We had some warmer weather again in the last few days, plus lots of rain.
My Wu has taken a huge jump this year too. I don't know to what degree, as she's only just starting to unfurl some HUGE leaves. But I do think her neighbors are going to have to be moved this year.

Hey Frank -- great looking garden. Glad your Macaw enjoys hostas too. Does he know their names?
Jan

I didn't teach her all of the names but I did show her how to pull weeds.
{{gwi:891329}}

I have a 7 foot by 7 foot mound prepared as a "Throne" for my, on order, Empress Wu. Do you think it will be big enough?

Seven feet is what I had planned for mine with moving the five closest hosta when the time came. The time is coming sooner than later and I now don't think that the 7 feet will be enough down the road at the rate it is growing. It took a decade for my Samual Blue to get 7 feet wide. I think Wu will hit that within the first 5 years. It was 4' wide last year and is already 4" past that now.

Wow, I thought 7 feet would more than enough. I can expand the area, though. The only limitation is the 3 small Emerald Gaiety arbs that I have planted to grow with the EW as a frame fit for an empress. It may even look nice if the her highness grew aroung the arbs (???)

I am not the one to ask about leaving in non-hosta plants. I remove trees, shrubs, perennials, concrete and everything else if it gives me more room to grow hosta.

Frank- If Wu keeps growing that fast it will be the only one there..... If we don't hear from you we'll know to find your remains under some very large leaves... but you will be smiling!

-Babka

Frank,

I'm curious if you cut off the scapes what will happen. Will it grow more scapes to try to reproduce or will it switch to a vegetative growth state? Let us know what happens.

Steve

In the past when a hosta has sent up a scape before producing any leaves I have cut it off which forced it to produce leaves. I have done this with Thunderbolt and Wolverine. It doesn't take long before leaves start coming up. A plant won't send up a replacement scape from the same eye.

Frank are you saying the king(SB) is dead, long live the queen(EW).

Paul

Frank,
I think we have to give you the prize as the most addicted
hosta grower on the forum!

Please tell us how many hosta you have and how many different ones you have.

chris

I only have 260 varieties and 8 more on the way. I couldn't count the number of plants. I try not to propagate them anymore since I need the room for new ones. I end up potting up the smallest scraps of a hosta and end up with too many pots full that sit around for years until I give them away.

I have a small fraction of hosta compared to many people on here. Pam(Woodthrush) has over 1,300 varieties.

Frank, I think you should teach your macaw to answer when someone says, "What is that huge hosta over there?"

She should say, "WU WU"......Great bird. I'm a parrot lover.

I was thinking that I should have removed the scape from my NOID #1 produced so early in the season, except I wanted to see the color to ID if possible. Won't your WU make another scape when other plants have scapes up? So, .....

My Wu is sending up three scapes now. Once those are done, that's all she wrote until next year. One and done. I have plenty of other things that are starting to bloom so something will line up. More important to me is when Ice Age Trail, Savannah Supreme and Hyuga Urajiro bloom since they are the streakers I have at the moment.

Good girl Misha. Can you say "Sam"? Misha want a weed? Can you say "Wu"? Perhaps a garden tour guide in the making.
Jan

I still love the look of Samual Blue best. It's beautiful.

bkay

Hmmm, do they ever use gibberellic acid to force hosta blooms?
They used to do that on camellias, if I recall. If you find a suitable donor for the Wu dynasty, ......just thinking....unless you can save Wu's pollen, or can she be a pod parent?

I picked up a few hundred empty gelatin capsules and a divided storage box for storing hosta pollen in the freezer. I have a lot of other hosta that have scapes up now or are starting to send them up. I will be using Wu as both a pollen donor and a pod parent.