'Great Expectations'

Recently we talked about 'Great Expectations' growth
habit or lack of an easily defined habit. Attached is
a picture of the one which never really grew or didn't
grow to great expectations. yuk yuk a little play on
words.
The largest leaf you see is the size of my thumb nail
and this plant is many years old (maybe 8-10). Our
discussion lead me to look at it and it was not doing
well, so I potted it in an effort to keep it alive.
Maybe that wasn't necessary since it survived this
long but I'm going to try hard to keep it alive to
show those who visit the range of growth one might
expect with 'Great Expectations'.

This also goes to the question of what to expect from
'Mountain Snow'. Somewhere there is a 'Mountain S' or
'Great E' that was the original or would satisfy the
originator that a particular plant looks like the
originator's plant. If you have a picture of one of
those plants then one could compare. BIG BUT if you
see a picture of one of 10's of thousands of these
plants around the country then you may not be seeing
something to compare to the original. I can assure you
that this 'Great Expectations' came out of a batch of
TC's GE but it never grew like most. 

Now the question about what to expect when you buy a
hosta. What promises does the seller make, what
guarantees does the seller make and what is your
recourse. If you want a cheap plant then buy TC and
take your chances, if you want to be completely sure
then go to the grower and look at the plant you are
purchasing. Of course this leaves a lot of area in
between. Ran works very hard to hybridize exceptional
plants and sell a plant closely resembling his or
others original plants but there is a cost to doing it
this way and you have to pay for the growers expense
and profit. Before someone starts to tell what the
"right way" is I'll tell you anyway is the right way.
The consumer determines what is the "right way" when
they make purchases. I've never liked the term buyer
beware, I prefer "buyer be educated". If your ignorant
then you pay a premium. Its wonderful that the AHS and
local societies do a lot to educate but it still falls
on the consumer to investigate.
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