Is Great Expectations still the best of its type?

[felco2]

Hi,
Is there a new cultivar out there that bests Great Expectations? I bought the Color Encyclopedia of Hostas and was shocked that it wasn't featured in the medio-variegated leaves chapter. After studying this chapter I didn't see any hosta that compared.
I don't have Great Expectations and may get it this year although I'm afraid it will be huge. Feedback from you, the hosta collectors would be appreciated. I may never be a collector, but I do love hostas and use them throughout my gardens. I try to choose carefully since I can't grow them all.
Thanks, Felco2

[Roxanne]

Felco, when you say "best" it makes it hard to give you a reply!

GE is one of the most beautiful Hostas, but also one of the hardest to grow. I even overheard someone at a convention say it's best grown as an annual! Either way, I wouldn't worry about it getting too huge. I have only seen a couple GE's that I would call large

It won't tolerate any tree roots, is a water hog, and needs extra fertilizer.
Mark Zilis in his book even recommends leaving it in a pot, sunk into the ground for the first year so more water and fertilizer stays by the roots.
I had a big one up and disappear in a single years' time, that I had had for about 5 years. poof---gone. I do still have one nice one yet. I hope anyway!

If you want to give it a try, be sure to buy a nice-sized plant to begin with. That seems to help, and the farther North you live, the better your odds of growing it.
Good Luck!!
Rox

[Linda P]

I agree wholeheartedly with Roxanne. If you can grow it, and keep it, it's outstanding. I have two...one monster and one I got the same year, same size plant, that is not doing nearly as well. Mine were planted in 2000. Every spring I hold my breath waiting to see if they will return, especially the big one. I can say that if I lost both of them, I would probably replace them. I've seen them wither away and die in my daughter's garden, and in others near by. I do believe that GE needs a fair amount of morning sun to get started well. That's the main difference between the two plants I have. One gets no direct sun, and the other one gets several hours of early sun, and then a couple more mid-day. I have very fertile soil here, and also add leaf mold and composted cow manure periodically.
Here's the pic of mine for you, Felco..the rest of you who are sick of seeing it, just look away.
Linda P

[Roxanne]

Linda, I couldn't look away! Great picture.

I totally agree about it needing some good sun, and also about replacing it. I will always have a Great Expectations growing here, no matter what!

[John]

How about THUNDERBOLT?

[Linda P]

Hi, John, It's good to hear from you.
I can't comment on Thunderbolt, other than to say I've had 2 of them, and both of them disappeared, one after the first year, and one made it to the second. I have Dream Queen, which I decided to try in the place of Thunderbolt. It seems to be doing well. Dream Weaver is another similar one, but I don't have it. I really like the width of the center on Great Expectations, though any of the sports are beautiful as well.
Thunderbolt is listed as a sport of sieboldiana 'Elegans', and the other two as sports of GE. I would say that whichever one you can get to grow would be the best!
But, for me, it's GE hands down of that group.
Some others in the same general categoryof large medio-variegated might be Lakeside Shoremaster and St Paul. Both of those, particularly Shoremaster, have grown very well for me.
Linda P

[Hosta-Haven]

I have almost all of the ones mentioned and I'll try to post a picture of each along with my observation in my zone 5a garden.

Great Expectations - slow grower so you don't have to worry about it getting huge. I got this one in 2000...


Thunderbolt - bought one in 2004 and it died in 2005 so I bought another that year and here it is; pretty puny, huh?



Dream Queen, bought in 2006



Dream Weaver - also got it in 2006


At this point, I'd say GE is my best of this type but, BIG BUT, look how much older it is than the rest also.

Char

[dhaven]

Great Expectations is probably my favorite hosta. I have three mature plants, which last year ranged from 31 to 33 inches tall, and 48 to 62 inches across. They would probably have a greater spread if they were grown as specimen plants, but all three are planted in large beds with somewhat pushy neighboring hostas. I also have a number of younger plants, including one that is streaking--it's spectacular, but will probably not stabilize as a streaked plant.

I have found that there are three requirements for success with Great Expectations. First, and most importantly, it must be planted very shallowly. Most people plant this one fairly deep, because it's going to be a large plant. This seems to be the main cause of failure with the variety. Deep planting results in a plant that dwindles away over the course of a couple of years. So plant it very shallow. GE also likes a fair amount of sun. Mine get a hour or two each day of direct sun, then lightly dappled shade for the rest of the day. GE will grow in full sun, but in full shade it's going to fade away, or at best stay small. The final requirement is lots and lots of water. This variety needs regular watering, and you need to water it very deeply. As long as you water deeply, it's quite heat resistant.

