'Great Expectations' is one of my oldest hostas - I've had it since sometime in the '90s. It's a sport of H. sieboldiana 'Elegans' and I've had the occasional eye revert. It has beautiful large round puckered leaves with wide, irregular streaking margins of blue and light green, but is not a fast grower. It apparently likes sun and mine now gets more sun as some ash trees west of it were removed in recent years. Please feel free to share your pictures of this hosta.
Here's mine, new 2015, before I found a spot that sounds like it will be too shady. Likely I will be doing some rearranging this year! Hope mine grows up to be like yours Ann, beautiful.
Yes. 20 of those young plants last fall on the 75% off sale... and they jumped out of the ground this spring huge and beautiful. They seem to be growing at a faster pace then some of the "fast growers" in the same garden. I'm in love with GE. ❤️
After I bought them I found out they were on the "Hard to Grow" Hosta list. The description said that GE had to be in the exact right spot to survive and to expect having a few die before I found the right spot.
So I planted GE all over my yard in various locations in hopes a few would survive and I could learn where that special spot was..... THEY ALL LIVED and are growing beautifully!!
These GE Hosta are growing in 1/2 day full shade 3 hours full sun and remainder sprinkled sunlight.
They are directly into the sandy loam soil which remains damp year round.... at an altitude of 9,800 ft in a cool shady canyon about 15 yards from a bubbling brook.
The atmosphere is dry except a slightly dampness from the shady creek. A cool breeze flows down the canyon 24/7. Temperatures never exceed 76 Degrees F.
Winter snow pack 2 - 3 feet every year.
Plants are growing on the West Bank side.
This growth took place October through June which is Winter and Spring.
I'm having a hard time classifying GE as a slow grower. (Sorry).
I do not seem to have trouble with the growth. I am trying to find the spot that I get the color that I like I think the last move is the best. Too much sun seems to bleach the yellow. I want the yellow.
All my gardens are improved with my homemade compost and leaf mold so it is rich soil. I say you can grow a dollar plant in hundred dollar garden soil. But you cannot grow a hundred dollar plant in dollar soil.
