Hello, Linnea! You sure picked up some cuties, two of which I have...Limey Lisa and Blue Mouse Ears.

Limey Lisa was new last year, and I would say she has almost doubled in size. A month or so ago, while potting her up, I divided her as she separated easily....for no other reason but one...to make more. She had a very tall flower scape (2) that stood so tall it looked removed from the very low plant. lol. She is sited where she gets sun until early afternoon. A little cutie....just like my daughter Lisa!

Here is half of her with two outlandishly tall flower scapes. Pictured at 9:00 o'clock on July 11th this year.

Jo

This post was edited by josephines67 on Tue, Oct 29, 13 at 14:16

Those are three really good hostas. In my experience the Blue Mouse Ears and Limey Lisa will be similar in size. I wouldn't call any of them mini's but that is based on the plant size of the two above and the leaf size of Peanut. Peanut has grown the slowest of the three for me. Limey Lisa has grown the fastest, so much so that I had to move my original one this year. It was crowding out a bed of smalls and mini's even though every year I seemed to take divisions of it off.

The color of Limey Lisa is bright in the spring fading to green over the summer. I'm now experimenting with having it in more direct sun to see if that keeps it yellow as it does for Feather Boa another exceptional smaller plant that varies with the light.

This first picture is of Limey Lisa and Baby Bunting in pots. The shape of them look quite similar. This spot is in full shade from the time the leaves come out on the walnut tree.

This picture below is the original Limey Lisa. These shots are also from May, June and July. This bed faces east with morning sun gradually diminishing in the summer when the trees fill in and the sun is lower in the sky in late summer. I have Peanut planted right beside it. Peanut is taller with larger leaves but not as dense. The other plants in the bottom picture are Lk. Dimpled Darling behind Peanut, another baby bunting, Sunlight Child and Pandoras Box. The last two are the one's I'd call mini.

Blue Mouse Ears I've had since 2008, the year it was awarded Hosta Of The Year. I love this darling blue mouse - especially with flower buds! This year I divided it and must have 5 pots on the go....awaiting spring to see what shape each has or whether I will need to double up on them to get the mound shape it had...I am just having fun and experimenting..

I don't find any of my miniatures to be a "vigorous grower", in fact most of them are known to grow slowly or be of average growth. I have 10 different mini cultivars which were grown in the ground, but looked vulnerable way down there, lol..... I battle slugs....some, when stretched out, are longer than the wee leaf they are trying to chew!

Now that they are potted up, (less accessible for slugs) I can view them clustered in a large pot about 1-2 ft. Up off the ground. If I fertilized my hosta, no doubt they might grow bigger, faster but so far, I don't. Re-thinking that for next year as my favourite thing to do is to grow them, then divide them to make more. :-).

My own experience has been that these minis are as tough as their larger peers. They are just diminutive.

Whether you plant them in the ground, or in raised pots for easy viewing, I wish you joy watching them grow!

Jo

regarding the 'Peanut' name controversy (sp?), c this link:

Here is a link that might be useful: Peanut or Lakeside Dot Com ?

all 3 very good plants - here's LL's flower:

our very young 'Peanut' or L.S. Dot Com (I, personally, find the whole spat about this, ummm, fishy...).

IâÂÂm glad these look to be such good ones. ItâÂÂs hard to get an idea of scale. Even if these are not âÂÂtrueâ minis, likely they will be small enough to work in the spot planned, which is on the foreground/perimeter of a bed that has larger ones as you move backwards. I can get an idea of scale, mctavish, from seeing your bleeding heart and solar light.

The shots of Peanut show it as much more attractive than the photo card in the nursery. The quart I got also has narrow-ish leaves, which I generally donâÂÂt choose. But I know leaf shape varies with maturity.

I really like leaves with light centers (vs light or white edges). I have (what I think is) an Eskimo Pie in the same bed. I think Peanut might make a good color echo for it.

Thanks!

Great pic, HH. I'm really liking that 'Lakeside Peanut' or 'Peanut Dot Com' or whatever it is. : )

It's a little beauty. Reminds me of 'Great Expectations'. It's about the same size as my 'Great Expectations', too! HA HA HA!

Don B.

I have seen a couple of mentions of Great Expectations lately that imply a disappointment. Is that the case? I don't have one. As in, fails to live up to the name?

I have a hair salon near me called âÂÂThe BestâÂÂ. The name alone makes me avoid it. If they are that convinced they are so wonderful, why would they try?

GE has a bad rap cuz it doesn't take well to being messed with, I.E., if you have a live one, don't move it, divide it, speak unkindly within earshot, or even think about it being 'difficult' . . .

All that said, here's one of my 'dime' leaf shots to show it's worth:

Oh, rub it in, HH!! That's a beauty!

When you say 'messed with', do you mean watering it, fertilizing it, looking at it, etc? : )

Don B.

This post was edited by Don_in_Colorado on Thu, Oct 31, 13 at 9:11

HH is right. Great Expectations doesn't like to be moved. I moved mine to this spot a few years ago,and while it hasn't grown a lot,it likes this spot,and that's where it is gonna stay! Phil

I put a dime on one of the leaves of my GE to show scale, but it crushed it!

Don B.

I don't generally move stuff around much anyway (though I'm about to move my first hosta, my grandmother's, with some anxiety). I could handle planting anything as majestic as those Great Expectations and leaving them alone!

Linnea, GE is beautiful and certainly worth a try. Does well for some, but is a real heartbreaker for many who try to grow it. Mine remains alive; Hopefully it'll still be there come spring. HH's is fantastic, that giant leaf being an indication.

How old is that one, HH?

Don B.

From what I observed of the postings, it seems as if it only does well in zones 4 and 5, if you hold your mouth just right.

bk

I am in zone 5, and my 5 GEs are doing wonderfully. I mix a small bucket of leaf mold into the hole, plant them high, give them water, fertilize annually and they grow. On the other hand, h.'Earth Angel' (3 of them) are doing poorly here. In respect to h. 'Blue Mouse Ears', they are growing nicely here. Bernd

Linnea, this should give you a better idea of size.

Thanks for all your help. McTavish, that group photo helps a lot! And, the day before Halloween, it's good candy too.