Sandyslopes can't help much but interested in this thread. I maintained a garden for a woman where I planted an Empress Wu and was decidedly underwhelmed. I moved it from it's very visible (and empty lol - empty because I left lots of room for it to grow into and it never really did) spot two years ago and replaced it with a Wu La La (because we all know a variegated hosta is better than a plain green one lol) but the woman moved last year and so now I don't get to play in her garden anymore! So I don't really know how it's doing. I drove by her house but was so aghast at what has happened to her lovely yard I didn't get to really look for the hosta, which isn't as visible from the road.

I've thought of getting one for my own garden but haven't gotten to it yet. Sunnywood's picture may hasten my decision along lol!

:)

Dee

Sunnywood, thanks for that photo of your Wu-La-La! The leaves look substantial, and it does show promise to be very large. I’m leaning towards getting this one to replace a spirea shrub.

Dee, that’s too bad about her garden and that you don’t get to see how Wu-La-La is doing in a yard where it was looked after. I was also more interested when I saw the potential for a very large variegated leaf. So I’ve had an Empress, and now think I will try this one.

Here is my Wu-La-La. It is growing well I moved it last year and purchased it in 2021.

Sunnywood, happy to see you here. I haven’t seen you around and wondered if you were struggling with health issues. Hope not! I miss seeing your beauties!

debra

Beth, your Wu looks very happy in it's current home! And so does everything around it. I'm picturing rich soil and lots of water when I see your photo. ......I'm not going to buy many more hostas so I want to make a good choice for one big one. Thanks for sharing your picture!

I have both and in my opinion WuLaLa is much better than the Empress

I only have the Empress but she has always been a star in my garden--sometimes I wonder if it's the genetics or the growing conditions.

I don't have Empress Wu, but I do have Wu-la-la. Not great pictures but it got me out there to take a few photos.

Thanks for the photos everyone! Empress Wu has been around longer so I’ve been able to see mature ones like in Sweet Betsy’s garden. Impressive! But Wu-La-La is one I haven’t seen at its largest size.

And now I’m waffling about getting a really big one. I remember in the hottest months my Empress would get some crisping around the edges. I could never get enough water to it. I’m working on making my irrigation more targeted and waterwise, but would that be enough to keep Wu-La-La happy? I’m wondering if a Large like Majesty or maybe replacing my lost Atlantis would be more successful.

But it’s so tempting to try another really big one, and I want to get on it quickly because it will take awhile to mature. I’m on the fence and being indecisive. It's difficult when I wish I could have them all!

Buy it. Buy a big one and water it well. Life is for living.

Just because a hosta grows big, doesn't mean you have to grow it big! So I have this Wu-la-la, but I don't have a place in the garden for it. That didn't stop me!

I remember reading back a while ago in the American Hosta Society's journal about someone who had a Sum and Substance. They liked it best when it was around 7 eyes. So they would just remove the excess eyes to keep it the way they liked it.

As for my Wu-la-la, it will be my challenge to grow it in a pot. So, it could very well be that it may die before it ever gets huge! So I'm not going to worry about where I am going to put it! I'm just going to enjoy the ride along the way.

All right, good advice to go for it and enjoy!

nhl, I never would have thought someone would “bonsai” a hosta to keep it smaller than its potential. Learn something new every day! If I get a very large/giant I want it to grow as big as it can!

You’re successful growing in pots, so it will be interesting to see how Wu-La-La does for you. I’m sure you’ll have a beautiful, thriving hosta! As for me, I’m trying my best to get anything I buy into the ground, so I’m not overwintering pots (except for my Cannas).

Now you’ve all enabled me. I placed my first order with Hornbakers for the Wu-La-La and a few more!

Oooh what else did you order Lisa? I am almost hoping Atlantis was one of them because yours was outstanding. I am sorry you lost it.

Hi Laurie! It’s maddening that I lost some nice hostas! Atlantis was a pretty one as was my Blaze of Glory! Too many to list! I’d like to replace most of them, but at the same time I want to try some that are new to me. So Atlantis went on the “maybe again someday” list.

I got Coast to Coast for a large yellow to brighten a spot, and three more mediums. Autumn Frost, Hope Springs Eternal, and Tootie Mae, which was an impulse buy as I know nothing about that one.

For whatever reasons our gardens are always changing, right? You lost all those trees and yours is still looking great! 😊

Sandyslopes, you will not be disappointed with Hornbakers plants! They are my favorite vendor. I purchased Hope Springs Eternal and Tootie Mae myself this year. HSE is really a lovely hosta and TM is a cute small one. I will try to post a pic of each……houzz does not always let me.
debra

Both those hostas look cute! I hope TM develops the wide yellow margins. I like the ruffles HSE has even on your young one. Glad to know I made some good choices! And I saw you've gotten some good hostas from them, so your recommendation helped give me a push. I'm looking forward to some new hostas!

You have some nice new ones coming! There are so many new ones to try it will be fun to see their progress. C to C will certainly brighten a spot. Mine got chewed by deer as pips this year so it looks odd but very bright lol! Thank you Lisa, yes our gardens are always changing whether we want the changes or no. I know yours will be beyond lovely once again!

I tried to post this last night but Houzz did something with it and I lost it! Trying again....

I don't water plantings now (I did use soaker hoses in some areas back when I was establishing the garden in the early 2000s but now it's a Darwinian - survival-of-the-fittest -garden that exists on natural rainfall alone...) I don't have the new Wu but do have the original type that was planted about 2014. One trick I learned for plants that like good moisture is to use a 'nurse log' to soak up moisture and hold it until the plant needs it and provide nutrients to the plant as the 'nurse log' breaks down over time. So I planted Wu next to an old willow tree stump... The shed in the picture below is wider than deep - the wall shown is 8' long so that gives you an idea of how big the Wu is in this 2020 picture:

This is what it (and the nearby Kirengeshoma) looked like in early Sept. 2022 after a summer of drought:

But it all survived without supplemental water!

