one large eye

I'd look at the roots. If you can slide the plant out of the pot, see which has the most roots.

If the 2-3 eyed plant looks kind of wimpy, I'd grab the 1 big eye, otherwise it's kind of a personal preference thing. Root system is good to check out, I agree.

bev wins ...

the plant the following year.. will be the plant that grows the biggest root mass that first year ..

so you may as well start with the best roots ...

BTW .... how did you determine.. that both were healthy??? ... to bring it full circle ... i would have tipped them out of the pot.. to look at the roots ...

if the roots were the same .. flip a coin ...

ken

Roots, roots, roots!

-Babka

Thank you for the responses. Lesson learned...it's all about the roots! Re: how did I know they were healthy...I don't with 100% certainty. just hoping. Also, I really trust the seller.

OK...what if you can't see the roots?

Most times I've been checking out potted hosta for sale I would've made a mess pulling them out of pots, and/or been given the evil eye by anyone nearby.

I ended up going with "most eyes", unless a plant with a really big eye looked particularly big and healthy. I really don't know if that's a good choice.