Ken is always saying buy as large as you can

==== i dont recall saying this .... i sorta say the opposite, in a sense ....

dont pay 50 cents for a 2 hour old TC ...

or later in the season pay.. $5 for that plant.. it might not make it thru winter ...

pay 5 to 10 bucks the following year .. for someone else to winter it over the first year.. and buy the second year plant ...

does that make sense ...

but 43 bucks!!!!!! for sagae ...

i suppose if budget has no limit.. what the heck ...

but i rather get 4 to 6 other new hosta ... for the same 46$

so .. as far as i am concerned.. you DID THE RIGHT THING ...

ken

I would have shop lifted it. No one here would look upon you as a criminal. We understand. Wouldn't it fit under your coat?

Last year I saw those expensive Monrovia plants...Sum and Substance, which look huge in any pot, I thought it was highway robbery charging so much. Maybe 3-5 eyes at most for 42.99. Unknowing people might spring for that, and I felt they were taking advantage of it. But then, I found some of those same Monrovia 4 gallon pots at a small family nursery...priced for 12.99...Eola Sapphire! Each pot had like 9-14 eyes. I have two of them still in a pot, and 2 went in the ground. So far this spring, only one in a warmer area is up all the way, and it does have fewer eyes...maybe 8-10, but it didn't get enough water last year. And the planted ones did display a very large presence in the garden last year...like some other large hostas that I may have had for 4-7 years already. So, if you want it and can afford it, go for it. In my mind, any way you look at it, 42.99 for 12 Sagae eyes is not unreasonable. In most places, you might pay $12-15 bucks for just 1-3 eyes.
My only question is...is Monrovia a good supplier of HVX free hostas? With Eola Sapphire, I didn't even think about that, because they are the only company that can sell Eola. They looked fine when leafed out. I'm trying to find someone who will trade me a large Sun Power for one of the Eolas that is still in the pot....and if successful, that large Sun Power will probably have its roots severed, but I still think you do get more....all of those leaves from all of those current eyes are going to generate more growth than fewer eyes, right? Isn't that why we leave even damaged leaves on the plants? Maybe some of the experts can chime in on this.

Let us know if you change your mind...makes me want to head over to the garden center to see if they have their Monrovia pots in...I wouldn't mind starting with a huge Sagae for that price, now that I know how the Eolas turned out.

Ken, sorry I thought it was you that said that but I must be mis-remembering. Unfortunately I don't have an unlimited budget so I thank you for the support.

Harryshoe, ROTFLMAO. I suppose I could have tried to pass it off as pregancy but I'm pretty sure at my age they wouldn't have bought it.

Mary, I'm glad to hear the Eola Sapphire you got did so well. 12.99, what a steal. I'm afraid I will have to pass on getting one of these lovelies but I will be keeping my eye out at other nurseries to see if I can find a deal like you got. Hope you find someone to trade with for the Sun Power.

I guess what it all boiled down to for me was a) that was a lot of money and 2) my hosta gardens are only 2-3 years old so none of them have reached their mature sizes but they are all growing up together at more or less the same rate and had I gotten this huge sagae it would have looked out of place next to the others. If I had lots of land, instead of a city lot, it very well may have come home with me.

no need to apologize .... just clarifying my idea ...

but what is missing from the equation.. DONT YOU ALREADY HAVE SAGAE???

why buy more .. no mater what the size

are we not 'collectors' ...???

ken, the enabler ....

I was surprised to see a local nursery chain in NY state selling pots of Earth Angel, Barbara Ann, Whirwind, American Halo, Patriot, Fragrant Bouquet, Paul's Glory, etc. for less than $6, beating HD and Lowe's. Each pot had 2-4 eyes, with correct labels too. There are good deals out there, need to look for it.

i have seen those same monrovia sagaes up here in the 4 gallon pots and they go for $49.95! yeah they are huge but that is friggin expensive.

Since I am sort of new to this $42.99 is a little rich for my blood. I figure I could get 2-3 others for that price. I would have kept shopping.

Good for you Alexis!

I've also seen the big Monrovia's. And those are EXACTLY what I was referencing when I wrote that bit of advice.

