This is not mine but I wish it was.

If you don't want it send that division to me. I'd gladly $30.

Steve

If you are lucky enough to find a piece for sale here in Canada.....it will cost you at least $200.

Lol Steve. Oh it is a beautiful hosta but just wondered if anyone has had one for more than one growing season and if it was stable. I guess for such a rare plant $30 is worth the risk.

Steve were did you get that picture? Someone's you know?

Scott

My hosta guru has grown it or quite a few years. He got his directly from he late Gunther Stark, good friend of his. He hasn't had too many problems with it, but that's originator stock. If you like it gamble the 30 and give it a shot.

Dave

That one belongs to Rick Goodenough. I took it while on the tour of his garden during the AHS convention last June. A spectacular garden, as you might guess.

Steve

Oh I can only imagine. I'm going to take it but wait till the end of month as it was just starting to come up so by month end it should be well leafed out.

Scott

Scott, don't wait. " A bird in the hand." That's always a sure fire policy. Get it now.

i got mine from gunther also .... and it wasnt 30 bucks ..

in 98 at the national.. solberg had this thing sitting on the corner of his vendor table.. hundreds of peeps just walking by.. salivating .... and he said he would action it ...

he did the auction at some time when i wasnt there.. but gunther paid a couple thousand dollars for the original ... peeps said he looked like he was going to stroke out when all was said and done.. wish i would have seen it... [not the stroking.. the excitement]

SS and all her clones do NOT set seed readily .. i will yell.. DO NOT BUY IT AS A SEED MOMMA ... if you got one pod every 5 years .. you will be lucky ...

otherwise.. it is to die for ...

ken

Ok I'm going to buy it. I asked her about buying it last fall and she said in the spring. Was at the nursery two days ago and it is just breaking into growth so she said she will give me a two eye division the end of the month. I think I'll surround it with hardware cloth to make sure nothing eats it. I do have a few rare hostas but nothing as spectacular as this one.

Scott

Hi, only kidding, but I just up-potted 20 or so Dorothy Benedict x OP and other streaked seedlings, then they have to flower, then I will give those S&S pollen, then I will have to wait 6-10 years... LOL
But that is a beautiful plant, I wish I had a little one.
Bernd

Scott,

Go to the Dollar Tree and order online or buy locally a wire wastebasket. Link below. Leave about 1 inch above ground and plant your GP inside it. This vole proofing idea is from Carol Brashear. The idea is that the wastebasket protects the crown. Roots will grow through the wire openings into the surrounding soil, but the crown remains protected.

Here's LS Reflecting Glory in a basket (go with the black color).

Steve

Here is a link that might be useful: Dollar Tree Wire Baskets

You can cut the bottom out of the baskets, but you don't have to. They're only about a foot deep. Most Hosta planting holes are about that deep.

Steve

Thanks for the suggestion Steve but am more concerned about my dogs getting into the bed or deer jumping the fence. Fortunately I don't have a Vole problem but given the rariety of this hosta I think I'll make one as I have a roll of hardware cloth just to be safe.

Scott

If anyone is interested in making hardware cloth anti-critter cages, by far the easiest stuff to use is the 1/4" mesh. It can be easily cut with a pair of tin snips and is much easier to manipulate than the 1/2" mesh. I used to buy my hardware cloth at Lowes, but I've since discovered that you can get it for about half that price on Amazon if you're willing to buy larger rolls. I can make about 12 hosta-sized cages in one hour, and the current Amazon price/foot works out to about $0.70/cage. A bargain compared to losing a cherished specimen to the critter buffet.

Victorine that's what I have is the 1/4 inch size.

Scott

Moccasin, I am probably older than you are, am retired for a while. Hosta seed growers seem to always hope to make that gorgeous hosta one day, get excited looking at the small seedlings. But when not thinking about seedlings, I no longer buy small plants, but look for multi-eyed divisions of large plants to enjoy them soon.
Bernd

Victorine, good to know Amazon has it, along with everything else! Of course, they have everything. Big supermarket in the clouds.

Bernd, you said it! It might sound like "instant gratification" to younger folks, but heck, it's better than none at all. Time's a wasting.

"Tempus fugit," said Grandfather clock.

Well I picked up Gunther's Prize today. When I got home and after a cup of coffee went out with my camera and shovel to plant then take a picture to post. When I turned the pot over the stem seperated from the roots. I thought OMG I broke it. Turns out the stem had rotted at the root ball. So I called back and their going cut another eye from the mother plant for me tomorrow. Should get a picture posted over the weekend since it's supposed to pour here tomorrow.

For those of you who may live in NJ the American Conifer Society is having an open auction on May 19, 2012 in Walttownship, NJ near Belmar. The nursery will be donating a good division of Gunther's Prize if anyone is interested in bidding on it.

Scott

Scott, whatever happened to that H.'Gunther's Prize' which had some stem rott. Did you give it a drench with something and it recovered? I read this thread because we just had the G Alphabet pictures here on this Hosta Forum. Bernd

Jim's Hostas lists it as limited supply for $90.

Here is a link that might be useful: Jim's Hostas, Gunther's Prize

this Gunthers prize has been in my collection for 3 years

I got mine in the mail last year and potted it up. I put it in the shade and every day moved it closer to being in full sun. Here it is on it's first day, a single eye:

Bleached out, but taking full sun in stride:

Here it is this week, on it's way to full sun again, 5 eyes and growing.

At $75 an eye, I could only afford a single one. But thanks to the sun here in West Michigan, I now have a nice sized GP for only having it 2 seasons.

Gesila