Deer love hostas. In my neighborhood few people can keep hostas because the deer eat them to the ground.

It was definitely the kids!

But then, my grandmother never mentioned anything I did wrong (my parents and teachers did that) and I adore her for it these many years later, aware as I am of the many things I did do wrong.

She had the most awful collection of porcelain poodles etc on her mantle and everytime I stayed with her when I was a boy (which was almost every weekend) I would put them all in a box which I would then put in the cellar. The next weekend, they were all back in place. So I would re-box them, and back to the cellar they went. We must have done this hundreds of times, but we never said a word to each other about it. And every Saturday night, as her beloved porcelain poodles rested in the cellar, she would appear with a half-gallon box of neapolitan ice cream and cut it in half...half for me, half for her.

How I love that woman!

If you find that the bases (crowns) are eaten off and there are small holes in the ground (1" or so in diameter) near where the plants were, you have voles. They are nasty, voracious, short-tailed mice that think hostas are the best thing people ever invented. They only eat plant material like the roots off of roses and other succulent tidbits that we plant just for them. They can be extremely destructive. Does this sound like what happened to your hostas? If so, I'll post more info on them or you can search the web for advice on how to attempt to control them. (I say "attempt" because unless you're willing and able to use poison bait and not harm neighbors pets and other non-harmful critters, they are very hard to defeat.)

Nope...didn't see any holes in the ground, just the hosta leaves lying everywhere. Looks like they were pulled up or something came through and whacked them off. There are new leaves getting ready to open, so I wonder once they are their full size will it even be noticable?

I think you should ask your daughter. I don't know if it is the case with you, but I definitely have plants that are toxic, and would want to know if there is a possibility that the kids might have ingested any of that stuff. I'm fairly certain that your daughter would want to know if that's the case as well.

Suja

Hostas are non-toxic to humans.

I should've clarified "ingested any of that stuff". What I meant is that if you have other things in addition to hostas, and some of those things could cause harm, I would think that you'd want to know if the kids were getting into plants in general, and the bad ones in particular.

Probably the kids - my other thought was "tree rats", but mostly they pull the whole plant up if it's small and leave it in fragments, drying and dying! Right now I have it in for my local squirrels, as they've been trying to kill my 'Pandora's Box' ever since I brought it home last fall. No problems with the big hostas, though - full-grown H. plantaginea and 'Frances Williams' are a bit much for a squirrel to tackle. (Even the miniatures are tough once they get settled in, but that takes a couple of years where I have them planted.) Fortunately, no deer in my immediate vicinity, apparently, or too many dogs in nearby yards.

Last year I purchased a hosta with huge leaves...Potomac Pride I believe. This year something ripped it to shreds. I would suspect the kids or the dog, but we have moved out and the house is empty. I suspect it was the dreaded tree rats.

Earlier this year I watch a squirrel grab a half open bud from my magnolia tree, take a bite and throw the bud to the ground. I thought it was cute...till he did the same with another, and another and another! I ran outside to scare him away.

- Brent