plant named ‘Frog in My Throat’

Botanical classification:hybrid (Tratt.).

Variety denomination: ‘Frog in My Throat’.

The first sale of ‘Frog in My Throat’ was to In the Country Garden & Gifts by Walters Gardens, Inc. on Apr. 30, 2024. Walters Gardens, Inc. obtained the new plant from the inventor. No plants of‘Frog in My Throat’ have been sold in this country or anywhere in the world, nor has any disclosure of the new plant been made, more than one year prior the filing date of this application, and such sale or disclosure within one year was either derived directly or indirectly from the inventor and is therefore a 35 U.S.C. §102(b) exception.

The present invention relates to a new and distinctplant,‘Frog in My Throat’, hereinafter also referred to as the new plant or just the cultivar name, ‘Frog in My Throat’.‘Frog in My Throat’ was discovered by the inventor spring of 2022, at a wholesale perennial nursery greenhouse in Zeeland, Michigan, USA as a whole plant mutation in a tissue-cultured batch of ‘Emperor's New Clothes’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 34,312. The new plant was approved for final selection in the spring of 2024. The new plant has been asexually propagated by division at the same nursery in Zeeland, Michigan, USA since 2023 with the resultant asexually propagated plants having retained all the same traits as the original plant.‘Frog in My Throat’ is stable and reproduces true to type in asexual reproduction.

There are nearly 7,000 registeredcultivars with The AmericanSociety, which is the International Cultivar Registration Authority for the genusalong with a similar number of unregistered cultivars. The nearest comparison varieties are: ‘Allegan Fog’ (not patented), ‘Spilt Milk’ (not patented), ‘London Fog’ (not patented), ‘Northem Mist’ (not patented), ‘Revolution’ (not patented), ‘Lakeside Elfin Fire’ (not patented), ‘Lakeside Wizzit’ (not patented), ‘Masquerade’ (not patented) and ‘Gunther's Prize’ (not patented).

‘Allegan Fog’ has a smaller habit and leaves are smaller with a dark green margin and smaller green speckles in the creamy white center. ‘Spilt Milk’ has broader blue-green foliage. that has linear speckles or short streaks of white. ‘London Fog’ has a smaller habit with narrower more wavy foliage having smaller speckles of green in a greenish-white leaf. ‘Northern Mist’ has a slightly larger habit with more bullate foliage that has a wide deep-green margin and green speckles in a creamy-white center. ‘Revolution’ has a smaller habit with flatter more lustrous foliage that has a wide deep-green margin and green speckles in a creamy-white center and shorter leaf blades that have a thicker texture. ‘Lakeside Elfin Fire’, ‘Lakeside Wizzit’, and ‘Masquerade’ are all significantly smaller in habit and leaf size, the leaves are narrower and more lanceolate-shaped. Each of the above have speckles that are smaller than the new plant.

‘Gunther's Prize’ has a large yellowish leaf with large chartreuse to medium green speckles and streaks, the flower stalks are more arching to nearly horizontal, the flower shape is not as widely flared, and the flower color is a deeper lavender purple in the center of the tepals.

The parent of the sport, ‘Emperors New Clothes’, has leaves with a yellowish-green background and large dark green patches, streaks, or speckles throughout the entire leaf and without the solid dark green margin.

‘Frog in My Throat’ is distinct from thelisted above and all other cultivars known to the hybridizer by the following combined traits:

The following descriptions and color references are based on the 2015 edition of The Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart except where common dictionary terms are used. The new plant,‘Frog in My Throat’, has not been observed under all possible environments. The phenotype may vary slightly with different environmental conditions, such as temperature, light, fertility, moisture and maturity levels, but without any change in the genotype. The following observations and size descriptions are of a three-year-old plant in a shaded trial garden in Zeeland, Michigan with supplemental water and fertilizer.