Paul,

Your hosta are looking beautiful, as usual! Are you done with the threat of frost in your area? I always get anxious for growth this time of year, so I know if anything died over the winter. But, our last frost date is mid May, and we usually have at least one more before then.

Rose....thanks for the kind comment. Our last average frost date here is mid-May. 41 degrees this morning at 5AM. The Hostas pictured are always the first in the garden and are in a warm spot between a concrete drive-way and the foundation of the house....eastern exposure so they get morning sun. Some years I have covered them a couple of cold nights. Spent yesterday cleaning oak leaves and acorns out of one of the beds. Hosta are just starting to emerge in that bed. The Montana pictured is on the east side of the house. Another Montana on the north end of the house is only up 3-4 inches. I need to get a couple of loads of compost and top dress the beds.

More hostas up today after a good rain last night.
These two Albo-Marginata came up in two different spots, and I had a nice corner needing a
plant so I moved them both to the one location hoping to have a nice large display.


Dream Queen, I knew where this should be and realized today that I had planted August Moon in its spot, but I had not noticed that until today. When I started digging I found the label and saw the pip coming up. I moved August Moon across the path to a new location.


First Frost is also now up with a pip, so there are just a few left. I have one bed that not a single hosta has shown any sign of life yet. It would be very strange if nothing in that bed returned, I keep hoping to see something there, maybe in a few more days. This cold weather moving in tonight may delay that for a little while.

Seedfork said:virginiarose,
Looks like that 'Abiqua Moonbeam' is a good multiplier.
I assume you decided to get rid of 'Midnight Ride" any particular reason?

There were nine of these hostas out front when we bought this house and I divided them every year and ended up with 36 of the same hosta. I had them planted all down the side of the house. LOL. I wanted to learn more about hostas and wanted all different cultivars. I gave the huge 36 clumps to my neighbor who use them as a border around her new patio.
Abiqua Moonbeam has been slow for me, probably my fault for moving it several times. I bought it as a liner in 2011 so it is about three years old. It was the first hosta I fell in love with when I joined a hosta forum.

Seedfork said:This morning when I went out I found :
'Zounds' it does not seem to have multiplied at all and does not seem to be any larger so far, it has struggled the last two years, and I would not have been surprised if it did not return this year.


I kept searching and shifting mulch and found 'Earth Angel' , it seems to be about the same as last year so far. Still, I was glad to see it made it for another year, this bed has been pretty good with Hostas emerging.


Then out of the corner of my eye I spy some new green growth. There is no tag and I have no memory(not surprising) of planting a hosta in this location, but there it was. I will have to wait awhile to get an ID on it.


But finding this hosta reminded me that I did have a hosta that should be located just a few feet away, I searched a while and never could find a tag nor a hosta. I came back out after lunch and was moving a couple of hosta that had come up in the middle of my paths and I saw some new growth, it was the hosta I had been looking for earlier, 'Minuteman". I had walked all over it earlier and it was being held down by the mulch on top of it. You can tell by the photo that it would have been up a couple of days earlier had I not be packing in down under the mulch.

Some hostas need a longer cold spell. You can maximize the cold air to the hosta roots by putting them in a pot if you see them struggling or not increasing. I just ignore it, some fizzle out and I just add more in the spring. I try to buy more hostas with low chill requirements. Hostas for the south. Here is a short explanation and list in this article. Enjoy!

The one that was labeled 'Junior Miss' is opening more, and now I'm thinking that it probably is infected with the hosta virus. Any opinions?

I don't recognize it as virused but it doesn't look like the pictures of Junior Miss on the Hosta Library.....

Paul,

I knew it was mislabeled when I checked it on the hosta library. Not sure what it's supposed to be, but I'll keep it in a pot and away from my other hosta just to be safe.

Thanks,
Rose

It could be the soil. I have seen pictures of the spaces between veins and it is a mineral deficiency. Would not hurt to have soil tested.

That wouldn't surprise me because we live in sand! The only soil here comes out of a potting mix bag.

Rose

Could it be one from the Zebra Striped family?

Most unusual? Doesn't really look like typical virus symptoms unless it's a new virus.

Keep the pics coming. At the rate our spring is coming it might be another 3 weeks before I seen hostas.

Most of my hostas are still under leaves. Overnight temperature could damage them.

Four new hosta pips are up this morning:
Winter Snow, I planted this pretty late last year, and this is the first return from winter it has had.
Looks like it will be a large hosta.


Northern Exposure, I have a couple of these up now.


Yellow River, this is the second one of these, and more importantly, this is the first hosta in this bed to return this year. I was beginning to think nothing in this bed was going to return.


Zounds, yes another little hosta hope these grow a lot this year.

How exciting.....

Seedfork - re. your question and photo of "plain green hosta from seed": 'Invincible' is noted for shiny dark green leaves, wavy leaf margins, and most
important, fragrant light lavender flowers. It is also known to be very fertile! So wait until it blooms in August and sniff the flowers! If it is fragrant it could well be a sdlg. from 'Invincible'. I have several beautiful hostas from Invincible. My favorites: 'Irish Luck' , 'Shady Affair' and 'Moonlight Sonata'. 'Sugar and Spice' is a sport with a cream margin and absolutely gorgeous!

alwaysbehindMN,
Thank you for that info, I will definitely star this page as a reminder to check the blooms in August, so far none of these have ever bloomed, but they should this year I would think. I will be hoping they will be fragrant!

I am particularly interested in fragrant flowered hostas; so I have added all of the 'Invincible' offspring that are advertised as fragrant. And I am in the process of adding more so I can check for myself if they might be fragrant! I have already discovered that 'Red Stepper' is fragrant and I am waiting for 'Dixie Chick' to
bloom this summer so I can check on that one. Some hybridizers don't seem to care or to notice if a new plant is fragrant, even if the parentage indicates that it might be.

When I bought my first hostas I read up on them a little and learned the fragrant ones were the ones that should do well in the south. I never seem to remember that when I buy one now.