One Eyed Empress Wu

[kaylyred]

Went to my local nursery today (my happy place!) and right in the doorway to their outdoor courtyard they had a cart full of 'Empress Wu.' Each one had two eyes, and they were already pretty well leafed out. I almost bought one, but then remembered that my 'Empress Wu' was three eyes last year and, as it matures, I'm not gonna have room for two of the same beast.

[ogrefcf]

I think it will be okay. The big eye is huge this year. I think it was just putting down roots and didn't like me moving her. Here's a picture with a surprise in it I didn't notice till I was looking at the picture.

[kaylyred]

Looks good!

Is that a little snake in the groundcover?

[Pieter]

I recognize this is an older topic but I had to relate my experience with The Empress, she's been a great grower for me. I got two bare-root plants in 2014, one was 3 shoots, the other was one fat one. I kept the 3 shoot one and planted it where it would have some room but that also meant it would be seeing a fair bit of direct sun. Here's what it looked like this past spring, mid-April.

In its 4th season here it has gone to 17 shoots, I'd call that vigour!

If you take a look at this late March picture above you'll see the plant sort falls into 2 sides, a seemingly clear path for division in the spring, I have an acquaintance who's expressed an interest in a larger plant to begin with rather than have to wait 3 or 4 years before it gets to any decent size. The largest leaf this year measured about 18"x14" and it is now loaded with seed pods.