Mine is coming up nicely this year as well. Bought as a 2 division plant in a quart pot last spring. Seems to have doubled.

It sure looks amazing ... and full! Good that you gave it one more try!

It beautiful. I am on my second one. Mine was doing good until I got a vole problem and they killed every one I had in that bed. I had planted four hostas in a flower bed and they killed all four hostas.

I am glad that GE is growing well for you this time. You must be delighted! Good luck for continued good growth!

Very slow start for my Great Expectations this year. My best...

Linda- Your GE is just beautiful! I have given up after 4 or 5 tries. I can keep them growing for two or three years, then... Kaput.

-Babka

Thanks everyone! This is it's 4th year in the ground and it is getting bigger every year. It's not fully out yet so I will have to update the picture later on. I did have a Dream Queen a few years ago and it starting going downhill right from the get-go. Came back smaller and smaller until it was gone.

Jon- so the secret is to step on them? Lol, I am always worried my dogs will be stepping on them in the early spring. The dogs have no boundaries when the plants are not up but once they are up and growing they thankfully don't trample thru them.

Babka- a few of the ones I killed were in pots ;(

Lucky you! I have killed two GE's, but I'm trying to decide if I want to give it another try! Maybe I should because yours is beautiful!

Beautiful....Looks like 4th time was charm for you!

It's a really pretty annual for me... :-)

Im 3 years in and 9 eyes this year..It likes the spot but Im afraid it will outgrow it.

Linda, I have read that some people would stomp on pips when they first emerged thinking it forces the plant to grow a greater number. The better performing of the two (both very nice) gets marginally (1/2 hour maybe) more sun, but I wouldn't think enough to make any difference, but.......... Jon

The Hosta getting more sun will be the more vigorous-growing one each and every time...at least that has been my experience. Regardless of the type of cultivar, the leaf shape may alter slightly growing in more sun, the colour will definitely alter but the biggest difference is faster growth and a tighter clump. I'm basing these observations on almost full-day sun exposure.

Jon, I believe that half hour definitely makes a difference.... especially with GE. :-). Looking forward to more of your wonderful pics throughout the season.

Linda, there isn't much to look at yet but here are my two GEs.

Jo, it is just a matter of the smaller GE shaded by the trunk of a big twin pine for that half hour in the morning. Not cutting down the tree and taking out one of the GEs would throw off the layout.

That's a given, lol! Your lot (Hosta La Vista) is paradise, exactly as is. And nothing is small there - not even your BME I'll bet! ;-).

I found out the hard way my GE HATED being moved - repeatedly. It thanked me by dying :(. Now I will move anything... but NOT my remaining GEs.

Jo, there is no way I am going move my GE, I will have to move it's neighbors at some point but I am not messing with that one LOL. I wish I were fortunate enough to have hosta in the sun all day but it is too hot in the summer and they will not like it, although my Atlantis gets quite a bit of afternoon sun and seems to love it!

Jo, don't tell anyone but a reason the smaller GE may have been so slow is because I get dragged down the hill over there when we have a lot of snow by Shasta because a 1 1/2 mile walk through the heavy snow 3 times a day isn't going to happen (no problem for her). I could very well have stepped on the GE as I have no way of being sure 'exactly' where everything is planted. Next winter I will bang sticks in to prevent the chance of this happening. Jon

You being dragged by Shasta in the snow is dancing in my head, lol... that is a great idea you have to mark your walking/dragging ;-) lol path next winter, Jon.

She is a big baby, but one time a few years back she alerted and started pulling me at the top of a 10-12 foot high snow covered slope. I went down on my side to stop her, was spun around and dragged face first over snow and rocks to the bottom (I should have let go). The big attraction at the bottom was two little kids with their father and a pit bull puppy. The guy picked up the puppy that was barking and growling. Shasta went over to the 2 kids and licked their fingers ignoring the other dog. She is about 70 pounds, very strong and loves everyone.

Aw, what an endearing recollection, Jon. (The face-plant etc could make it to America's Funniest!) Your dog is simply a love bug!

I am having quite the vision picturing Jon being dragged face first thru the snow...LOL

You guys would probably love the one where the snow was over knee high in places and Shasta got loose and went running around in the trees (she would never go very far away) the loose leash got caught on some trees and she just stops still and waits. I struggle through over knee deep snow to get to her and free her from the tree. I start to struggle out and my boot gets pulled off one foot and I have to fish my stocking foot down through the snow to retrieve the boot.....or the time when walking down another slope and she went off after a squirrel and slammed my knee into a big pine tree and it was swollen for 3 months which probably kept it from being very painful. She is a baby, but she is instinctively a hunter and something switches when she sees a rabbit, or squirrel, groundhog, turkey, deer....almost anything.

Not easy to manage a 70 pounds dog, jon! I will stay with independent cats, not so much work :-( But sometimes I'm dreaming of a nice big brown Labrador doggie when I'm retired and still in good form to keep up with it. Your big baby is lovely! Very watchful eyes:-)

I put my small GE into more sun and it is growing...from two very tiny leaves to three and looking much better than in shade! Lavender leaves for size comparison, lol...but sun does make a difference for this one...

We had 28°C here yesterday, crazy, from still nearly winter to hot summer within a week...

Karin

Karin, the few instances where she was trouble are balanced against 5 years of being the friendliest, sweetest dog you could ever have. By relating a few 'adventures' I have unjustly portrayed her as unruly which is far from the case. Very excitable, but not unruly. We have had the same weather here; a miserable Spring with temps overnight in the mid 30s (F) during the night, flooding, a period of 3 inches of rain in 3 days and now temps in the 90s setting records. Jon

Jon, Shasta is beautiful and I can tell she is a very spoiled girl! I have 4 dogs and they are worth every bit of trouble that they cause in the garden, which really isn't that much. I have learned there a few spots in the garden that I have to let them have so they can visit (or bark at) the neighbor dogs thru the fence.

I suggest you get a go pro camera and strap it to yourself whenever you go outside with Shasta in the snow. You may end up with a great video that will win you some money on America's Funniest Home Videos and give us all a good laugh at the very least!

Linda

Shasta is not allowed to bark at other dogs. People make the mistake of yelling at them and (believe it or not) they don't understand English. Go right up to them as the alpha dog would and tisss them and maybe sneak attack and startle them. It works, Shasta barks to let me know who is around and when I go up to her she stops because she knows I am aware and if I'm not barking she knows she should be quiet as well. If it is someone I don't like I go look and don't go up close to her or mumble about whoever it is and she will keep barking. Squirrels, turkeys, rabbits, cats....that is an entirely different story, nothing can calm her down. She is very smart and has me very well trained.

Jon