If growing the Empress doesn't turn him (Bernd's grandson) into a lifelong hosta gardener, nothing can. I can betcha he will become a hybridizer too, just like his gran'pa. I agree about the new picture. Although that original one with the man beside it is like a trademark now, a LOGO perhaps. My EWu had one eye last year, and one this year. It is in the ground, bought specifically to plant it out in my experimental bed. Let's hope it increases the eye count. I might have to move some blooming hosta beside her so I can have some really huge different Wu babies....if only S&S, planted beside her, was blooming now too.

I went out and counted them this morning and there are about 50 seedlings around my Wu. Love Pat has given me a couple seedlings which are about 4 years old now. I have one NOID that has a few ugly seedlings growing around it that are a couple years old. A close up of the Wu seedlings. The seedlings start just above the little Choo Choo Train and wrap halfway around the Wu to the back where the ferns are. The majority of the seedlings are to the back of the Wu. The NOID's 3 seedlings are green and ugly just like the NOID. The two older seedlings from Love Pat.

I didn't split it, they are two separate plants. I would wait until they had 4 eyes or so to split them. Splitting them in your current condition and size would be 'scary'. Splitting early or late in the year will cause minimal setback, but it will take that much longer to get to a nice size. I think something is digging around, not rabbits or deer eating them, but it looks like the damage my 'pup' does when she charges through my hosta after a squirrel, rabbit, cat or any other critter she would like for lunch. Jon

Of the two, I think Komodo Dragon is a showier and better hosta. But Wu is a deep dark blue-green and holds its colour well. Hartogen, I would suggest you have an issue either with soil or drainage if your Wu is chlorotic. I have been growing Lakeside Black Satin for several years now and it's colour has been nearer chartreuse than deep green. The veins stood out. I dug it up, replanted it in the same place, and it continued it's measly growth rate and show. But about a month ago, I dug it out, put it in a large pot and suddenly remember why I had wanted this hosta.