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flynnmy

Hosta Help Needed

flynnmy
10 years ago

I live in NH -I transplanted Hostas in a morning sun area in 2011. Last year they came up beautifully. This year, they have no spring sprouts showing. I dug down a bit with my finger and still nothing... Other hostas around my property have started sprouting from the ground. Am I just being impatient? Again, there are NO signs of growth even when I gently burrow into the earth around them.

Comments (7)

  • gardenweed_z6a
    10 years ago

    I have roughly 30 "designer" hostas (i.e., named cultivars), half of which are showing new growth. The other half show no signs of life yet but I'm confident they'll start poking up through the soil in the coming warmer days & weeks. Hours of daylight + soil temperature trigger new growth but no two plants will perform exactly the same in every situation. They're pretty tough perennials so I wouldn't give up on them just yet.

  • Boston_noob
    10 years ago

    I divided/transplanted some well-established plants last year as well and ran into the same situation as you did on two of the 15 or so "new" plants. Nothing was coming up and nothing when poking around, when all the others were popping up at LEAST a tiny bit. I have so many more Hostas to split (free if anyone wants to dig some!) that i just dug them up and confirmed they were in fact dead. I just dug some more from the hosta jungle along my drive and replaced them.

    All my hostas are pretty far along - if you have nothing in that spot, they may not have made it. It wouldn't hurt to dig around a little more - they can take the poking/prodding.

    I have a hosta hardiness story - I was shoveling 2+ year old compost out of the bottom of my bin and came upon a non-composted root mass that obviously was once a containerized plant with what looked like live buds. I threw it in the empty veggie garden and sure enough, it's some sort of variegated hosta. I just moved it to a new home on the side of the house!

  • rockman50
    10 years ago

    You are bring impatient. I am sure they will emerge in the coming weeks.

  • flynnmy
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thank you all so much. I'm sort of a beginner at gardening. It's been such a long winter -I'm just itching to see life. I hope they start to show themselves soon... Again, thank you for your tips, experience, advice.

  • lycomania
    10 years ago

    Definitely have a little more patience! I have a bunch of different hostas. Some are coming up, some aren't ready yet. I know they will come up though!

  • defrost49
    10 years ago

    I didn't realize I hadn't seen my hosta until a week ago when a friend commented that there's no sign of hers. We had been invited to dig any plants we wanted on a property that is going to be sold and I remarked that it was odd that the owner didn't have any hosta.

    We're in NH just north of Concord (she's in Concord). I have tulips planted on either side of a walkway between 2 buildings. It's a narrow space that gets hardly any sun. One building is the attached garage that is semi heated. The tulips planted near the garage are several weeks ahead of those planted on the other side of the walkway next to an unheated building.

    I think the various "micro climates" in our yards can surprise us. Be patient.

  • blowell
    10 years ago

    Hostas and sedum are two of the most hardy plants I've ever had. Occasionally some hostas are content to remain underground while their brethren are well on their way, but they always come up. Sometimes they come up so late I forgot I planted them there.