H. ‘Chocolate Mint’

Overview

'Chocolate Mint' (2014) sits at the end of a short chain of sports. Its parent 'Dinner Mint' is itself a sport of 'Lemontini' and is described as the green-margined sport of a golden yellow mother plant; 'Chocolate Mint' carries the color of that margin across the whole leaf. The result is a small, solid dark green hosta with ovate, moderately wavy leaves 3 in long and as wide. M. Zilis is the originator and K. Schwarz the registrant, and the record calls it vigorous, with great substance.

In the Garden

It is registered at 15 in (38.1 cm) across and 7 in high, with a moderate registered growth rate. Dark green scapes are registered at 10 to 20 in. Its appeal is a uniform dark leaf rather than contrast within the leaf.

How it compares

'Dinner Mint' (2011) has exactly the same registered plant size and leaf length but a bright yellow leaf with a very narrow dark green margin of 0.125 in, and a center that emerges chartreuse.

'Sweet Winifred' (1984), a hybrid of H. plantaginea, is a similar-sized green plant (14 by 8 in, described as a tight clump) with longer, medium green leaves and scapes of 28 in. Pick it if white flowers matter more than leaf color; 'Chocolate Mint' has the dark green leaf, with medium purple flowers.

'Urchin' (2013) is another small green plant, 13 by 8 in, but with narrow, very shiny, lance-shaped leaves that its record says stand out from the plant like spines, purple scapes of 36 in and glaucous purple seed pods.

Flowers and other notes

Medium purple flowers are listed without dates. The "great substance" note is the only hint about leaf thickness; everything else is covered by the general hosta care guide.

Sources: AHS Registry records for 'Chocolate Mint' (#1032), 'Dinner Mint' (#1449), 'Sweet Winifred' (#5586) and 'Urchin' (#5909), hostaregistrar.org.