Don't know about all that jazz,Brenda,but I do know that what ever it is,we have no problem here in western NC! It's been very cold here,but come March 1st,hostas start to appear!! Phil

So long as the hostas remain dormant for several weeks the actual temperature doesn't matter that much. Usually if the ground stays cold enough to keep them dormant the air temp won't matter, but once the ground begins to warm they will start to break dormancy again. Some hostas need longer dormancy periods but they also tend to stay asleep longer on their own.

Hostas in the south tend to go dormant faster and stay dormant longer if they are above ground in pots. The night air temp gets cold enough to cool them faster and keep them dormant, plus they lose any stored heat from the day quicker during cold nights.

So if it is cold enough at night to keep the soil cold they will be fine no matter what the daytime temps.

Hope that helps,

Chris

Thanks, ya'll! So, I can relax!!

I kinda figured that, also, Chris, that my potted hosta get more benefit from the cold but all my in-ground hosta are planted shallow, anyway. What I have noticed is that my hosta leaves are as large as any from up North, but the petioles are shorter.

I just went out and covered up my montana Aureomarginata (again), which has 4 eyes about 3/4 " above the ground, with more compost

This is early even for this hosta ..............and we've finally had cold weather for the last 4 weeks, so I don't know why it's up. Glad I went and did a tour!

Brenda

Brenda my Montana aureomarginata was up 6" on February 28 last year along with five others. I garden in zone 6a. Aureo just likes to wake up early, regardless of where she lives. Her brother On Stage is lazy and doesn't crack a pip up until my frost date of May 10.

Our frost date is April 15th- just too much to have to baby MA along!!

I'll throw compost on it a few more times, then it's on it's own!

Brenda

Yeah,Brenda,my MA came up last year on Feb.28th also,and got burned for it's trouble! It survived,but was really small all year after that. If it comes early this year,I'm going to bury it under leaves! Phil

BUMP.....
IS THIS WHAT YOU WERE LOOKING FOR, STEVE ET AL?
(I Googled it and look what I found from 2007)

2007?? Wow, I didn't even know what a hosta was in 2007!

Don B.

Neither did I, Don. What surprises me is that GWeb still had 2007 for our forum. Very interesting. But anyway, the Google bots indexed it and there it wuz.

Did you read Chris @ Hallsons comments above? I take them as encouraging words for folks in the deep south and Texas.

Every Winter day here for as long as I can remember is over 50 degrees, so Chris' comments ring true. My pots cool off at night when it drops into the 40's. And since the days are shorter than the nights the hostas stay dormant. Good

-Babka

I think you and BKay should certainly try montana Aureomarginata, Mocc. If you can grow 'Blue Angel' in Mobile, I like it's chances in your climate.

Don B.

Plus it's such a beautiful plant. I don't have one, either. Yet.

I'll have to check my spring orders to see which montana I ordered, Don. Right now my mind is a blank. It was mentioned in the Shade Gardens book I read in December (from the library), and that led me to put it on my list. And it also led me to leave the blue hosta alone. But, if they grow nicely or do not suffer so much, I'll keep what I have.

I THINK Blue Angel is doing okay. He was in the ground (one of three originals planted here in May 2010), and after I tested for HVX negative, I grew to love it. But this summer I dug it up (getting too much rain where it was) and moved it to a raised driveway bed, shaded by ligustrum and palms. I hope the air circulation is good for my space explorers on a mission....because I have 4 big guys (Blue Angel, S&S, Winter Snow, Empress Wu) to make a statement, and then Minuteman and Patriot also in the ground, they did not seem to like pots.

As cold as we've been this winter, they might live....provided the rainy weather keeping things soaked does not do em in.
Thinking to head that possibility off, I placed a 6" deep base of pine bark in the bottom before I put in a soil mixed half/half with pine park. They are all dormant, hope they make it until 10th March which is last frost late for us here.

That's Blue Angel on 8/25/13 in the driveway bed.

oops, duplicate post

This post was edited by moccasinlanding on Fri, Jan 24, 14 at 18:28

I have a bit of information to submit so that all of us (who care to do so) might ponder it a moment.

The local garden guru who writes and is head of the Mobile Botanical Garden, Bill Finch, reportedly stated that in our area it was better to leave the cold sensitive plants in the ground rather than in containers. He said, according to my DH, that since our ground does not freeze, they will be warmer in the ground than they would in a container.

To me, that indicates that when you want a plant (in our case HOSTA) to remain COOLER and not stay warmer, they'd be better off in a container, which would remain cooler than the ground. I think this would be possibly true if you kept the sunshine off the containers.

What do you think? Am I turning this around to fit our hosta criteria? or not?

I don't think you're twisting it, Mocc. From the statement by Bill Fitch, that's the impression I'm getting as well.

Don b.

Makes sense to me.

bk