Both are hard to grow well. GE seems to enjoy a longer dormancy period, so northern growers have an advantage when it comes to getting a mature plant. I also know from personal experience that it will not tolerate any root competition at all, and is a water hog. I used to have 5 nice ones, let my Mother kill 2, said no more. Then I let a co-worker kill one LOL. So, I was left with 2. The biggest one declined in one year. When I dug it up to see what was wrong, it had 1 tree root going through the roots.
I moved it, and it didn't even come up the following year. The last one I had from eons ago is doing well. I wish I had kept them all now, but hindsight is crystal clear.
The one I have left is getting some morning sun, and some afternoon sun later on, and I haven't fertilized for 3-4 years now, but I probably should do that next spring.

My Morning Light is in more shade. It seems to prefer things that way, but diff. gardens have diff. results.
Good Luck!
Rox

mine is dead so you won't want my advise lol

my GE is in its second year after being bought one gal size.
I read somewhere instructions to plant it in am light and quite shallow. Give plenty of water. So far it looks fabulous, doubled in size and looks very healthy.
Morning light was obtained in smaller size and planted late in some shade next to concrete path- most likely why it did not come back this year. I should try again...

You might try growing your GE in a pot. Quite a few people have reported success with that method.

My first GE declined year by year until it was one puny, pathetic eye. I bought another and left it in the pot -- it had been field grown and dug for sale just before I purchased it. Three years later: This spring it was moved from Northern Indiana to mid-Tennessee, still in its pot. It's larger and better looking than it's ever been. We'll see about next year; the Tennessee dormancy period will definitely be shorter. I'll probably repot it next spring in new soil and a slightly larger pot.

Incidentally, when I moved, I potted up the original one and it, too, looks pretty good this year.

I have two Great Expectations growing in pots, they are in full shade and have been doing wonderfully for two years.

A rule; 5% of our problems take up 85% of our time, don't let it get in charge of your time or energy.

I've had this GE for three years now. It's not a very fast grower, in fact, it's one of the slowest I've ever had. Big Daddy is even outgrowing it! But, just the fact that it's still alive and not shrinking makes me very proud. lol! Mine is in dappled sun and a short amount of direct sun. I water it a lot! Good luck!

I'm in zone 5 and have the best luck with GE in full sun from 10:30 until 3:00 with a daily wartering. It's been 3 years and has really grown and very healthy.

I would post a current pic, but got nailed by hail last month.

Deb

GE is not a high maintenance plant, however it does have very specific requirements for planting. Once these requirements are met, it is virtually a zero maintenance plant except for watering, and always the showiest thing in the garden. My 3 mature plants range from 31 to 34 inches tall, and 3 1/2 to 5 1/2 feet across. In it's defense, the 'little' one is being severely crowded by Sagae, Frosted Jade, Blue Angel, and Sweet Susan, all of them monsters. I believe that given enough room, GE would top out around 36 inches and 6 feet or more across.

First, plant GE shallow--very shallow. The temptation is to plant it deeply, as it's going to be a very large plant, but if you do, it will slowly dwindle and die over the course of a couple of years. This seems to be the most common cause for failure with this variety.

Second, GE needs sun to really thrive. It will grow in shade, but very slowly, and will not reach it's full potential. At least not in my lifetime. Mine get almost full morning sun, then high dappled shade (lots and lots of light) for most of the rest of the day. I have also planted large numbers of small GEs in full sun, and they are all thriving.

Third, this variety needs water, and plenty of it, to do well. When you plant, amend the soil (I skipped this step, since I was planting in really good Iowa dirt) to include lots of compost and peat, and then water deeply. By deeply, I mean until the water puddles on the surface, or at least an hour with a sprinkler. The soil amendments will allow for good drainage. My hosta beds get watered by sprinkler for between 2 and 4 hours for each area. Not this year, of course, since it's been raining every 10 minutes or so almost every day since April, but in an ordinary year I water everything deeply around the middle of May, again in late June, and once more in August. In between those times, if it's been particularly dry I might water a 4th time, especially for new plantings.

I don't fertilize my hostas very often, and never with anything but organic material. Once the soil is amended, all I add is water most years. Once in a while I will top dress with either composted manure or rabbit manure, but that's it. I do leave all the leaf debris, twigs, etc from my trees on the hostas every year, so they benefit from that material as is breaks down into the soil. I also have lots of earthworms, which add nutrients to the soil. In any case, it's too late in the year to fertilize hostas this year. Any fertilizer should be used before the middle of July. After that time, it promotes new leaf growth, instead of the new root development that will give you a better hosta next year.

GE is my favorite hosta, and if you follow these guidelines, yours should do well for you. Remember also, for those of you who have had trouble in the past with this variety, there were a couple of really bad tissue culture batches that were sold a number of years ago. The tc problems appear to have been resolved, and if you can find a nice, healthy looking plant to start with, GE shouldn't be any more difficult to grow than any other hosta. And if you want to see something really spectacular, look for a streaked GE--I have 2 little ones in my garden this year, from tissue culture tinies last year, and they are amazing!

While I don't have GE, I do have a couple of GE derivatives: Dream Queen and Dreamweaver. I have 2 DQ's, one in a #1 pot, the other in the ground, and they have behaved rather differently this year, their 3rd.

The potted one came up with 2 shoots/eyes this spring and for the last couple of months has had its pot sitting in a saucer with a constant supply of water. It can drink to its hearts content and it must have, because I noticed yesterday there are an additional 5, that's right: five, offsets. And I have no doubt whatever that is because of constant water supply. The one planted in the ground still was only one eye/shoot but the leaves were quite a bit larger, and while it received supplemental watering, it certainly was a constant supply and there is no sign of any additional offsets.

So, as so many others on this forum have said in the past, water, water, water. Just make sure the crown doesn't stay wet, or you'll get crown rot. And then it's curtains....

while it received supplemental watering, it certainly was a constant supply

That should have read:

while it received supplemental watering, it certainly was NO constant supply...

Dave:

Thanks so much for your informative post on GE -- I copied it into a document file so I can keep track of it . . . added to the other GE hints I've picked up over the years. Just wanted you to know the time you spent writing that post was appreciated!

Arlene

hostagrams: You are most welcome, and the encouragement is very much appreciated. Who's Dave??? I go by dhaven, which properly used would actually be d'Haven, but my name isn't Dave. Not to worry, it's a common mistake, probably caused by my fondness for a somewhat archaic and misunderstood web 'handle' rather than my real name.

I'll try to post a picture or two of my mature GEs and maybe the 20 little ones I'm currently growing out, including the streaking ones. There are pics of them on another thread from about 2 years ago, but nothing current.

Who's Dave? A slip of the mind -- took a quick hosta break and apparently the mind wasn't completely engaged. Not unusual these days. In any case, you know who you are and that you're appreciated!!