This was written in 2010, when I finally gave in and started
including mature plant sizes in our descriptions. The information here
isn't just about our catalog, it has to do with how hostas grow as they
mature.
Well, I've finally given in. I have re-written our descriptions
and have included height and width measurements in inches. I have
ridiculed this idea for years (see below), but I get so many requests
from people who need to know how wide a plant will get, that I finally
gave in.
By way of full disclosure, I made these numbers up. Yep, pull them
right out of my, um, thin air. They are not totally useless, they
actually do give a better idea of size than small, medium and large, but
they are estimates meant to give you an impression of the plant. I did
not go out and measure hundreds of hostas.
Actual measurements are by no means useless, but there is nobody in the
entire world who can tell you how big your hostas will get. At best, all
anyone can do is tell you how large the plant they measured was.
That's because it depends on conditions, and the fact that hostas do not
stop growing for many, many, many years.
If you would like to know why I advise that you take all of this kind of
information with a grain of salt, please read the following.
My earlier, more principled stance:
I think it’s more important to
indicate the general impression the plant gives than to try to estimate its
ultimate size. The actual measurements of the plant depend on what
year you take them and how and where the plant is grown.
I have classified our plants
into five groups. And don’t be calling me to tell me you have a
‘Golden Tiara’ that’s three feet across. I write the catalog so I get to
decide.
Very Small - little bitty hostas
Small - clump size up to about 2’ across.
Medium - clump size up to about 3’ across.
Large - specimen size plants that will reach 4-5’ across.
Very large - great big hostas.
In general, I would expect a
clump to be about half to three quarters as high as it is wide, though some,
especially those noted as "vase-shaped" may be taller than they are wide.
I know that's not what you want.
You want to know exactly how tall the plant will get and how wide it will
be, so you'll know whether to put it in front of your pink azalea or behind
the coral bells. And how will you know how far apart to plant them unless
you know whether they'll be 28" wide or 32"? Well, this is gardening,
not engineering.
It probably sounds easy to tell
you how far apart to plant your hostas. They do it on those little
tags they give you with the marigolds, don't they? Well it's not as
simple as planting marigolds. On the other hand, look at the pictures
on our home page and compare that to a row of little yellow marigolds spaced
8" apart. You might have to think a bit instead of follow directions
on a tag, but it will be worth it, trust me.
Probably the two most respected
works on hostas currently available are The Genus Hosta by George Schmid and
The Hosta Handbook by Mark Zillis. Both are written by knowledgeable
authorities and both list a large variety of hostas and indicate their clump
size. Here are some common hostas and their sizes listed by the two books
and by their official registration information, respectively: Golden
Sculpture, 22"w x 24"h or 72"w x 33"h or 40"w x 30"h. Krossa Regal, 30"w x
28"h or 71"w x 33"h or 36"w x 36"h. Blue Dimples, 20"w x 14"h or 45"w x 18"h
or 18"w x 13"h. In each case, I would presume that someone went
outside with a tape measure and measured a plant, and yet all three of the
measurements for the same variety are completely different.
Why is there such a difference when we're looking at common, every day
hostas that anybody writing a book should be totally familiar with? Because
they all measured different plants. The plant's size depends on when you measure it. Hostas just keep growing
throughout their life cycle, 10, maybe 20 years. So when do we measure? Add
to that problem the fact that clump size is very much influenced by the
amount of moisture available and other cultural factors, and probably even
by the area of the country where they are grown, and things start getting a
bit complicated. I could give the ultimate size, but you'll probably never
see it unless you keep the plant and leave it undisturbed for 15 or 20
years. Or I could pick a year, and assuming your growing conditions are just
like ours, I may be pretty close, but the next year, the plant will just be
larger.
Obviously I could give the plant sizes in inches. All I would have to do is
copy them from someone's book (maybe change them by an inch so I wouldn't be
plagiarizing). But I think that breaking the plants down into 5 size groups
gives a reasonable indication of what you can expect. If you need more than
that, let me know and I'll make up some numbers.
And in the end, that's exactly what I did for our 2010 catalog.
