Empress Wu is newer than Mr Big and is now said to be the largest.
This is the most commonly seen image of EW to show her size:

Bear in mind, it could take 10-15 years to get this size. It'll need good sun and lots of water.

The picture of EW shows a big diameter, but is really striking on how tall it is.

I've seen numbers for diameter on several hostas that exceed EW... I think Zilis lists Komodo Dragon at 72" diameter and the speciemen of EW in all the photos he measured at 66". But he lists the height of KD as 28" while the height of the speciment EW was 39".

I think the largest would have to be a changing target - the largest diameter and / or the largest height of a garden-grown clump. I know I ran into a meausrement of a Sum&Substance or S&S sport clump, undisturbed for many years, hitting 84".

Perhaps better is to ask the list of the biggest few... then we'd get EW and KD and Mr. Big and maybe EW's pod parent, Big John... maybe a Blue Angel... S&S, or especially one of the green centered S&S sports like Lady Isobel Barnett. In fact, I had an Abba Dabba Do that exceeded 60" in diameter and definitely beat many of the giants in the height category... was around 40" tall...

The thing you have to also bear in mind is that just because the cultivar is listed as growing that large doesnt mean everyone will be able to get it that large. My S&S is an 8yr old mature plant and its big......NICE and big:) I have several hosta friends that have 5-6yr old plants that just arent very large specimens. IM a big believer that it depends greatly on the plant that was used to do the TC. If it was a so-so piece of EW, it will be a so-so TC.

Dave

I have a Montana Aureomarginata that is 20 years old and over six feet across - four feet tall. Seriously. AGE. AGE.AGE. Water, water, water. AND - don't divide them EVER. Strangers from out East who visit our neighbors always marvel - I think because they can't save theirs from deer! Some day when I am better at posting pics, I will post one of this hosta. It's amazing.

Westy

Westy... you simply CANNOT come on this forum, tell tales of a 6' wide mA and not show pics.

SHOW US THE PICS!!!!

Or, Westy, email a pic to one of us and we'll post it for you! We want to see this hosta! It must be really a sight!

I have seen Westys Montana Aureomarginata in person, it is unbelivabley beautful.
I had to come home and order one.
Her whole garden is to dye for,wish you could all go and have a look.
She works in her garden for sunup, to sundown, and boy, does it show.HER GARDEN SHOULD BE FEATURED IN A GARDEN MAGAZINE,
cAROL

connie
did you get a pic of it??
please post it
jill

Don't have Empress Wu,but in my garden,T-Rex is the biggest. Phil

Thanks everyone. I just ordered an Empress Wu. I also bought a hosta from a garden club...the gal said it is just a big blue hosta. No name to it. No pictures yet. I did see a picture of both Empress WU and Mr. Big on Ebay...but I did not purchase one from there. My S & S is quite large and so are my HoneyBells. I do have a few unknowns...will have to post to get names. Connie aka conel946

I'm hoping to beat the Empress Wu records with a cross Skylight X Empress We. it'll be out in the spring. I saw some out of TC and they're looking pretty good, like the seedling the 1st year. Marcos has it in Holland in a garden next to a EW about the same age and it's keeping up with the growth rate. I have several 4th years seedlings of DB X EW, Skylight X Empress Wu, blues and greens with different textured leaves and several the same leaf as EW but the leaves on several are hugh. we'll see, I have EW growing bigger every year. so they have their work cut out for them. hostajim

Here is my unknown huge blue one.
** picture will have to wait- photo bucket is down :) **

I bought Samual Blue (Krossa/Ruh 81) about 20 years ago as a small single plant in a 1 gallon pot from our local Botanical Gardens annual plant sale and it has lived in 3 different gardens. It has sat in it's current spot for 9 years now.

It reached 34" tall last year and this year it is exceding 72" wide. Once it is done setting it's leaves I will meaure it again. It has excellent substance and holds it's color well. It has unusual flowers that stay low and compact. Leaves are 14" wide. I haven't seen a pic anywhere of a Samual Blue that is bigger than this one. My Sum & Substance can be seen in the background and is the same age as the Samual Blue but doesn't come close to size, substance or growth rate. A new Empress Wu is just above the date. I'll let you know in about a decade if it beats my Sam.

