Seen any Hostas yet?

I agree. I only have 10 hostas, but most are up and growing. Guacamole still isn't growing leaves, but I can see at least 6 eyes on her. Can't wait. So far all of the leaves look like they will be larger than they were last year (last year was first year with hostas). Striptease isn't growing leaves yet either, but I know she's coming out soon.

Okay, had to take a couple pics of my hostas. These were taken right after it had been raining all day. First one: Halcyon

Next one: June

Blue Cadet putting out leaves that are already larger than last year.

Those are beautiful. I was just thinking of taking some pics of what I have but they are nowhere near where yours are at right now. I have one in a pot that I cant remember for the life of me what it is, stupid sqirrels took the tag out of it, so now its a waiting game to see what it is and check my list of what I know I have.
Cant wait to see my June again, I love that one, and to see how big the Sum and Substance will be this year. I just need to see them again.

Here is a picture that only a hosta geek would appreciate. This was my first hosta (Royal Standard I think). I picked it up at Home Depot 3 or 4 years ago, plopped it in a spot by my front door and neglected it. It returned the favor by growing into this wonderfully large plant. A quick count turned up around 40 eyes. The rest of my hostas are starting to wake up as well. It is sure an exciting time in the garden!

- Brent

Oh man do I understand. I got really excited when I saw those, especialy the newer ones i got last year. LOL Happy Hosta Dance anyone?

This is showing the best growth so far

Pineapple Upsidedown Cake

An unknown Ive had for a few years and also was my first hosta.

Dravencat
My hosta is poking through like that. Will you thin them out are just let them grow? I had one hosta last year and it has a lot of eyes coming out now like yours. Was wondering if I should thin it or just let it go.

Sami

I'd send a pic of my hostas but there would only be dirt and mulch, not one of my 40 has peeped out. Did the same last year so I'm not nervous but have some hosta envy or maybe its zone envy cause nothings coming around, just a few rose buds starting.

Sami, Im thinking about thinning it out before it takes over. I have two of those, one on each side of my front steps/stoop. But it does look pretty with as big as it gets. It also sets scapes twice a season, so I always have blooms on it. So Im not sure what Im going to do yet.

BTW, here is what those eyes should look like in a few months. This photo was taken on June 6, 2004. Looks like that was 5 days after I joined DG and I think it was the only hosta I owned. I now have about 40.

- Brent

This message was edited Apr 14, 2005 3:10 PM

Dravencat
I started to thin my out and then decided not too thought about how big it would get and need to fill in a lot of places so will wait until next year. Was afraid I would damage the plant. I guess I could just put the shovel right down the middle and hope for the best. I moved dirt around and it was so deep couldn't tell where to divide it.
Sami

Sami,
I think your underestimating how tough hosta are. Lets put it this way, my first hosta was a Royal Standard that I dug up from a friends yard. Brought them home in those plastic grocery bags and didnt have time to plant them, plus I needed to divide them. Well I kept putting it off and putting it off until finaly it was too late to dig cuz the ground was frozen, they went under my deck against the house and there they stayed till spring. When I went out to check on what I knew would be dead plants I saw that every single piece had new growth budding up.
I think its almost impossible to kill a good hosta as they all grew as if they were never out of the dirt. Now just because its me I would dig up the whole thing because I would be afraid to cut into something growing nicely and then divide it from there. Its easier to take something apart when you can see it anyway IMO.
I recently dug up a hosta from the house I grew up in, it had been there for well over ten years and I ended up having to wash it off to be able to see where to take it apart at. The hard packed clay didnt help much either.

Dravencat
Ok I will dig the whole hosta up then and will separate it. Lord knows I could use all the extra plants I could get. We moved her last Sept and I am plant poor. Left all my plants in FL since most of them would not take the cold temps here in NC. I have over 1 and 1/2 arces here so have plenty of room to plant. No trees at all but have 10 started already. Thanks for the advice was just afraid of harming the hosta.

Sami

I know that feeling, when I moved into this house the only thing I had were the sad tulips growing up front and the flore pleno daylilys taking over the back and maybe 5 houseplants. Of course one of those houseplants happend to be a 4 foot banana, but there was only one of those, LOL. I am amazed at what I have now and I wouldnt have known about the hosta being so hardy if I hadnt been here. I went from almost nothing in hosta to about 13 and thats just what I got last year. I have 3 that overwintered in pots on my deck and they are looking really good.

Hey all,

It looks like I finally might be able to join in the celebration....

jdee: for some reason my spouse has not wanted to join in my happy hosta dance. How about yours? ;-) Seems pretty late for zone 8 (and to continue the rhyme...hope your hosta does great).

BTW, that bulb in the first picture still has not done anything, but I cannot blame it if it lived for years in complete darkness. The August Moon that I first thought the green was coming from is now sending up eyes just a few inches away. I have hostas coming up all over the place!!

