Ken, why you clownin' ?! :D I lurk on a few forums- hosta, conifer, perennial, woodland, shrub, etc... and love reading your posts! I feel scolded. But it's all good :) Some of the stems did have green rings, which I thought were curious. Better stop pruning... In my defense, I have yet to kill a hosta! And I have inherited quite a few of them at our "new home" in Illinois. I will post some pics so you can see my work isn't all bad! But this is also my first year in gardening and I am discovering a passion for plants that I've never had before- I'm just excited to learn the names of things I have walked by and never noticed before. Oh, well, live and learn!

Hi gardenper and mandolls, thanks for your answers. The ones concerning me have short shoots, few millimeters to half an inch long. BUT I checked carefully last night, seems that I actually did overwater some pots when watering them in a hurry (between kids, job, garden,meals...) I amputated two Dahlia fingers that were rotting, discovered that a tuber which had been very dry sitting ON the soil (cause I hadn`t manage to finish the job ) had grown a nice white fresh root on its end, so now I have to really check before watering (something I preach to anyone asking me about their pot plants...) and hope for the best. The ones with longer shoots (3 inches and more) are on my balcony with full sun and cold nights, the emerging ones stay in the living room. And funny, you can really tell by the look of an eye/ shoot, whether it is happy and thriving (shiny, kind of turgescent) or dull and black-ish (in which case something is wrong, like the tuber starts rotting) and I will try to keep records next season whether some cultivars do start earlier ha others. Thanks, have a good day, bye, Lin

I had a question, it’s helpful to read the threads above. My fig was planted this winter. It is about 5 feet tall. It immediately grew leaves all over the tree this spring and they suddenly, turned yellow and all started to fall off. I did research and found it is most likely rust. I took away all the leaves and then took away a large amount of dirt from the tree as it is clay soil and holding a lot of moisture. I put a bunch of proper dirt in place of the clay dirt. A couple questions!! Will it regrow leaves and how long should it take? I will try to see if the tree has green under the surface (seen as suggestion above), but I’m not sure what to do for it and what to expect.

they are fairly hardy... just allow them to dry out and they should grow again. chives is in the onion family... absolutely requires good drainage, no standing water, and if potted, allow to dry out soil after heavy or constant rain. I have all mine in pots from last fall, and now have buds, should bloom within 2wks.