Re: Beyond Gold (Dutch Hostas)

An sad (though amusing) tale! :-(

I had the same experience a couple of years ago when I mail-ordered three
H. montana aureo-marginatas from a nursery that I had been doing business
with for years (had always ordered herbs from them though, never hostas).
The plants they sent me were definitely not aureo-marginata! Just a plain,
though nice, green and large enough that I was reasonably certain that I
was not simply seeing juvenile foliage.

When I called to tell the nursery (in a spirit of helpfulness, really!) I
had a similar response to the one I described below. The nursery owner
became quite irate and insisted that what I had was what I had ordered.
"That's how it was labelled from the grower" I was told. No offer of a
refund or replacement, I was just wrong, period.

Never one to throw away a perfectly good plant, I planted these out. Three
years later, they remain goldless and still a plain, though nice, green. 

It seems to me that any nurseryman carrying a selection of named hostas
that they themselves have not produced has a responsibility to confirm to
the best of their ability that what they are carrying is correctly
labelled. In many cases it would simply be a matter of checking against
Aden or "The Genus Hosta." And certainly, offering a refund or replacement
if a customer complained!

I've never been involved in the commercial trade. Am I being unreasonable
here? As a collector with limited space, I can't afford too many plain,
though nice, green hostas!

Gerry (Newbie to the list, though not to growing hostas)

At 07:36 AM 6/12/98 -0500, Glen wrote:
>   Two years ago I went to a nursery about 1 1/2 hours away ( a major trip
>in garden season).  <snip>

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