if you consider.. that you are buying a root mass.. for the future ... then the logic would follow that the bigger you buy.. the bigger the root mass ..... the faster you get to your future ...

but since that post just came up .... about the plant that had leaves 90% white .... if you insist in seeing if you can grow it ... yes... go large ...

i dont want to admit how many GE i bought in the day... from a TC tray of xplants.. to a $100 mature clump .... [and too many in between sized plants] ..... and they all failed.. eventually ... size really doesnt matter.. when you are trying to grow a POS ... sorry .... lol ... [maybe i should have made that POCarp]....

and now i reread.. and you said mature 'division' ... i didnt address fresh cut divisions.. but im not sure you meant what you asked .... did you .. i really hate when i go on some rant.. and on redeading.. i realize i lost the point somewhere in the middle of it all ... lol ..

ken

Finance and availability aside, wouldn't you always buy the biggest plant you could, assuming you can dig the proper hole? But I think (as Ken eventually got around to), you mean in getting a one-eyed chunk of a mature plant rather than a division grown on from TC, or from someone who splits young plants. It depends on the skill of the divider: if you can get a single division with a good bit of crown "meat" and good roots, then yes, that would generally be better than a young double division from TC. But if the divider butchers the plant, all that good meat goes down the drain.

As to "some" hostas, the answer would be yes for clumpers, no for runners, I would think.

Thanks!

Ken, I do not get tired listening to your "rant", much wisdom here.

David, thanks for addressing convoluted question side, so buying part of mature division is preferred over TC clump...

Things are not as simple in other perennial world- smaller plants establish better and have less transplant shock ... But most will respond to sleep creep leap year...or even shorter timeframe...

I remember buying single eye plant from Jim, who had most amazing varieties but did send smaller sized plants well rooted but still.

And now it seems to be a competition who will send you online bigger sized plant. Mind you, not complaining, am enjoying beauty of instant gratification. Still at my heart am a grower...

Providing there are always limitation of variety and finances... Does one look for largest clump of slowest grower? Difficult grower? I.e. does larger size GE preferred over smaller piece?

In the hosta world I have seen no advantage to purchasing a small plant over a large plant, if ultimately you want a large plant. If your goal is to buy the tiniest mini then you are looking for something else. Note that there is variability across the stock, little differences that are not significant enough to make you think that the plants are different varieties, but differences that can definitely result in better vigour, colour, variegation, shape, etc. I haven't seen this as much with other perennials, but I'm sure that it is not only unique to hostas.