My, 'Empress Wu', how you have grown. This astonishing Proven Winners® hosta is more like a shrub than a perennial, with leaves 18 inches wide and flowers fluttering on stems 5 feet tall. Shake up the shade garden with beautiful, eye-popping 'Empress Wu'.
Magnificently quilted and heart-shaped, the foliage on this hosta-and-a-half is lovely from spring through fall, its texture and substance improving with each passing year. In midsummer it is topped by lavender flowers, but the real beauty is the foliage itself. Dense, many-layered, and symmetrical, it is a glorious sight in the partly shaded garden.
'Empress Wu' would make a nice specimen (solitary) planting, but it will be even better as a standout in the shade border, behind all the smaller hostas and other hardy ferns. Expect passersby to stop in their tracks when they see this behemoth.
Named for the only female emperor of China, 'Empress Wu' was bred by Brian and Virginia Skaggs. It is descended from H. 'Big John' x H. 'Zanadu', but easily outdoes both parents in magnitude and beauty. A Proven Winners®, 'Empress Wu' has been grown in gardens all over the world and given high marks for its vigor and unprecedented size.
Like all hostas, 'Empress Wu' is very easy to grow in any well-drained soil receiving some shade. Once established in your garden, it tolerates heat, humidity, cold, and even drought effortlessly. If you want to divide this plant, simply whack it into pieces in late winter or early spring. But if you leave it intact, it will grow in stature and beauty more quickly. Very long-lived, it will grace your garden for decades. Enjoy this splendid and unusual hosta.