If I were to guess, I'd say that the roots on that sucker were either massively severed or circling to the point of a possible no-win.

In my opinion, those HUGE plants are for people paying landscapers for instant gratification cuz they're having some big event in their yard this year and want it to look stunning. IMO, a good landscape designer would do their best to explain to a client that buying a plant like this is not a great long-term investment, but is a short term gratifier.

In the case of a large plant like this, I'd ONLY take it if you were involved in the digging and could be sure that you weren't going to be putting too much money into something that just won't look as great for the next several years.

I remember Paul James (Gardening by the Yard) saying that he usually buys the smallest containers available since they suffer the least transplant shock. Well, I agree to the extent that I will not buy TC's that are just were planted within the last year, whether they're in 1" cells or 1 gallon pots. Generally, I tend to buy 1 gallon pots with either 1 massive eye or 2-3 medium size eyes. And I almost always look at roots!.... I believe it was esther_opal who taught us to always look at roots.

You did the right thing! If you want that much instant gratification, but several 1 gallon pots and put them in the same hole!

That's a lot of eyes, but for me a large part of the pleasure I get from gardening is watching my babies, whether hosta or some of those other plants grow and mature from year to year. So I would have walked away from it to. Buying it would rob me of the anticipation of what will next year bring. Does that make any sense?

well, i seemed to be the lone one who thought it wasn't such a bad deal with the multitude of eyes....but....

just got back from the garden center that sells a lot of Monrovia and i checked out the hostas...

not a pretty site

they were leafed out and looked very hvxy to me...also had brown spots and even looked like they had some drawstring effect going on...i need reading glasses and really couldn't distinguish for sure if they were bleeding at the stems or not...but there were possible signs for sure

varieties included Stained Glass (the worst), S & S, and at least one more, can't remember. No Sagae

i hope my Eola Sapphires don't end up showing something in the future, I was surprised to see monrovia hostas look so sick

i'll have to change my vote to "YOU DID THE RIGHT THING" :)

Mary if I had unlimited funds or even more than one income there is a good chance Sagae would have come home with me...

Ken's right I do have Sagae already, which is why I came here for support on my decision. I'm just such a weak person when looking at such loveliness. Turned out for the best for me since I had to buy a new refrigerator this weekend which not only wiped out my plant allowance for this year but also my vacation.

I didn't notice any HVX here on these Monrovia plants, but to be honest I really didn't look. I was set on finding a Liberty and would have only inspected the hosta closer had I found one. Thank you for the heads up on Monrovia.

Just remember, it's not he hosta you walked away from...it was the $$.

OMG!!!!

you already had it.. and still wanted to pop for a bigger one for $50 .... what a hoot..

been there.. done that ... ALWAYS regretted it ....

in 2 or 3 years.. yours will be that size.. and then you have two .. lol .. of course its a good one to have 2 of ...

mary .. WHATEVER MAKES YOU HAPPY ... is just fine with me.. no one intends to say you made the wrong decision.. if you pleased the heck out of you .. that is all that is important ...

ken

Oh, I could have stood my ground, Ken! My biggest concern is laying out that kind of $ and then discover that it's a sick plant...the ones I've seen so far by Monrovia this year, I wouldn't pay 2 cents for.

I did once pay $20 for a Pizzazz out of a local grower's plot...it was about 2 feet across and she had the lightest soil there, so I did get the entire root system. I think that's about the most I've ever paid for a hosta. I was happy to have it.

I guess I AM an instant gratification kind of gal. I always plant too close. Hmmmm, I wonder what kind of psychological evaluations we could do based on one's hosta-ing? :)

Here's the thing about Monrovia.
They're in California, Oregon, Georgia and North Carolina.
None of those places are even remotely close to the upper midwest, where a good majority of the people on this forum are located (sorry Alexis... I know you're in the PNW). Their website even says that Dayton Oregon is where they grow most of their plants that require winter chill. But Dayton OR is zone 8a!!! That's nowhere near comparable to my zone 4a!

In addition, the distance means that their plants have to be on trucks for days and days at a time. So, it's no wonder the plants look a bit sickly. Given a choice, I'd prefer to buy something that has been overwintered locally.