Everybody is off on holiday having tater salad and watermelon today, so we are sort of thin on folks to give you a reply which means something.

I can say don't give up yet, but what do I know that you would have confidence in? I'm in zone 9a, which is another world from MadisonWI. But without a doubt, you'll soon have your knowledgeable reply. Hang in there with us.

The forward an email to you when you get a reply is NOT WORKING on GWeb this week, so please keep checking back to your thread. Sometimes at this season, we have 4 pages of current posts and replies, so it doesn't go away, it just goes to the next page until someone replies.

Glad you dropped in. Don't give up. In the meanwhile, do a search on the subject, using an outside search engine since GWeb's search function is iffy at best.

Have a good holiday.

I wouldn't count them as lost just yet unless they were growing in containers. How long had they been in the ground (if they were) prior to this past horrendous winter? My plants had a number of years to settle in and acclimate themselves to where they're planted. Were yours healthy prior to the onset of winter? Stressed plants are more vulnerable to harsh conditions.

I've taken a much more optimistic view of things after gardening where I am the past 8+ years. Some things are slow to emerge in Spring. Check. Some things are short-lived. Bummer, but check. Some things need higher soil temperatures before they emerge. Check. Do the plants in my garden surprise me every spring, year after year? CHECK.

None in containers. Some I have had for 3+ years, a few planted just last year. I can see the crowns on some but no apparent growth. Will hope for the best. Thanks for your input.

Don't give up yet. I'm in Minneapolis, so my winter was just as bad. I have been crying about the Krossa Regal I lost and about 2 days ago, it reappeared. Only one tiny shoot, but its still in there someplace.

Who knows if it will come to much, but it is still alive. So I wouldn't throw in the towel just yet

I'm in Texas, and we had a bad winter, also. So, I can't help with your main question. However, I will relate my short story. I lost about 20% of my potted hosta this winter. I whined. Someone said, "Dig it up. See what happened." I did, and found some sprouts from dormant eyes on Bridegroom. It was in the "toss" area. This was a full 3 weeks after all the other hosta were up. All that to say that even if the the growth is not coming from the top, it may be coming from the bottom. It takes a while longer.

The MN,WI and IL folks will be back tomorrow and be able to give you a more specific answer.

bk

Bump

I'm moving this one up for some attention.

bk

I'm also in the Twin Cities. I have a couple dozen that have yet to show their eyes. Don't give up just yet.

Msjo--I'm a couple of hours just north of you, in the Stevens Point area, tucked into the woods and some of my hosta are just now starting to emerge. Guessing that roughly 50% are emerging and the rest are still napping. The only one that's fully unfurled is lancifolia and it's in pretty much full sun all day long. Yeh, it's been a long, long winter.

Thanks everyone for your input. All my plants were healthy. On some of the ones that did come up they are about 1/3 of the size they used to be. I think the hard winter took it's toll. I'll wait it out to see if any recover.

Sometimes there are secondary eyes below the top ones and they take awhile to come up if the first ones are damaged. Sort of like if you cut all of your leaves off a hosta right now, the hosta would send up new leaves, they just take a bit to get there.
I have seen hostas reappear even a year AFTER I thought it was dead...it would shoot up maybe one tiny eye the next year. So, if you can stand to leave them in place and have patience, go for it.

If I wanted the space for something larger, I might take a lazy evening and dig up the "dead" ones to see if there's any life in there...and if there were, I'd plant it in a back area where I don't mind waiting for the hosta to regrow itself. In your case, since you're still hoping they might come up with some significant size comparable to last year, I might wait until about June 10.

I am in Menasha, and I can tell you that even my slow to emerge hostas are all up now, but those were the "primary" eyes, I didn't happen to lose any hostas in the ground this year. I guess I just got lucky.

Another thing...have you checked for rot? You can tell by the eyes being mushy. If that's the case, you'd definitely want to dig them up asap to save them...rinse them off completely, soak in 10% bleach solution after cutting away anything that is dead/rotting.

come up they are about 1/3 of the size they used to be. I think the hard winter took it's toll.

==>>> i dont buy the winter theory ...

reduced size is usually related to drought the prior year ... or repeated frost freezes ...

how were they planted??. .. native soil... big wad of potting media in divergent soil .. clay .. maple trees????

heavily fertilized late in the year???

one thing for sure... it was not a cold winter that did it ..

dig them up.. and find out if some tree is strangling them.. or stealing all available moisture.. making a drought under them ..

ken

mary4b - I plan on letting them go for now to see what happens.

Ken - I have slightly clay soil and add peat moss & potting soil mix.

I have to admit, I am very busy in the summer/fall/winter so not too sure of water/drought last year. And that makes more sense when some of them came back only 1/3 size of what they used to be.

I will try and muster up the heart to unearth one of them, at this point is there any chance in your opinion?

Thank you to all for your input and happy hosta gardening. We had nice light rain most of the day, so everyone is happy!

Jo