This is a current pic.

{{gwi:976067}}
Last year.

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I have a small yard so I think I will have to limit myself to 8-10 giants. Big Kahuna, Komodo Dragon, montana Aureomarginata & T Rex are on my list.

Beautiful! I'm thinking of creating a border of hosta at the side of my house, and your pic really screams for me to do it. How far from your foundation did you plant your Samuel Blue & Sum & Substance? How wide is your bed? Thank You!
Cindy

I'd be afraid it would eat the dog.

Here's a leaf on a young single-eye plant my friend has, called 'No Restraint'. Wait until this one grows up!

{{gwi:1006758}}

S&S is 3' from the house and it will be another few years before it touches the house. Samual Blue is 2' from the house so it is not completely round like S&S is. Wu is 3' from house. The bed is about 6'-8' deep x 40' wide and usually grows a couple times a week. Borders are always moving outward.

{{gwi:1006759}}
I just measured Sam. 37" tall x 7' 2" wide. Wider than I had thought. S&S is 29" tall x 5' 9" wide.

{{gwi:1006760}}

One word for Sam.... WOW

Thanks for that picture of Empress Wu, I have one growing in my yard since a month ago. There also is a young T-Rex.
In respect to growing it big, a good humus soil, a lot of water, some light and some fertilizer are needed. There also must be the right micro nutriens in the soil, etc.

As an example, I tried S&S in one spot, it grew poorly, I moved it into more sun, and now it is huge.
Then I have a Big Daddy for 10 years or more, it topped out at 22 inches. I thought it would be due to a problem at the nursery those 10 years ago. But this year it is standing upright at 28 inches height and taller than my Blue Umbrellas at this time of the year. It could be that the watering with high phosphorous and rooting hormone did it, other taller cultivars are also looking very good.

Good luck! Bernd

Westy,Nancy and I were talking today,and we think the hosta you are talking about here, is ventricosa 'Aureomarginata',isn't that the one we all went Crazy over when we were there?Not Montana A.I know I said Montana, in my posting, but Nancy brought it to my attention it was not a Montana.
What say yea?
cAROL

Carol - This is so IRONIC because I actually emailed Gloria (hostared) two days ago and the subject of the email was 'YOU ARE GOING TO KILL ME'. So I had to tell her that I have been calling that monster a 'montana' aureomarginata for many years - it's been in the same place for 21 years. BUT GET THIS: I told her that I was digging around it on Tuesday planting other stuff and dug up the original ENGRAVED marker. Guess what - it said VENTRICOSA AUREOMARGINATA. Nancy was right on! So I felt really bad because Gloria went out and bought a montana last year after she saw it. She said she didn't care because she loves the montana but I apologize to everyone who came to visit last summer.

Here's the interesting thing with 'big' - the leaves on this thing are not huge like the ones in this post that are measured. It is big because it has SO MANY leaves because it's so old and I took some of it off one side a couple of years ago so it would be even bigger if I'd left it alone. But most of it has never been moved. DON'T MOVE ANYTHING.

Thanks for the nice words about my garden. But I have sick ornamental apple trees (apple scab) dropping yellow disgusting leaves in piles - ruining the looks of everything. I'm ready to move to the Pacific Northwest because we've only had ONE heat wave and I panicked. See you soon!

Carole (Westy)

PS Jill and Jel48 - I PROMISE I will post pics of it soon. I'm a lousy photographer and my DH is great so he will do the photoshoot and I will teach myself how to post. I did it once before they changed the method so I'm not an idiot - just too busy! I said I'd do it last year and didn't get around to it...but I will do it soon!!!

Carole, you did tell us last year it was a Ventricosa Aureomarginata,Nancy bought herself one,and me, after seeing yours,I guess our age is showing, ha ha,cause I said in my post I went out and bought one, forgetting, Nancy got it for me,yowza,Nancy had to remind me of that.
Yes, we will see you soon.I do hope you will post a picture, it is really beautiful, I bet even Mark(from Q & Z) has never even seen one as big as yours.
cAROL