Hosta 'Jurassic Park'

Hosta 'Jurassic Park': Dinosaur-Sized Leaves for the Back Row

Enormous, heavily corrugated blue-green leaves that look like they were here before the house. 'Jurassic Park' is the closest thing to a dinosaur you can legally keep in the backyard. BRING A SAFARI GUIDE.

Plant Characteristics:

• Botanical Name: Hosta 'Jurassic Park'
• Common Name: Plantain Lily, Hosta
• Height: 75–100 cm (30–40 in)
• Spread: 180–270 cm (6–9 ft) at full maturity
• Flowers: Pale lavender bells on scapes about 1 m (3.5 ft) tall
• Bloom Time: Midsummer (July to August)
• Foliage: Very large, broadly oval blue-green leaves with heavy corrugation and thick substance

Where to Plant: Give it the back of a big shade border, a spot under a high tree canopy, or a corner where one plant needs to fill a lot of space. It makes a strong single specimen, and its thick leaves hold up better to slugs, but protect it if deer and rabbits visit your yard.

Companion Plants: Give huge 'Jurassic Park' room in a moist, shady bed with silver brunnera, pink heuchera and late toad lilies. Brunnera 'Queen of Hearts' opens baby-blue flowers at 41 to 46 cm in April and May over silver leaves. Heuchera 'Pink Panther' adds pink bells at 25 to 30 cm in July and August. Tricyrtis 'Autumn Glow' brings orchid-like toad lily flowers at 60 to 66 cm in August and September. Carex appalachica carpets the front with fine native blades at 15 to 30 cm.

Plant Care: Plant in part sun to full shade, in rich, moist, well-drained soil. Mix compost into the planting hole. Water deeply through its first season and during dry spells after that. Morning sun is fine; hot afternoon sun can scorch the leaves. Space it generously. Giant hostas take several years to reach full size, and this one keeps getting bigger. Remove the flower stems after bloom if you like a tidy look, and clear the leaves after a hard frost. It rarely needs dividing. If you want more plants, divide in early spring as the shoots appear.

History: Rod Lysne of Northern Grown Perennials in Wisconsin registered 'Jurassic Park' in 2006, from a cross between two unnamed seedlings raised in the breeding program of Chet and Cynthia Tompkins. Its registration projected a mature clump about 100 cm (40 in) tall and nearly 3 m (9 ft) wide, which explains the name.

Final Thoughts: Give it shade and serious room. Small children may need supervision around it. THE FENCE IS FOR THE NEIGHBOURS' PROTECTION.