Thank you for your thoughts. I love the pic, beautiful garden. (envious of the grass)
I have dug around my hemlock obviously to plant and lay rock ect and really have not gotten into a lot of roots, they seem to be deeper not too near the surface which is why I decided hostas would do well beings they would root more shallowly. But now, just as you say, I am wondering if they are just nutrient depleted because of the tree in general. The soil here is dry powdery and just looks awful. I was afraid to add compost over the area for fear of killing the tree. But now I am thinking I will dig up the hosta and mix the soil with some mositure contril potting soil which I hope will keep it from drying out so quickly. Then I am going to mulch the area more heavily than I now have it, and then I am going to start watering it with manure tea. (the whole area) Lucky for me I only have one tree there not 4, well actually I have 2 because right in this area is also a sweet gum and it has roots like crazy. Some of my hosta started turning brown this past month, but we have had temps in the 90-100 range and no decent rain for a couple months now. Hand watering is just not the same it seems like. I think the hostas were heat stressed and nutrient deficient and probably not rooted well either since I just planted them this spring. So the bed just needs a lot of work all the way around.
