It depends on the variety how fast or slow they grow. I have some that are several years old, like Zounds, Eskimo Pie, etc. that are still one eye. Others grow like wildfire and multiply quickly.

Agree,.... depends on variety.

This is my 4th year on most of mine. I will say that many of the medium size varieties I planted in 2007 looked really good in 2009, but they didn't see a significant increase in the number of eyes. More like the leaves they did produce were getting larger and the plant was filling in more.

they will explode in growth .. when they gain the root mass needed to sustain what you see above ...

and frankly .. it will do that.. when it is darn well ready to.. and not a moment sooner ...

otherwise ... who knows ... lol ...

though it is somewhat predictable if you know its size range ...

a small will mature .. and i mean root mass maturity.. within 2 years ...

a medium.. maybe 3 years ...

a giant.. 4 to 7 years ...

so i agree.. its all in the dna..

ken

in general, with our short growing season and cold winters - and the fact that I don't have time to really feed and dote over individuals...

mine really tend to sleep, creep, grow dammit!, then the big "leap" comes in years four or five.

And some don't leap, they just increase steadily. The sleep, creep, leap saying isn't a rule - it's something made up to try to get folks to practice a little patience in the garden. Don't buy a hosta from me in May, then come back the next year to complain that is hasn't grown very much...

Best bet is to plant about 500-1000 varieties... let them grow at their own rate - like Ken says, when they are darn well ready... and then walk around being startled when a plant all of a sudden captures all the attention in an area. This happened to me with Satisfaction last year. It was just ok for several years - then wow! Everybody had to know what that hosta was. The tag was missing and I actually had to check my maps to identify one of the most striking plants in my garden.