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| Well I broke down and bought myself an Empress Wu today. Found one at a local nursery for $8. Now I am trying to figure out which spot would be best for it. Can Empress Wu take several hours of morning sun?
Anyone in northern Utah or surrounding areas growing it? Would love to hear how it does for you. Linda |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Mines been testy. It's one of my only ones that hasn't really done well. Of course it's gotten stepped on, moved, and I planted it in to hot of compost last year. After all that it's still growing though only a single. Mine takes quite a bit of sun. I have it in roughly 6 hours right now. |
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- Posted by tropic_lover 6UT (My Page) on Mon, May 28, 12 at 16:56
| Hmmm...I am hoping mine really takes off and grows big quick. The place I was thinking of planting it gets about 5 hours of morning sun. I have a few other hosta planted in the area and they seem to like the sun and don't burn. Thanks for you input! |
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- Posted by thisismelissa z4a-S Twin Cities MN (My Page) on Mon, May 28, 12 at 22:39
| Someone here on this board reported that it did not do well in direct sun. Mine gets only bright shade and has done amazingly. In less than 2 years, mine is nearly 4' across. |
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- Posted by sandyslopes UT zone 5 (My Page) on Tue, May 29, 12 at 4:21
| No helpful experience to offer because my Empress Wu is under a huge Cottonwood so once that leafs out it gets no direct sun. It's doing well so far (year 2). Our summer sun can be intense, but my guess is that if you can keep the soil moist it will get large quickly. It sounds like a good bet if you already have other hosta in the area that don't burn. I saw them this year at Valley Nursery and had to stop myself from getting another one. |
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- Posted by tropic_lover 6UT (My Page) on Tue, May 29, 12 at 9:27
| Thanks for your input. I do have another spot that is much shadier and I will probably put it there. I saw them at Valley Nursery too and was going to buy it but didn't then yesterday I went to Tri-City in Kaysville and they had them cheaper so I bought one :) Linda |
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- Posted by leafwatcher zone 5 (My Page) on Tue, May 29, 12 at 16:27
| Linda , I just planted one in the same coditions5 hour morning sun.. It is very small, but has already gotten noticeably taller; |
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- Posted by tropic_lover 6UT (My Page) on Tue, May 29, 12 at 17:57
| Leafwatcher, Where do you live? I decided to go with the shadier place, it does get some sun there but not as much and some of it is dappled sun. I live at an altitude of 4800 feet so I was a little worried the sun would be too much for it. I do have Sum and Substance, Parhelion and Invincible planted in the spot that gets 5 hours of sun and they do fine. But maybe they can take more sun? Good luck with your Empress Wu! I can't wait to see it get big! Mine is small too... just one eye. Sandyslopes, I am surprised you can grow anything under a big cottonwood tree. My neighbors have one that has pretty much grown into my yard. The roots are so invasive that I can't even get a shovel in the ground anywhere near it. I was thinking of planting some hosta near the tree but was concerned that there would be too much root competion. But if yours are doing well, then maybe I should try it. Melissa, can you post of picture of yours? I would love to see it! Linda |
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- Posted by leafwatcher zone 5 (My Page) on Tue, May 29, 12 at 18:33
| Linda, I am in Central Iowa.. decent soil, and (usually) regular rains... That may be a bit of a factor. The Hosta planted where the EW is do seem to be a little battle worn. Probably from the MANY borderline frostbite days I never covered them., That spot has all greens, and green whites ;) My toughest old school plants all get that amount of light.. but lets face it..those things are the Iron Man of the Hosta world! I really need to get a Sun Power over there ... |
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- Posted by tropic_lover 6UT (My Page) on Tue, May 29, 12 at 20:33
| Leafwatcher, We have decent soil here too but not much rain during the summer. The weathermen here get excited if we get .25 inches of rain. Luckily I have a sprinkler system installed in my yard. If I waited for rain, everything would be dead. I don't have a problem giving it extra water. During the hottest part of the summer I have to water all my pots and all my dahlia's (75 of them) every day by hand just to make sure they don't dry out. I will make sure to give Empress Wu plenty of water so she can grow into the monster I want her to be! Linda |
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- Posted by sandyslopes UT zone 5 (My Page) on Wed, May 30, 12 at 2:31
| Linda, the Cottonwood is on a slope at the side of my yard. The lower side has a lot of root competition, but I do manage to grow some things on that side. Hostas don't do as well, but I've got brunnera and some daylilies that manage. And then there's also lawn on the lower side, and you can see those big tree roots stretching out just under the grass more and more each year. But the higher side of the slope is where I have a lot of hostas planted in the shade of that tree. I never hit roots when I'm digging on the higher side. So it might be tough for hostas if the roots from your neighbor's tree are at the surface in your yard ....I've haven't been to Tri-City yet. I should check it out. Valley is my favorite, but it's gotten a little too pricey. |
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| I bought a H.'Empress Wu' in a pot in 2010 for my grandson, it had 2 or 3 eyes. I reported here that it did burn in our vegetable garden with regular waterings, actually between squash. In late 2010 I transplanted it under a pear tree, behind a cedar fence, still with frequent watering. Make sure you have enough space, yesterday it was 63 inches wide and 33 inches tall, and here it is : |
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- Posted by steve_mass 5b (My Page) on Wed, May 30, 12 at 19:12
| One of the interesting things about the Empress is that she has a long vegetative growth cycle at the beginning of the year. Right now in Z5 a lot of the plants with Sieboldiana genes are putting up scapes switching from vegetative growth to reproductive growth. Not the Empress. Here's my second year plant showing new growth. It's 4 feet wide and about 2 feet tall. Note the amount of new growth. Not a scape in sight. Right next to it, Komodo Dragon is busy putting up scapes. I know it is said to flower between June 1 and July 1. But mine is busy adding leaves, not flowers. Steve |
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- Posted by tropic_lover 6UT (My Page) on Wed, May 30, 12 at 19:50
| Bernd and Steve, Thanks for the great pictures! I can't believe how fast she grows! Mine is just a baby with one eye. I planted her where she will have plenty of room to grow in a mostly shady spot. It will be fun to see how much bigger she gets from year to year. Sandyslopes, Tri-city didn't have much in the hosta dept but they did have some nice EW's for quite a bit cheaper than Valley had them. I also have been to J&J and picked up a couple there. All of their gallon hosta's are $6.98. I got a Kiwi Full Monty and a Ripple Effect there. Linda |
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- Posted by thisismelissa z4a-S Twin Cities MN (My Page) on Wed, May 30, 12 at 22:12
| Ok, so I went out and measured and mine is about 55" across. Bought it in 2010 and was about 2 eyes as I recall. last year, it was 4 eyes, this year, doubled again to 8. Leaves really got huge. I'll eventually post pics |
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| The Empress Wu in my picture above also has 8 eyes now. 2 weeks ago the above picture was taken, it keeps growing, what a future giant. |
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- Posted by tropic_lover 6UT (My Page) on Thu, May 31, 12 at 20:48
| How exciting! Keep us posted with the growth. Linda |
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