Well that's obviously their label, so we don't know where the TC or the plant from which it was divided came from. Since you are growing in pots, it really doesn't matter much. Just keep it in a pot and see what it does. Paul is right that Striptease has a lot of virus in it. It's also true that the middle section of the leaf undergoes changes during the growing season so sometimes it's difficult to see virus in this plant. As long as it's in a pot and you disinfect your tools, you should be fine. Steve

Jo - I tend to get my order shipped to me from Naylor Creek in the middle of March and I have been successful potting them up when they arrive, keeping inside and hardening them off outside when the weather gets warmer. I have also done mail order within Ontario...most recently at the beginning of July from Budd Gardens. The plants arrived within 2 business days using regular Canada Post mail. The plants always arrive in great condition if packaged properly. Michelle - yes, if you place an order you would have to pay for the phytosanitary certificate unless you have friends that would join in on your order...in which case you can split the phyto and shipping costs with them. It's cost effective for larger orders and collector's looking for rare plants. If you are only getting a few plants then it's not financially worthwhile unless you are getting rare hostas on your wish list that you can't get anywhere else. Vanessa

I'll just point out that we all know that you can't trust the labels on hostas at the garden centers anyway. Just don't buy anything in a blue container if you want to avoid this grower. Prolly about 95 percent of the people who are buying hosta in garden centers are buying with their eyes and don't care what the label says anyway. They like the way it looks in the pot, take it home, plant it and toss the tag. Most of the rest of us, the hardcore hostaholics, are buying online from trusty sources because we are buying a name. For myself, I've added prolly around 50 plus new hostas in the last couple of years. (I'm afraid to do an actual count! In truth, the real number is probably more like 75...) The best that I recall is that only eight of those hostas have been purchased locally, plus one NOID from a rummage sale. I would prefer to be able to buy locally but the selection is so poor...You know it's bad when you have the best luck finding something newish at Lowe's or WalMart... For instance, I want to get Liberty...hosta of the year, ought to be easy enough to find. I finally found it at a nursery that's in another town about forty miles away. Price, with sales tax, north of $20. Single eye, beat up by sun & wind, the leaves crusted with mineral deposits from overhead watering. While I'd be willing to accept a crumby looking plant in Sept or Oct, back in July when I saw this Liberty, I wanted a plant that looked good, esp if I'm shelling out over 20 bucks for it. So, I passed and am still w/o Liberty. :( Now, I've lost whatever train of thought I had...I guess that story was to illustrate why some of us more ardent Hostaholics are going the mail order route (besides the HVX issue)...otherwise, you can't find what you want, can't trust the label anyway, plants poorly tended to, $4 a gallon gasoline that dampers enthusiasm for The Hunt.... Like I said, if you want to avoid Blew plants, just don't buy anything in a blue nursery container. Oh, yeh, I agree with Ken. APMcConnell is an ugly hosta. Giving it a glitzy new name is like putting lipstick on a pig. OTOH, I really like tokaduma flavocircinalis. Calling it 'Happy Hippo' (ugh) is an insult to the plant and just downright sick. Esp, in view of the fact that hippos are one of the meanest, nastiest & most aggressive animals on the face of the Earth.

Not box stores driving nurseries out of business here but the seemingly unstoppable rise of that US import - the Garden Centre. True, everything is under one roof and you can buy an (overpriced ) drink while browsing...but their inventory is limited to maybe 2 types of certain perennials, a handful of common and popular favourites such as the hardy geraniums and absolutely nothing which has slipped off the top 40 list. Meanwhile, our wonderful nurseries, run by real expert plant growers, offering an unsurpassed range at half the cost (overheads) are vanishing because people apparently want to go on a coach trip - buy ornaments and jewellery and other tat and spend a morning in a coffee shop whilst being served by a clueless school-leaver on minimum wage. Even so, I can choose from a dozen small nurseries less than 25miles away which are often specialised and always a source of valuable advice. I think most of these will have vanished in my lifetime - although I still have faith in the egalitarian nature of gardening and the deep passions plants arouse in British gardeners. I have been a reluctant convert to mail order but on the plus side, I have become a lot more capable of propagating and producing my own stock. Seeing a much loved nursery close it's doors seems like a sad defeat for the free gardening spirit and a victory for capital driven, market solutions which do not sit well on this anarchist's shoulders.