MochaJoe said:Beauty and nice bed also!

The area was shaded by a sick 70' Norway maple. I had it removed, planted a jap maple but now the area has tons of light. I'm moving some hosta's to shadier areas and putting in more longer blooming plants.

jpm995 said:

Another pic. She's about 2.5' tall, over 6' wide.

Wow she's a beauty alright.

I try not to leave my hostas in the ground for more than 5-6 years. Like daylilies, hostas have crowns, and after so many years, the clumps will start to have layers of dead crowns underneath the fresh ones. This'll make the division process very difficult. To the point where you'll have to slice the clump in sections with a shovel. No fun.

JPM,
If you wait until fall, as Ann suggests, there should still be plenty of color left in the leaves to tell which parts are the variegated
and which are not. Looking at how the colors are intermixed, it may not be possible to completely separate them on the first attempt. You may need to do it over a couple of years. In any case, you will end up with multiple plants.

You may end up with multiple plants, but you can certainly plant more than one division in the same place or quite close together.

Thanks for the advice guys. I'm nervous, i'll see if i can find some youtube videos of this. The good part is i can take my time and learn before i butcher a great plant.

I also have a question about moving hostas in the fall.
I'm in zone 5a (Wisconsin). I have MANY hostas that got chewed down by deer . I'd like to move some of them to a safe spot inside a fenced area. CAN I do that in the fall with almost all the leaves chewed off? Stems are still there but little to no leaves. Should I wait until spring?

I'm new to the hosta forum but not new to garden.org. I'm mostly in the daylily and iris forums. Thank you in advance.

If it was me, I would wait until the spring, spray a deer repellent just as the pips are coming up, hopefully it will deter the deer long enough to get some leaves to put some energy back to the roots, than move them. Others may have different thoughts

crawgarden, Thank you. I will probably wait until spring. The deer don't usually bother them until June when they have had their babies. I think because they need to replenish their energy after the babies are born. It happens EVERY June. This year was so much worse. Because it has been so dry, they ate even more than usual.

I appreciate hearing the advise on dividing a hosta that is reverting back to something else. I have Risky Business that has more green leaves than what it actually should be. Anyone have insight as to why it happens? Is it just a natural thing or is there something that can be done to avoid it? I guess one thing that could be done would be to make sure flower stems are cut off so it will not reseed causing plants that are not the original. Possibly or not?

The reversion is coming from your original plant, cutting the flower stems off will not prevent a hosta from reverting.

It is best to do it the first year you see it reverting as the original plant is usually stronger a quicker growing. It can overwhelm your plant.

Thank you Rj and Bob, I am going to give it a try.

I think I noticed it a little last year but this year it's really reverting to the original plant.

Man there's tons of blooms on this plant now, i'm having second thoughts of chopping it up.

Very Pretty.