I'm beside myself. My hostas have not come up yet!! I was concerned so I looked back at pics and these were taken 1 year ago today.



This will be the fourth spring that we have lived in our home. The hostas came with the house and they've come up every year without fail. They all looked great except for the last one that was starting to yellow around the edges.

These two were taken 5/28/16 and you can see how healthy they are.


How can ALL FOUR Hosta plants just not come up?!! This photo was taken on 4/21/2015 at 5pm and shows the environment of where they are planted. They get some sun throughout the day.



My neighbor said I'm welcome to come and dig up any of hers, but I'm afraid to re-plant them for fear of killing them. Anyone have any idea as to what could have happened. The only thing I can think of is I may have fertilized them after July. Would that kill them?!?!?

Do you have voles in your area?

I'm not sure but it wouldn't surprise me. We've got just about everything you can imagine.

Actually, I just looked up a picture of a vole and I do believe I saw one today under my husband's "man cabin." UGH!!!

Guess I would carefully move a little of the mulch and leaves from where a known hosta is, see if you can see or feel any of the shoots are coming up. If you have no evidence of growth, dig down and see if you have any evidence if the roots have been eaten. If so, probably voles.

crawgarden said:Guess I would carefully move a little of the mulch and leaves from where a known hosta is, see if you can see or feel any of the shoots are coming up. If you have no evidence of growth, dig down and see if you have any evidence if the roots have been eaten. If so, probably voles.

I've already cleared the area where they typically come up, looking for shoots but there is NOTHING. I will try digging down tomorrow to see if there's any evidence of roots. Dang! We have so many hawks, owls, raccoons and falcons around our property that I can't even imagine any voles having a chance. I've noticed our squirrel population has been greatly diminished. Just yesterday, I saw an owl in the tree not far from where the hostas used to be.

Thank you for your help!!

Let us know Tori?

@GardenGoober, did you every find out what happened to your Hostas?

crawgarden said:@GardenGoober, did you every find out what happened to your Hostas?

Hi Crawgarden,

Sorry for the delayed response. I was out of town.

All I know is that when I dug down into the dirt (clay), there were not roots nor were there any trails from voles. I had added another hosta last year and that one started poking up through the ground, but the other four are just gone. As mentioned previously, I did not plant them originally but they've come up every spring for the past three. They always appeared to be very hard and healthy. This year, it's like they just vaporized.

Wow, strange!

I have had that happen in a new house. Hostas have been there for years. New gardener come in add new plants put down a nice thick layer of mulch and BAM!! plants gone,

Adding new plants improving the soil and adding mulch suddenly makes it a perfect hiding and winter eating area. The soil is soft and easy for the critters to move through, nice layer of mulch for warmth.....

I am not saying it is wrong you just that when you find it happening you have to start protecting new plants once they find a good food area they will eat your new plants.

I started pushing tree limbs around the plants like putting them in a cage. They will go around the barrier. Some people plant in wire baskets. I had to many Hostas to dig and replant so the sticks worked.

Cinta said:I have had that happen in a new house. Hostas have been there for years. New gardener come in add new plants put down a nice thick layer of mulch and BAM!! plants gone,

I added a plant at the very end of the others and did not add mulch. Actually, we have so many trees that nature typically provides the mulch. If anything, I remove the leaves in the spring but didn't not get around to that this year until I realized that the hostas had not come up.

Cinta said:Adding new plants improving the soil and adding mulch suddenly makes it a perfect hiding and winter eating area. The soil is soft and easy for the critters to move through, nice layer of mulch for warmth.....

I really didn't do anything to the area where the hostas are. My main flower garden is around the other side of the house. With the hostas, I was of the mind set, "if it works, don't fix it." My neighbor gave me a hostas from her garden and I just added it to the end of the ones I already had. No change in environment at all. Besides, digging in our clay is not an easy thing to do. It requires a gas-powered auger to plant a single plant.

In this picture you can see the environment. Very natural. I added the extra hosta where I placed the white star and that one came up, but the others just poofed.

Cinta said:I am not saying it is wrong you just that when you find it happening you have to start protecting new plants once they find a good food area they will eat your new plants.

I started pushing tree limbs around the plants like putting them in a cage. They will go around the barrier. Some people plant in wire baskets. I had to many Hostas to dig and replant so the sticks worked.

Thank you, Cinta, for your observations. I value the input. I added new plants in the spot where the ones the disappeared where located. A hosta and something else that I THOUGHT was a lenten rose but sure doesn't look like it to me. Anyway, this is what it looks like now. The hosta with the rocks around it is the one I planted last year. The other two plants were planted this year.