- Brent

He's pretty glad they're coming up, but no dancing for him. lol I'm so excited because I thought they were gone. There are four more that are starting to show the purple spikey things, so maybe we'll have more than one. At least some of them are going to make it.

Who knows...maybe they all will...eventually...(it's called denial lol)

Waaaaaaaaaaa!!! None of mine are coming up! I have like 9 of them around my oak tree. I thought maybe it didn't get cold enough over the winter, but if Jennifer's are coming up then that can't be the case. I don't know if it's the hard rocky soil the contractors dumped in my shade bed (thinking they were doing me a favor by filling "low spots" in the back yard) or what. But I did take a shovel about a week ago and loosened up the dirt and removed the rocks and stuff. Then I've been watering the area every few days just hoping and praying the will come back. But I am losing hope now that others in my area are reporting new growth. :(

TexasG,

I always like to preface my hosta entries with "I'm certainly no expert". Because I am not. And certainly I am not in a prime zone for them.

I know here in S. Florida our Oak trees have a very shallow root system. Frequently the roots just rise above the soil line and run across the yard. If yours grow like this, the hostas are probably competing with root space and water.

At my last house I had truck loads of top soil brought in just to raise the beds in the shade garden under those oak trees. It was so bad before that, that I couldn't even dig a small hole in the yard.

Now here in my new yard, there are no oaks, just one mango that seems to keep its roots to itself, and the tap root must go straight down to China.

But hey, I wouldn't give up yet. They may still be down there growing roots and biding their sweet time. If I can grow hostas here, I'm sure yours will come up soon. My Guacamole has been up for a while, has 6 big leaves and working on more. Loyalist, Mouse Ears and Pathfinder are putting out tiny leaves now.

I still have 1/2 dozen more that aren't showing any signs yet, but I have faith. So hang in there!!

Molly
:^)))

Jamie,
Don't throw in the towel too soon. I have some that aren't up yet and I know they will be. Some are just later than others coming up and I'm hoping this is the case for yours, too.

Here is my favorite hosta that popped up in the garden this year. I have no idea what it is called since I just bought this house in January.

Here's another kind that popped up recently. Don't know the name of this one either.

The smallest one of all (i.d. unknown).

And the biggest of them all (i.d. unknown).

Well, I couldn't take it anymore so yesterday after work I dug around to find my hostas! Like I said, I already dug back all the rocky dirt the contractors dumped and loosened the soil around the tree- btw, my roots are deep and don't run across the ground. I can dig way down before I hit roots and in fact had no problems planting my bare root hostas... I even used a trowel to dig and not a shovel! Anyway, yesterday I just used my hands to gently dig back dirt in a few places. I did find what appears to be the top of the crowns, but as you can see, no new growth...

And one more "nub" I was able to uncover...

Thanks for the words of encouragement! Not sure if I do anything to speed them along but the fact that they are still down there makes me feel better... unless y'all tell me it looks like a dead plant. Ha!

Looks good to me. I had about three that I didnt see anything with and it was hurtin my heart because they were given to me in trades from another DGer. I went out and dug around.....again... and found starts coming up on all of them, YAY, no winter loss here(as she does the overweight happy dance and jiggles more than jello) LOL.

Looking good hgurule! I am not good on identification but they might be Hosta 'Various'. LOL!! How many hostas did the previous owner plant for you? That first year gardening in a new place can be tricky. Is it a weed or a rare specimen imported from the mountains of Europe? It always turns out to be a weed in my case.

texasgardener: hmmm...you pretty sure those are hostas?...keep an eye out for green...hostas are pretty hardy.

- Brent


This message was edited Apr 19, 2005 9:35 PM

Thanks, Brent. I've counted 22 hostas in my garden so far. Only a few look like "special" hostas, but it is exciting to see what pops out of the ground. I see a new one emerging almost every day. I thought I had two beds of empty space, but it turned out to be two hosta beds. Good thing that I didn't start digging in there!

Well Brent, I'm the only one who has planted stuff here- especially that area... and those sprouts are the same distance that I planted my hostas so I'm gonna have to go with.... yes! :)

Hgurule,
I am learning to wait until late spring to start digging for that very reason!

LOL. Yes...hard to do, but I am learning that it is necessary when it comes to gardening with hostas :-) Gardening will definately teach you patience. Beautiful hosta you have, Trunnels. What kind is it?

One of my unknowns.

Pineapple Upsidedown Cake

Royal standard in full sun. Im shading it a bit so the pic would come out.

Ive got a bunch of others coming up but these have come the farthest so far.

Thanks, Hgurule, I knew you were gonna ask that! lol I planted that hosta before I joined DG and I didn't know it was important to keep names. I stuck the little plastic name things in the ground when I planted so I'll have to check and see if it is still there. I hope to get nice markers on all my plants this year.