part is yellow and which green? Is the first letter an indicator of the middle (or leaf) color, and the second the margin/edge color? Like yellow leaf green margin? That's part one of the question. I could not find a KEY there to explain their lettering system. If you go into the descriptions of the names of some very changeable hosta, there are a bunch of letters which HAVE to mean something. WHERE IS THE KEY? What do these mean, when they are used one after another to explain the pattern of color change for the shape-shifting hosta? Let me give you an example of the complicated hosta, such as one I was puzzling over today: I was checking sports of FRAGRANT BLUE. specifically, SECRET LOVE. It's leaf color is shown with the abbreviations: bl,(y>w)e Now that just blows my mind!! I got Secret Love in a pot in my garden, but I could not look at it and with this abbreviation know what the heck to expect, or even figure it out... I can see that bl = blue? y = yellow w = white but they put the ( ) around it, and then wind up with the e = _________ what.....???? So if there was a key somewhere on the website, I could make a stab at learning it. Someone put a whole lot of time into adding that tiny little box of information for a whole bunch of hosta, and I know it could be useful, if I knew what it indicated. So do you need a link to MyHostas.BE Sports? Thanks, Ken. Here is a link that might be useful: myhostas.be sports index

Asclepias--plants in the milkweed family BST--black swallowtail bidens--a group of flowers in the daisy family; attractive to butterflies BS--Black Swallowtail cat--caterpillar, the larva of a butterfly or moth comma--a type of butterfly cremaster--the 'stem' of a chrysalis eclose--the emerging of the adult butterfly from the chrysalis or pupa frass--caterpillar excrement, like bird droppings on a smaller scale frit--fritillary, a type of butterfly GF--gulf fritillary gregarious--Caterpillars having a tendency to group together or live in a colony GS, GST--giant swallowtail GSF--Great Spangled Fritillary hibernaculum--web enclosure made by hibernating caterpillars host--the specific plant a caterpillar eats HP--host plant id--identify, identification instar--a stage of caterpillar growth; the skin is then shed like a snake io--a type of moth ladies, lady--painted lady butterflies looper--a type of moth caterpillar LTS--long-tailed skipper meconium--fluid expelled by a butterfly or moth after eclosing NABA--North American Butterfly Association OE--Ophryocystis elektroscirrha, scientific name of parasitic spore harmful to Monarchs osmeterium--smelly protruding horns used by swallowtail caterpillars as a defense ovipositing--laying eggs peacock--a type of butterfly PL--painted lady butterfly pod--as in seed pod PVS--pipevine swallowtail queen--a type of butterfly question mark--a type of butterfly RSP--Red-spotted Purple butterfly skipper--a type of butterfly soldier--a type of butterfly sulfur--a type of butterfly TS--Tiger Swallowtail USDA--United States Department of Agriculture white--a type of butterfly zebra--a type of butterfly

Bloom Characteristics - sp or spid = spider - spv = spider variant - th = throat - fr or frag = fragrant - vfr = very fragrant - wm = watermark - dbl = double - uf = unusual form -ext = extended (blooms over 16 hours) -noc = nocturnal/night blooming Plant Habit - dor = dormant: foliage dies back to the ground - ev = evergreen: foliage remains partially or completely green - sev = semi-evergreen some signs of green may be visible in cold weather Ploidy - D or Dip= Diploid (has 22 chromosomes) - T or Tet= Tetraploid (has 44 chromosomes) -re = Rebloom -hyb = Hybridizing, hybridizer, hybridized S or SF = single fan D or DF = double fan Season - ee = extra early - e = early - em = early midseason - m = midseason - ml = late midseason - l = late - vl = very late EMO = early morning opener FFO = first flower opening CV = cultivar bc = bud count

Glad to see you MM. Did you have to change your name to MM for some reason? My name hasn't changed pretty much ever since I started being here. Except I had to add an S because my name was taken by me but I couldn't convince them that was the case. :-).