Hosta 'Empress Wu'

My Empress Wu started with a stub, planted in the shade of a rose bush; now it is four feet high and wide, has grown out of the shade and...Read More takes full sun for a third of the day with no burning. It has smaller hostas thriving underneath its shade casting 'branches'. Very architectural and works in a difficult spot - an odd mix of shade and full sun.

bought mine from paradise gardens 3 yrs ago and has doubled in size every yr ... nice size now , but next yr should be something

In Sept, 2010 I split a mail ordered Empress Wu into two plants and planted them in a shady area alongside my driveway. They have maintai...Read Morened steady but slow growth to date.

There is a handy saying that truly applies to Hostas - especially large one like Empress Wu - Sleep, Creep, Leap - 1st year they put on r...Read Moreoots, 2nd year they are a bit bigger. By the 3rd year, they start to strut their stuff! Empress Wu is well worth the wait.

The first time I saw Empress Wu in a landscape (Skaggs), it was a hot day and a medium size dog had found just the right cool spot beneath a towering 4 foot Wu leaf. I knew I just had to have this plant.

To give your large leaf Hosta an extra boost, prepare your planting area creating a hill of composted manure.

This will help two fold. First, it gives a little extra height to begin with, and second, the plant will love you for the extra nutrition.

I'm impressed with the Empress! I bougth this little 2 leaves plant this spring.Now it has 12 big leaves and has almost the same size as ...Read Moremy 2 year Sum and Substance!
I watered it every day for the first 2 months and mulched it.So far so good! Nice healthy plant with no slug dammage.

2nd year with this hosta and it is doubled in size. Doing great in full shade.

I purchased two Empress Wu at an end of season sale last year in 1 gal containers. They came up and have been growing quickly this year -...Read More each has 8-10 large leaves and the plants are now about 24" high and 30-36" across. They are planted in full shade in my woodland garden. So far I am extremely happy with their performance.

My Empress Wu was planted two years ago and is still very small with only 2 leaves, but it seemed to "bolt" in the center this year with ...Read Morea couple new leaves and then stopped and was so weak it fell over. It never did bloom. My soil is the best and all my other hostas were on "steriods" this year. Does anyone know what is wrong?

I have had this plant since the introduction in 2008. My experience differs from what is listed here at Daves. My plant is very, VERY s...Read Morelow growing. I thought that by this year (2010) it would pick up speed in growing but it hasn't even doubled in width and nothing in height. I am hoping that next year will be the year for some major growth!