I just got mine 2 weeks ago, so I can't be of much help. Is it my imagination or does it look JUST like ventricosa?

I don't have any pictures of mine but it is very slow growing and grows more in a line instead of clumping. The color also isn't very dark. Maybe I just have a funky one but not overly impressed with it.

piece of carp ...

perhaps born in bred and thrives in the south .... better than elsewhere ..

never really a dark plant for me.. never very vigorous...

it was once suggested that chastain adds... or has naturally occurring magnesium in her soil.. and this makes the plant darker green ... never bothered to apply epson SALT to see if there was any validity to the theory ....

let me sum up what a picture would look like... full of holes ... from hail

ken

I have the opposite opinion. Mine is fantastic. I am about 20 miles north of Pittsburgh, so the southern suggestion does not fit. It is quite dark and not a slow grower. It is planted beside my driveway and all of my hostaholic friends love it when they pull in. I am president of the Hosta group here, so I have a lot of hostaholic friends. It is not a fast grower, but it has not been slow for me. I have added nothing to the soil, but it is quite dark. From the days when I grew rhododendrons commercially, I do know that adding mg to the soil will darken leaf color. Actually, epsom salts will do it also. I have not done that. I have no idea how to put a photo here, or I would.

I'm with buxas, it's a great plant. Very vigorous, a nice shiny dark green, in real life it seems darker to me than in my photos. The flowers are a very interesting very bluish dark purple. a faster grower than ventricosa, and its leaf shape is much more of an elongated oval, whereas ventricosa's are heart-shaped & quite wide.

Someone send me a pic and I'll post it.

Lainey

I just uploaded a photo into the Garden Galleries section of Gardenweb. It is labeled Lakeside Coal Miner Hosta. Not sure how to get it from there to here. I took the photo this morning.

Mine grows alright, but I think it's boring. I like a smaller dark one named Hirao Tetra better. Nicer flowers, and seems darker to me than LS C.M.

LS Coal Miner (it is actually a bit darker than this photo)

Thanks for posting that. It really is a beautiful plant. I can't tell from the photo but does it have the same texture as Lakeside Looking Glass? You know, that kind of rubbery texture?

Lainey

Here is Buxas Lakeside Coal Miner that he sent to me. Thanks, Bob. it's a beauty.

My LSCM looks more like Bunnycat's with the elongated oval leaf shape. My Ventricosa looks like Bob's LSCM, darker, wider leaves.
Pam