It is strikingly apparent in my review that GE grown at
latitudes north of approximately Chicago
seem to have much greater success than those grown in more southerly
locations. This is not, of course, a
hard and fast rule as many fine examples have been grown south of that latitude
and similarly, there have been many sad endings north of there as well. But on balance, the tales of woe increase the
further south one goes and large beautiful examples increase in more northerly
places. Hence the commonly heard lament
that the only good GEs were grown in MN or WI or ON.

GE has developed a well deserved reputation for:

1. needing

a great deal of sun

2. needing monumental amounts of water especially in

hotter conditions

3. being

exceedingly slow to grow

4. being

very touchy about transplanting

In general as Ken has often put it, they are a fru-fru hosta
that demands more effort than they are worth.

I took a number of leaves from mature GE’s and measured the
light coloured central area. Generally,
this ranged from 55% to more than 70% of the leaf. Even so, the darker border was not a robust
green but a lighter green colour which in total gave GE its refined and elegant
appearance. It was time to consult with
some real botanists.

The first reaction that I received was that this is clearly
a human produced plant as nature would never allow such a “freak” to
propagate. Essentially, the amount of chlorophyll
in the leaf was very low leading to the requirement for enormous amounts of
light for successful photosynthesis.

This was further brought home when the leaves that I had
measured were correlated with sunlight received. Those from plants grown in more shade had a
higher % of green and as well the green tended to be somewhat deeper. This observation is from a limited number of
plants and may not stand close scrutiny but it is what I found in my sample. Is this a possible reason why GE is so
difficult to transplant?

In photosynthesis, a plant leaf containing chlorophyll, in
the presence of sunlight is able to extract carbon from the air to build plant
cells. The byproducts are oxygen and
water which are given off to the atmosphere.
Given the very small amount of chlorophyll present compared to other
hostas, GE requires more sunlight. The
result, when GE is planted with other hostas in normal (for hostas) light
conditions, is a very slow growing plant which sometimes simply cannot survive
in low light.

The solution is to plant GE in areas with greater sun which
typically means afternoon sun which can be very hot. Unfortunately, those large light coloured
leaf areas lead to high levels of transpiration and the giving off of large
quantities of water. This leads to the
conclusion that extra watering is needed for GE. But that is only part of the issue.

Photosynthesis as a mechanism is not fully understood. Botanists have suggested to me that summer
heat may cause the transpiration rate in GE’s leaves to exceed the ability of
the plant’s roots and veins to supply water.
This could happen with GE in summer afternoon sun when the temperature
climbs above about 28C – the plant feels distress. Plants are well able to adapt a bit to extreme
conditions so a single warm afternoon can be taken in stride. The difficulty comes when the plant faces
those same burning conditions daily for weeks on end.

My observations seemed to suggest that GE had the best
chances for success when summer cooling degree day measures were less than 400
for the summer months in total. Success
diminished as the heat increased. Put in
simple terms, GE can easily withstand the “short cool summers” of the north but
hotter summer afternoons cause either photosynthesis to shut down for lack of
water or transpiration to shut down to conserve water within the plant.

To complete these observations, I would be remiss if I did
not speak about the many many new hostas which have been introduced the last
few years. A great many of these push
the envelope in terms of larger lighter coloured areas of the leaf. The results are striking. They make for good sales for hybridizers and
for the expansion generally of hosta interest.
However, they share many traits with GE (which may well be at the
extreme) making them difficult for most enthusiasts to grow successfully. These plants earn the title fru-fru honestly!

My observations came from studying first hand examples of GE
in my own garden and other gardens in the OttawaValley
along with examining the accounts of the many enthusiasts who post pictures on
the Hosta Forum. As well, many growers
have spoken about their successes and failures all have which have enriched my
understanding.

What is needed now is a real botanist, who can study
photosynthesis in depth. Such a study
would possibly provide a proof for my observations and speculations or perhaps
show me wrong. This would point the way
to growers being better able to adapt their growing methods to the hostas at
hand.

Interest stuff......

I've never had a problem with this one.

I've had 2.

1 I left at my old house it was doing fine. Afternoon sun from 3 to about 6 or 7. It was slow but steadily increased for the 3 years I had it.

Currently: I bought a 1 liter 3 division plant last year, planted it where it recieves similar sun conditions. It popped out 7 bullets this spring and is doing better than a similar sized Dreams Queen ( roughly the same size as last year)

I agree that it is a thirsty plant, but may have more to do with its "Sieboldiana" heritage than the lack of chlorophyll.

All those types for me anyways do better in a wetter area of the garden.

In drier beds they shrink and the crown dissolves over a couple of seasons

I also agree that once you plant them, moving them even once will kill them. Again this is what I've found with all the Sieboldiana types (I've killed color glory, thunderbolt, Frances Williams , 2 dream weavers and a Linda Sue) by repositioning them for aesthetic purposes......took me awhile but lesson learned. Lol.

J.

I don't think it's in a lot of sun either. This thing doesn't appear to be babied at all and could easily have tire tracks on it.

Thanks, Dougald_gw. My little GE is slowly growing here in the hot and humid south. I planted it very high, which was the recommendation of dhaven. It's still alive after two seasons. We'll see.

Never had a problem with mine. It's in full sun and grows like a weed.

I've not had a problem with mine. 4 years old, moved once, Morning sun, zone 5 under a maple tree. It's actually my favorite.

Dougald, you have certainly done your homework! An interesting compilation of observations, some of which apply to my own GE.

Linda, yours is doing great!

Jessica, you have a beautiful one as well.

Musky, I thought I spotted some tread marks too, LOL!

Will return in moment to add photos of mine. ;-)

I need to remove the Blue Angel eye closest to GE soon...as well as an eye of KR above it. Looks like an easy op. on both too with easy access and separation space as it turns out.

I would venture to say that the only thing GE doesn't like in my garden is to be moved. It doesn't mind any amount of sun; in fact, the more the better. It grows as well as all the others I have with the same growth pattern - a gain of eyes about every three years. The most pronounced difference I found with GE is that the size of its leaves get larger faster than the increase in actual eyes.

These two replacements I have had since 2014 - one had 3 eyes plus two wee ones. (I killed my older one when I moved it.) This year it has 4 uniform sized shoots. The larger one in different location has 7 eyes this year compared to 5or6 in 2014. This one however was originally grown out in its pot a bit longer according to information on its sticker.

I had to go and take a pic of my Great Expectations. It's been growing for about 4 years. The hosta grower I go to gave it to me, because it was just so tiny and we have called it "No Expectations" It has about quadrupled in size since I got it and anyone who knows how long I've been growing it and how small it was has to check on it's progress. I'm not giving up on it

Jimr66,

quote, “….also agree
that once you plant them, moving them even once will kill them. Again this is
what I've found with all the Sieboldiana types (I've killed color glory,
thunderbolt, Frances Williams , 2 dream weavers and a Linda Sue) by
repositioning them for aesthetic purposes......”

I’ve never moved my GE, but I have moved my largest Frances
Williams at least 5 times, divided it also. Since the last division into 3
parts early this spring, it’s exploded in growth. I’ve moved 3 Elegans a couple of times too with no ill
effects.