What's wrong?

What is going on with my hostas? They are a mix of green and variegated types. Some of the variegated ones are yellow and some are white.

This spring I had to move them to another bed, so we could replace and install a new fence. Although I considered the new bed to be shady since it is on the northeast side of the house and has 2 trees, the trees had been pruned which allowed more sun than before. Also, expanding and merging the 2 beds affected our inground sprinkler system, so both beds get watered by the lawn sprinkler as well as the bed sprinkler.

Are my hostas getting too much water, too much sun, or what?

I'm not an expert by any means but it looks like WAY too much sun (or heat) to me-Has your summer been as awfully hot and humid as ours has? We got very little rain as well so all my plants suffered and I'm afraid some will not survive. I have several huge hostas which are showing the same leaf scorch even though they are in fairly shady areas. When the temperatures are 100+ even shade is too darn hot!! I think all we can do at this point is cut back the damage, keep them watered and hope for better weather next summer. Good luck, MW

Thanks,MW! I suspected it was too much sun, but you're right it probably is a combination of the sun and heat. We've had some blistering heat this summer. Mosty 100+ in Jul/Aug with some record-breaking temps above 110. It's pretty pitiful when the weather forecasters call the mid to upper '90's a cold front. We always seem to have humidity even in the midst of a drought. So will it be ok to remove the scorched leaves even though that will mean most of them? Or should I leave them to shade/protect the new growth and feed the plants for next year?

My Stained Glass has done the same thing. For me I think it's a combination of drought and heat. It makes me sad to see those beautiful leaves die.

This message was edited Aug 29, 2012 3:00 PM

SB2, My only thought regarding trimming way back is that it might stimulate a burst of new growth when the reserves of the plant are pretty tapped out by the stress thus weakening it even more going into winter- might be better to just keep it shaded and watered until later in the fall. With the onset of fall's cooler temps that might be a better time to clean up the bad foliage before winter. Good luck - I have some I need to do the same with! MW

Definitely too much sun, too much heat and not enough water to compensate. Even in Ottawa, some hostas are looking like that this year.