Bare root hostas - how quick do they grow?

[Appervine]

I've seen a hosta collection online that I quite fancy for a shady bed I'm trying to fill. They're supplied as bare root plants. How much growth am I likely to see in the first year? I can't decide whether I should buy fewer, more established plants. I'm also worried that tiny plants might not even survive the slugs, whereas larger specimens might have a fighting chance. Any thoughts?

If they are small to start with, will take quite a while to get to decent size. May be best to pot them up in good compost, keep moist and away from risk of slugs.

They vary greatly in final size anyway, some stay tiny, others have quite large leaves - depends on the variety, but I'm not familiar with them.

Look on a dedicated hosta lovers web site - sure to be one somewhere.

Thanks. I'm thinking I should splash out on a couple of larger plants to fill the space. I'm using nematodes against the slugs this year but I'm still worried that tiny ones will just get eaten.

I got some bare root hostas in the post as a special offer and they are good sized plants, not tiny, so I am probably going to plant them into beds.

Oh really Funnyperson? Can you remember where you got them from?

Something to do with a gardening magazine probably from thompson and morgan.

Thanks.

I'd advise you to put them in pots if you have slugs in your garden! My hostas got eaten very quickly when they were in the ground, despite my putting copper rings around them! So I moved them into pots and put copper tape round the top and that is much better. If they are tiny then put a few in each pot and you'll get some lovely foliage this summer - hopefully slug hole free!

I've just done a treatment with nematodes for the first time this year. I'm hoping it's helped with the slug problem but it's a bit of a gamble!

It's definitely a good plan to start them off in pots with tape until I've got a sense of how well the nematodes have worked.