Last year I almost gave up on my Guardian Angel...after 3 years it was coming out all crooked...was not growing to my liking...I thought I had bought a 'bum'...I was going to transplant in more shade...BUT THEN THIS YEAR...it leaped out beautifully. The pic shows its present condition: Papou

Hi Mark. Just leave it alone. I'm always amazed at young hosta plants and the fact they don't look the way they should. Why? They are young. The roots can only support so much plant...ya know? The stalks and foliage out of the ground are a result of the root system. With that said...if it was new last year...unless you dug it off a mature specimen out of the ground...the plant/pot you bought from a nursery was likely fertilized to make the leaves bigger, lusher, and taller than they would have been left to it's own accord. People want to walk out of the store thinking they bought a really big plant for the money. Give it a couple years. And, with THAT said, I can also vouch for the messed up weather this year. I'm seeing deformed leaves, melted out leaves, drawstring effect...just misc oddities here & there. I chalk it up to the extreme weather fluctuations we had this year. Nothing you can do about it other than take notes on what's interesting and odd, enjoy them for what they are, don't expect perfection, and work on new beds for next years' purchases. Also, with all the above said, if it's not variegated this year, there's a chance it's a dud. My GA lost all it's variegation after the first year. It's on it's 3rd year now, and if you get really, REALLY close up knowing what you're looking for, you can kinda make out the variegation. It's all blueish green and growing nicely. I've made peace with the situation...generally. Gayle

Guardian Angel seems to be a variety that comes out of tissue culture with a wide range of coloration among the plants. Some have very light centers even as juvenile plants, some show only very subtle coloration as young plants, and most are somewhere between these two extremes. The ones that are solid colored should be culled by the lab, but this does not always happen, and occasionally I see a solid colored plant. After working with a number of these small plants over the last 5 years, it has become obvious that juvenile coloration is the best indicator of mature coloration. In other words, if you want a GA that will hold it's coloration and look great all season, buy a plant that looks very good at a small size. The less showy baby plants will show some coloration in the spring as more mature specimens, but they will never be as showy as a plant that shows excellent coloration at a very early age. The plainer baby plants also seem prone to green up fairly early. Location will play some part in retention of coloration, with more sun generally producing better and longer lasting coloration, but this is not always consistent. My original GA is in 3/4 shade, with no direct sun, only heavily dappled light. I picked it out as the best colored plant out of a large group of juvenile GA, and it retains it's flashy colors all season, with very little darkening, even in August. The lower leaves darken a bit, but not much, and the rest of the plant shows excellent coloration right through the fall. The second GA I purchased was more intermediate in it's juvenile coloration, and was planted in about 1/2 sun, but it still loses much of it's coloration by mid July. I have 2 more this year that have quite good coloration as juveniles, and they are retaining it quite well so far, in spite of being in only 1/2 sun. If your GA isn't showing good coloration now, it is likely one of those that will look good in the spring, then fade to a darker coloration by the middle of the summer. The picture of the GA at Hornbakers, which is only about an hour from my garden, looks like Blue Angel to me. GA has a slightly more wedge shaped leave, but more importantly, GA has a distinctively ruffled, wavy edge, shown very nicely in Shade Tolerant's picture. Even those GA that lose coloration retain the ruffled edge throughout the season. The plant at Hornbakers may have been mislabeled, or it may, over several years, have reverted back to Blue Angel, or sported to a solid green plant. Golden Meadows is another variety that is quite variable in the retention of it's coloration. Most GMs go solid dark green fairly early in the summer, but I have one that keeps some coloration, although it's muted, most of the summer. I've seen a GM that had quite distinctive coloration all season, although again, more muted than in the spring. Grow your new GA out for a year or two, and if you are not pleased with it, consider buying a new one with better coloration. This is a variety that will be around for quite some time, as it's quite popular and sells well. The price has gotten to a reasonable point, and it's easy to locate. I've seen several on the Hosta Library auction site that had excellent coloration, so if a local nursery doesn't have it, that might be a good source. It is also possible that your new plant is stressed from being potted, and next spring it might surprise you with beautiful coloration.

yikes.. i ddint even notice the leek like depth .. and that again.. can be a media failure .. or your fault.. in the sense of potting it too fluffy.. and it sinking in the pot ... when you use the right media.. you can pack the plant in there... so it wont sink ... yet the good media.. still allows water flow .... i hope babka sees this.. and maybe gives us a pic of an unpotted hosta of hers.. in her supreme media mix ... to my eye.. your plant.. looks like it was struggling to put roots down the center.. with a few longer roots that went to the side of the pot that reads media failure .. in the sense that when you watered.. the water did not flow thru the media as a whole .. but tended to puddle and run down the sides of the pot.;. so thats where the hosta put the roots ... but that leaves most of your root mass .. not performing to perfection ... most of us.. deal with annuals in pots.. and since they die or are replaced every season.. you never really experience this ... but we are .. quite out of the ordinary ... growing perennials in pots.. and that add another level of problems ... and requires more frequent replacement of media ... and.. i am discussing this so you can learn .. and trust me on life getting in the way.. i have many more pots than you, that needed to be repotted 2 years ago ... lol ... so dont go all touchy feely on me .... unfortunately for me.. its more of a .... i dont care anymore thing ... ken