Crowns and Roots are various sizes, early orders orders will get larger pieces, but all will grow into large plants in a single season with decent growing conditions. A crown is a root with a shoot attached. A plant is a established plant, pot grown.

Various types of Comfrey can be very useful and beautiful, they can fill many roles in the garden. They are pretty, bees love them, they makes excellent compost and mulch, they make a
nice border that keeps weeds out, and are medicinal and good animal fodder. That said, once established, they are difficult to remove and several varieties tend to be pretty spready by seed, so think carefully where you plant them and probably choose Bocking 14 as your only Comfrey.

‘Bocking 14’ (Symphytum x uplandicum)

Because this cultivar doesn't set viable seed, it wont spread unless you disturb the roots, but if you till it in you will have a whole field of it. Update: I think this variety might set a small amount of viable seed when pollenized by other varieties, in 5+ years of only having Bocking 14 I saw 0 chance seedlings, once I started planting other varieties I have started seeing the occasional seedling. I’m not sure these seedlings are coming from Bocking 14, but if you want comfrey and zero seedlings I would only plant Bocking 14. Developed in the famous Comfrey breeding program in Bocking England this cultivar is the gold standard of hybrid Comfrey, selected for high levels of biomass output. Because of the sterile seed trait they can safely be planted around the edges of cultivated areas to help keep weeds out. I tend to cut them down 3-4 times a season, which keeps them from taking up too much space, but allows for a fair amount of bloom time, which attracts lots of bumble bees.

‘Axminster Gold’ (Symphytum x uplandicum)

Another hybrid Comfrey from the Bocking program, this one selected for beautiful variegated foliage. Similar traits to Bocking 14. I’m unsure if this cultivar has the sterile seed trait, I tend to think the seeds are sterile, but I’m not sure. The really weird thing about this variety is that if you propagate new plants from root cuttings of this plant, they come up solid green. To get the variegated leaves you need to propagate them by crown division.

Dwarf Comfrey (Symphytum x grandiflorum)

This pretty ground cover Comfrey is just as tough as it's larger relatives and has many of their medicinal and dynamic accumulator properties, but stays much smaller, around a foot tall. The flowers are beautiful, starting off as curled burgandy buds and blooming into white bells with blue bases, grandiflorum indeed. Spreads slowly, about 1’ a year. In very rich soil can be larger then 1’, in weak soil smaller, around 6”.

Blue Comfrey ( Symphytum caucasicum)

This medium sized Comfrey sports bright blue flowers and a moderate spreading habit. Unlike “Bocking 14” this Comfrey both spreads by the roots and may set viable seed, so think carefully and only plant where these attributes are desirable. This perennial prefers rich well drained soil in sun to part shade, but adapts well to many conditions. USDA zone 3 hardy.

Planting directions: Store in the fridge and keep damp until planting. Plant as soon as possible. Either plant in a pot or in their permanent position. Place root cutting horizontal under 1/2” of soil and keep watered until several leaves appear, after this the plant should be pretty resilient and not need watering except in drought conditions. For crowns or pieces with any leaf attached, plant with the leaves poking out of the soil.