So, in my books, the original Empress Wu is a good, large hosta :-)

Hi Sandyslopes. I just received a Wu La La from Hornbakers. Nice plant with multiple eyes (5 or 6). Packed great and shipped FAST.

Woodyoak, Darwinian survival of the fittest is a good way to look at it. I wish I lived where I could do that, but that would limit me severely in what I could enjoy in the garden. Left on its own, I’d probably be taken over by Virginia Creeper! Luckily, I have a secondary water system that’s for the gardens, not using primary drinking water, so I’m trying to use more soaker hoses and drip irrigation instead of the overhead sprinklers.

Your Empress Wu is big and beautiful! I’m glad it survived your drought year, but did it shrink in size when it came back the next year? I have survivors that look almost like when I first planted them, instead of their bigger lush selves. Other established, full grown, beautiful hostas vanished. I found the crowns so they just died in place without water for one season.

I’ll have to be selective of where and how many water loving plants I’m growing, so I can’t have ALL the hostas, lol. But I like your nurse log idea and have an oak stump that’s been deteriorating that maybe I will plant a hosta near and see if there’s any moisture benefit. I’m going to have a cherry tree cut down, so I can ask for some shorter pieces to be cut, unless cherry isn’t a good wood for that? It’s a tough wood so I imagine it would break down slowly.

Ken, you got a Wu-La-La, too! We’ll have to compare as they grow. I placed my Hornbaker’s order late Monday night and received them Thursday morning. And I’m happy to say I got them all planted the same day! It’s warm out but I find I can still plant shade plants during the summer.

Laurie, your deer do a number on your gardens! I hope mine never get a taste for hostas. I'll show you the Coast to Coast in its new home. I hope it gets enough sun to be bright but not too much so it will burn. Placement is everything!

My order: Autumn Frost, Coast to Coast, Hope Springs Eternal, Tootie Mae, and Wu-La-La. I know you all want to see the roots, but I didn’t take off the plastic until I was outside at their planting hole. But the roots looked very good on all of them. I live in a state where they can't send them in pots.

Coast to Coast

Tootie Mae got squished to fit the box

Hope Springs Eternal needs washed off

I'll try to add the Wu and the Autumn Frost when I get pics. I still need to mulch all of them.

Here's the Wu-La-La! Looks like just one eye to me, but it's a big one, and the roots were good looking. Crossing my fingers it likes its new home and grows to be BIG!

And I have to show the fifth one, Autumn Frost, which is already a pretty one. It's going to light up the spot it's in.

Thanks for the encouragement and the enabling!

sandyslopes - I think the Wu survived OK - although, I confess, I haven't been down that way in a while because it's a bit overgrown down there and it's the area most likely to have a few ticks so I'm staying away for now :-) We had over 6" of rain in July so there's no excuse for poor performance - all the hostas have done well this year so I hope Wu has as well. I have lost a couple of hostas in previous dry conditions - but I take that as an indication they were planted in the wrong spot! :-) 'Nurse logs' are often softwood things because they break down fastest, but I have used hardwoods too so use what's available and see if it makes the conditions more suitable for the plants. One of my favorite uses of a 'nurse log' is a dead apple tree trunk to promote growing white trilliums - this is an old picture now but it's still a May highlight in the garden:

And this hosta is in full sun at the driveway end of the 'moatbed':

I find hostas pretty tough and very useful.

Good looking roots and they look great in the ground! Quick delivery & prompt planting pretty much ensures success. You are so right Lisa, placement is everything. Yes I have herds of deer and I have to spray every 2 weeks with Bobbex. If I did not spray I would have celery stalks. Rotten beautiful creatures! I hope you never have the issue.

Woodyoak, 6” of rain sounds wonderful, as long as it’s not all at once! Nice hosta in your moat bed. Looks like a Blue Angel? I wonder if it’s close enough for the roots to reach the moat. Thanks for the pics of that and the trillium.

I am using some logs to outline a few garden beds, but the way they’re situated they can block the sprinkler water, so the plants are not close enough to benefit from the moisture they might hold. The nurse log idea is interesting to me.

Laurie, I feel for you about the deer! I doubt I would be able to keep up a regular spray schedule like you do. That’s real dedication to your gardens.

sandyslopes- the 6” of rain was spread across the month of July. August is shaping up to be about half of that - which is more like the normal average rainfall here… The hosta in the moatbed is supposed to be ‘Elegans’ and it is a division of one of the first things we planted here back in 2000…! I’m not sure how deep hosta roots go but it seems happy there. We had been having a problem with couchgrass creeping into the bed there. One of the things that couchgrass can’t tolerate is continuous dense shade, so I decided to try the hosta as a shade provider. No more couchgrass!

If the sprinkler wets the logs, paticularly where the logs are in contact with the ground, that is probably sufficient. Think about the moisture that is always trapped/present beneath logs and large flat stones…. All you are doing with that aspect of nurse logs, is putting them deliberately in place for the plants to take advantage of. For instance, trillium seeds are commonly spread by ants and ants can be attracted to logs - the trilliums have spread vigorously once given that apple tree trunk as part of their habitat. I also learned that trilliums seed-leaves are single leaves - I thought what I was seeing was some sort of odd weed, until I noticed a nearby slightly larger three-leafed plant! I checked, and, sure enough, trillium seed-leafs are one-leafed! And their seeds are encased in a coaring partricularly attractive to ants! There’s always interesting thngs to learn in the garden…!