I've never fertilized the Great Expectations in my garden, as they hardly seem to need it, but I am fortunate enough to have excellent soil. If you have poor soil, amend it with lots of organic material, preferably compost and well rotted manure. If you don't have access to either of these, you could try fertilizer, but dilute it to about 1/4 normal strength, and don't fertilize after July 1. Fertilizing promotes leaf growth, and what you need for good long term plant performance is root and crown growth, which is especially crucial in the later part of the summer.

[Marlys]

If you want to grow a huge, beautiful hosta, grow H 'Northern Exposure'. It is nearly as awesome as 'Great Expectations' but easy to grow. H 'Thunderbolt' is wonderful & growing well but slow in my gardens.

Dream Weaver dissolved into just a dream in my garden after a couple years. It is quite picky same as Great Expectations.

However, H 'Great Expectations' can be the best!! but it is very finicky & if you get one to grow do not disturb it in any manner. And as Linda & Rox have said it likes sun. Mine gets too much afternoon sun but loves it and is beautiful. There isn't a more beautiful plant if it decides to flourish.

Our friend, Jackie aka Hostaaddict has a H 'Great Expectations' that is very large & well, perfect.

If you are limited for space as you say, try somebody other than H 'Great Expectations' that will grow and be just as wonderful. St. Paul is an awesome plant & so is LS Shoremaster but Dick Ward was the grand prize winner in my gardens this year. That is next to Northern Exposure / & Elegans for the big boys.

MM

[felco2]

Hi All,

Thanks for the replies and tips on growing Great Expectations. I didn't know some hostas are tricky to grow. When a hosta was gone in the spring, I assumed field mice were too blame so I now plant hostas with voleblock.

Northern Exposure was recommended and I might have it, but I'm not sure. The tag said Liberty but the margins were not dramatically wide. I then noticed the pot had a label glued to it that read Norther Exposure. Does the pic below look like NE?

[felco2]

Hi Char,

Thanks for posting all the pics. GE is amazing, but the others are very attractive too. In fact I have a Dream Weaver, which I'll include a pic of. Dream Queen looks the same, a little more blue in the margin?

[Don Rawson]

A few sports of Great Expectations which are nearly identical to the original plant but which are reported to be more vigorous are Great American Expectations (Wade), J.D.'s Luck (Orlando) and Lyman (Ragland). You can see pics of the first two on the Hosta Library. You can see pics of Lyman here: http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load ... 19742.html

A couple other hostas which are somewhat similar to Great Expectations in appearance are Jim Wilkins (difficult to grow) and Simply Sharon (good grower). You can view pics of these also on the Hosta Library. Don

[Joe]

These are my Great Expectations a few years back, after 10 years in the ground. Patience is very important; they take a long time to get established and become big. Mine are 4-5 feet wide. They get very little direct sun but lots of filtered light. Not sure about watering requirements, but I water pretty heavily and they've always responded well to that. They've also always been mulched by pine bark chips which break down over time, so the soil is pretty good after all these years. Definitely a top 10 hosta when mature. Including very good slug resistence, there's really not much negative to say about this hosta once it gets established.

Joe in CT

[Pieter]

In fact I have a Dream Weaver, which I'll include a pic of. Dream Queen looks the same, a little more blue in the margin?

I have both Dream Queen and Dreamweaver. Grown side-by-side they're almost impossible to tell apart, for me one's smaller than the other and that is an age issue. I suspect they are in fact the same sport except they developed on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean and are simply named differently.

[Carol W]

I have all 3 GE, Thunderbolt and Northern Explosure, I'm in zone 4. Both Thunderbolt and GE have a steady growing rate and increased at least double their size from year to year. Both of these have had to fight with roots from trees and haven't stopped their growth.

Where as my Northern Explosure has been baby, doesn't fight tree roots, seem to grow super slow and it's the first of the group I added. I've been lucky over the years if it adds a new eye every 2 or 3 years. I believe I've had it for 8 to 9 year and it's might have 6 eyes now, this last summer was the best it's looked since I got it!

Thunderbolt I've had about 5 years and it's already taller and wider then it's suppose to be. GE have had 3 years is also not in the best of soil mostly clay.

None of these were from TC's but from mature stock division and all were only one eye when I planted them.

If any of these would die I would replace it as each is beautiful demands attention!