Saturday, November 05, 2011

Hosta 'Bressingham Blue'

It seems that it was only a few days that I cut one of the yellowing leaves of  Hosta ‘Bressingham Blue’ which is one of my largest of my blue hostas. They are not really blue but the glaucous waxy coating on the green leaves reflects lots of ultra violet and to the eye, and particularly when these plants are in the shade (lots more blue light) they appear blue. This blue is even more so when captured by digital cameras or film cameras since the sensors and the film are more sensitive to ultra violet light that humans.

As a an aside it was a Mr. Max Factor who many years ago noticed that the intense lights used in making movies or the lights inside TV studios produced lots of ultra violet radiation. This light had the ability to penetrate human skin and reveal all the flaws that conventional makeup did not seem to hide.

Mr. Factor put on his thinking cap and thought and thought. He soon had his eureka moment. Sun tan lotions were sun blocks in that they protected skin (somewhat) from the sun’s UV rays. So he concocted a sun tan lotion, perfumed it, made it slightly pink and added lanolin (So good for your skin, madam!). This concoction was the first Max Factor makeup for actors and it was soon valued for what it could do and ultimately it was given the name of pancake makeup.

Some of us who watched the televised presidential debates between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy (I was playing pool in the St. Ed’s High School, Austin, Texass upperclassman student rec room) noticed how terrible Nixon looked and how wonderful Kennedy was in comparison. You can guess which one of them wore Mr. Factor’s product.

Aside over here is Hosta ‘Bressingham Blue’ all shrunken up as it dried in my kitchen window. I think it is most beautiful even if it isn’t blue.