Hosta Second Coming

'Second Coming' is a variegated hosta, coveted by hosta enthusiasts for its decidedly architectural, green and white foliage and its fragrant flowering in late summer. This descendant of the famous 'Honeybells' stands out with an exceptional 'white vein pattern' that gives each leaf a striped appearance, as if 'combed' with white. Medium-sized but highly visible in a border, it is an excellent perennial for shade or undergrowth, at the edge of a path or in a large pot in partial shade.

Botanically, 'Second Coming' belongs to the Asparagaceae family, within the vast genus of hostas, also called funkies or plantain lilies. It is a cultivar discovered and introduced by Gerry Bennett as a sport of 'Honeybells', itself closely related to Hosta plantaginea, the species with very fragrant flowers. It is a deciduous rhizomatous perennial: the foliage disappears in winter and regrows from thick crowns with fleshy roots in spring.
The plant forms a slightly spreading cushion, 40 to 50 cm tall and about 30 cm wide. The leaves are broad, their blade slightly puckered with a wavy margin. Their colour is unique: a medium green background is traversed by many very prominent white veins, extended by fine light streaks between the veins, all framed by a clear white border. Some growers emphasise that the leaves of the first flush remain intensely striated until autumn, while new leaves may turn a little greener in the centre, without the plant losing its variegated appearance.
Flowering occurs from July to August. The upright flower stalks above the foliage bear clusters of bell-shaped or small trumpet-shaped flowers, very pale mauve to light lavender and pleasantly fragrant.
The type of veined variegation in hostas has long fascinated collectors, as some white vein patterns can resemble virus symptoms in other hostas; 'Second Coming' is stable, tested healthy, which makes it a rarity.

In the garden, plant Hosta 'Second Coming' in partial shade or light shade, in humus-bearing, moist but well-drained soil, not waterlogged in winter. It can be used as a solitary clump to draw attention in a border, or in small groups at the foot of shrubs or along a path. It associates well with broad and variegated hostas, for example 'Great Expectations', with thick tricolour leaves, a heuchera 'Black Pearl', a fern Dryopteris erythrosora or its form 'Prolifica'. In a woodland scene, it can also be surrounded by white astilbes such as 'Deutschland'.