H. ‘Bullfrog’

Overview

'Bullfrog' is a 2016 sport of 'Krossa Regal', and it is hard to recognise as one. The parent is a big, upright, plain blue-gray plant; 'Bullfrog' is small, with ovate, moderately twisted leaves that are creamy white in the center and dark green at the margin, which the registry gives as 1 in (2.5 cm) wide. The registrant calls the variegation unusual: dark green streaks run through the white center, and the margins often carry thin white streaks.

In the Garden

It keeps one trait of the parent, an upright habit, but on a clump only 20 in (50.8 cm) across and 13 in high, and the growth rate is recorded as slow.

How it compares

'Krossa Regal' (1980) is registered at 36 in each way, with long blue-gray leaves of 15 by 8 in and scapes of 72 in.

'Whirlwind Flame' (2014) is the closest match in look: white-centered, intensely twisted leaves with a dark green margin, though narrower at 0.5 in, on a mound registered at 20 by 12 in with a slow growth rate. Its leaves are broader (6 by 4 in against 7 by 3 in) and lack the green streaking in the center.

'Sting' (2011) has a creamy white center too, with a wider dark green margin of 1.2 in, on a mound with a moderate registered growth rate. Its registration claims sun resistance, which 'Bullfrog' does not.

Flowers and other notes

There is no scape or flower information in the 'Bullfrog' record, and nothing on sun or slug tolerance. Whether the streaking stays stable over time is not stated. General care is covered in the hosta care guide.

Sources: AHS Registry records for 'Bullfrog' (#852), 'Krossa Regal' (#3109), 'Whirlwind Flame' (#6087) and 'Sting' (#5137), hostaregistrar.org.