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Eric Smith (1917-1986) was a plantsman and
hosta hybridizer from Dorset, England. In the
summer of 1961, he took advantage of a fluke
occurrence when a plant of Hosta 'Elegans'
flowered unusually late in the season so he
could use its pollen to fertilize a flower
on an H. 'Tardiflora'
plant. The cross spawned a large series of
smaller, very colorful, blue-green plants that
came to known as the "Tardiana"
hostas.
 "Eric
Smith also bred yellow-leaved cultivars, called the
GL (Gold Leaf) series. Some of them are considered
Tardianas but this is incorrect because this
yellow-leaved series involves
H.
sieboldiana, H. 'Fortunei
Aurea' and H. sieboldii 'Kabitan'
in the breeding. However, in one of Smith's published
records, some gold seedlings were recorded in the a Tardiana
grex
complex. |