According to the AHS Judges Handbook there are 5 classifications for species and registered cultivars based on leaf size, not clump size. The classifications are:

I. - Giant Leaved - 120 square inches or greater

II. - Large Leaved - 64 - < 120

III. - Medium Leaved - 30 - <64

IV. - Small Leaved - 6 - < 30

V. - Miniature Leaved - <6

The square inches are calculated from leaf length x leaf width, from the original registration.

Obviously giant leaved hostas tend to come from larger plants -duhhhh- but clump size is influenced by many factors, such as location/sun exposure, soil fertility, husbandry and more.

Pieter

Wu just has better marketing ... lol ... there are plenty of oldies but goodies that are as big.. or bigger than Wu ....

height and leaf size are genetic and short of hyper fertilization ... should be the same everywhere ....

clump width is not genetic.. the crown has the potential to just keep expanding .. and hence the plant can get wider and wider and wider ....

ken

I thought Sum and Substsnce was the biggest.

komodo dragon was nice size

That Komodo Dragon was pretty, Ken! I love the wavy edge.

Now I'm curious about the effect of the fertilizer. Does it push growth for just the season it's applied, like steroids do to a baseball player's neck, or does the plant pick up where it left off the next year? Also, how much does dividing a hosta retard its growth? I couldn't resist taking pieces from my year-old Sum and Substance to plant elsewhere, but did I set the mother plant back years? How long do hosta take to achieve their mature size?

Awwww, poor mediums! I care! Isn’t LS Paisley Print a medium? I’m waiting anxiously for her to grow up!

I hope people know that last part I wrote was a bit tongue in cheek ;)

Me too!

All my hostas are mediums!