Wolverine has wavy, tapering blue-green leaves up to 10 inches long with wide gold margins. It grows quickly into a dense mound whose leaves cascade outward.
The plant reaches about 15 to 18 inches tall and 40 inches wide. Lavender flowers appear on 20-inch scapes in late summer and attract hummingbirds. It fills space fast, so it is a good choice for mass plantings, edging, or a specimen in the shade garden.
What it looks like
Long, tapering, lance-shaped leaves up to 10 inches long in blue-green with wide gold margins and wavy edges. Leaves arch and cascade outward from the crown, forming a dense mound about 15 to 18 inches tall and 40 inches wide. In late summer, scapes about 20 inches tall carry lavender trumpet flowers just above the foliage. The leaf surface is smooth with a light waxy finish. At peak the gold edges sweep outward in layers around the mound.
Growing it with lavender
Hostas want shade and steady moisture, the opposite of lavender's hot, dry bed, so give this one a spot under trees or along the north side of the house with ferns and astilbe.
Care
Plant in part to full shade in rich, humus-heavy soil that stays evenly moist but drains well; water deeply during dry spells, especially the first summer. Hardy in zones 3-9. Cut spent scapes after bloom and divide crowded clumps in early spring as the shoots emerge.
At a glance
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Botanical name: Hosta
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Flower color: Lavender
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Foliage: Blue-green with wide gold margins
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Growth habit: Dense, cascading mound
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Mature size: 15–18 in tall × 40 in wide
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USDA hardiness zones: 3–9
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Light: part sun to part shade, full shade
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Bloom start: Early-August
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Peak bloom: Mid-August
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Bloom pattern: Single Flush
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Deer resistance: Susceptible
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Pollinator value: Good
Sizes and shipping
Dormant bare-root plant, sold in boxes of 25 per variety (order in multiples of 25). Bare-root plants ship or are picked up March 1–May 31 only. They are soil-free, so they may ship to every state in that window. Dormant plants often show little or no top growth on arrival; plant or heel them in promptly.