AHS Popularity Poll
Each year the American Hosta Society (AHS) conducts a popularity poll among its members to determine their favorite Hostas.
The ballots are included with the Hosta Journal and members return their submissions by mail. Popularity polls are important to Hosta gardeners, letting everyone know which plants perform best in the gardens throughout the years.
The Angels Rise and Liberty Appears
Bob Olson St. Louis Park, Minnesota
Each year, we look for changes in the Popularity Poll, but we seldom see them. This year, although there are no monumental changes, something did happen. The angels rose. H. ‘Blue Angel’ and its scion ‘Guardian Angel’ climbed significantly. In the scope of our popularity Poll, these changes are little short of spectacular. The already well-regarded ‘Blue Angel’ rose a full four spots, placing it in the rarified atmosphere of the top five favorites. Even more eye-catching, was the meteoric burst of ‘Guardian Angel’ from number 24 to number 13. And if this wasn’t change enough, ‘Liberty’ made the list for the first time.
Rising Angels coincided with the appearance of liberty sounds prophetic, but this is a Popularity Poll and not a hand of Tarot cards, so don’t read too much into it. I have no convincing explanation for these shifts, except that ,with the introduction of large numbers of new cultivars each year, the votes are becoming more spread out. No longer is a single hosta listed on 60% to 70% of the ballots (except for the Mini Poll, where ‘Pandora’s Box’ reigns supreme and the new Poll looks virtually the same as last year’s).
It does not take many votes these days to shift the outcome. Because of this, I hope to engineer a change in the way the Poll is conducted. Although the balloting response is good, we still receive votes from only a fraction of the total AHS membership. Other organizations get very high rates of response to their surveys when they allow voting both by paper and electronic means. We can do the same. The answer is to allow voting via the AHS website. I shall propose this change at the Board of Directors meeting.
The 2006 results were tabulated and provided by Popularity Poll Chairman,
Bob Olson. They were announced in The Hosta Journal vol. 38 p 68-71
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1 |
H. 'June' |
2. |
H. 'Sagae' |
3. |
H. 'Striptease' |
4. |
H. 'Guacamole' |
5. |
H. 'Blue Angel' |
6. |
H. 'Sum and Substance' |
7. |
H. 'Paul's Glory' |
8. |
H. 'Stained Glass' |
9. |
H. 'Paradigm' |
10. |
H. 'Regal Splendor' |
11. |
H. 'Halcyon' |
12. |
H. montana 'Aureomarginata' |
13. |
H. 'Guardian Angel' |
14. |
H. 'Great Expectations' |
15. |
H. 'Gold Standard' |
16. |
H. Abiqua Drinking Gourd' |
17. |
H. 'Love Pat' |
18. |
H. 'Inniswood' |
19. |
H. 'Krossa Regal' |
20. |
H. 'Whirlwind' |
21. |
H. 'Liberty' |
22. |
H. 'On Stage' |
23. |
H. 'Patriot' |
24. |
H. 'Blue Mouse Ears' |
25. |
H. 'Spilt Milk' |
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MINI HOSTA POPULARITY POLL |
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1. |
H. 'Pandora's Box' |
2. |
H. 'Baby Bunting' |
3. |
H. 'Lemon Lime' |
4. |
H. 'Twist of Lime' |
5. |
H. 'Cookie Crumbs' |
6. |
H. 'Tiny Tears' |
7. |
H. venusta |
8. |
H. 'Vanilla Cream' |
9. |
H. 'Popo' |
10. |
H. 'Green Eyes'( tie ) |
| 11. |
H. 'Feather Boa'( tie ) |
Previous years listings are in the members area.
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