and a glorious perfectly worded searchable title .. my.. you are a fast learner ... WELCOME to the world of participation ... WE WILL ENABLE YOU FURTHER .... when i moved.. up here in z5 ... i potted and moved 1500 hosta ... 65 miles SW .... half went into the polebarn ... and the rest stacked on their sides on the west side of the barn ... the ones inside the barn ... sprouted out 2 months early .... which is a gigantic problem up here where it can freeze thru april.. and frost through may ... never underestimate the effect of pots, per se ... next ... you claim they will come up no matter how deep you bury them ... first.. never compare what a species can do .. and what a foo foo plant can do ... but regardless of the type.. the deeper it is planted.. the longer it will take the soil to warm.. to the level needed ... to trigger active growth but the bottom line.. they are hosta.. GO FIND SOMETHING ELSE TO WORRY ABOUT ... crimminy sakes ... they will come up.. when they come up.. and not a minute sooner ... no matter how much you worry about them and as you noted.. the longer it takes for them to come up.. the smaller your chance of getting them frosted is... so see.. there is an upside ... and.. as a further example... on the south side of my house... i can put a shovel all the way in .. on the north side ... its frozen solid ... good luck ken

AGREED! Take up the fabric. Just like you, last summer I put down a LOT of fabric and everyone here told me to take it up. I'm now glad that I did. 1. It may not let moisture and air circulate... and that's critical to plant health 2. It's a ROYAL PAIN in the arse when it comes time to fluff mulch, add plants, move plants, dig, walk, blow your nose, pick your wedgie, whatever you might do in the garden. There is nothing more unsightly than exposed landscape fabric poking up thru the mulch. When I replaced my mulch this year, I could not WAIT to get that fabric up! yes, I have a few more weeds in the areas that I didn't put the fabric down last year, but, the plants are happier. It's just not worth the trouble for that fabric to be there.

Apparently I'm all alone in the no clean up camp. Either that or nobody else will admit to it. I leave everything, including the 8-12 inches of oak leaves that routinely fall on my main hosta beds. After the first killing frost I simply walk away. The birds do love the scapes, checking those out all winter long, even when there is no hope that any seeds remain. It also gives me a nice number of volunteer seedlings every spring. I have not had any problems with pests or disease in the 25+ years I've been doing this, and yes, even the mini hostas will come up through the oak leaves, which by spring have composted down to almost nothing. I do walk through regularly when the hostas start to show green, and manually remove any oak leaves that have pips coming through or showing underneath (alright, I mostly use my foot, but pedally just sounds odd). This is for the hostas in my upper gardens, which are mostly for public viewing. My lower garden a work in progess, and is mainly for growing out divided plants, lining out small divisions, but also has some more landscaped areas. And by landscaped, I mean 98% hostas, but grown more as specimens, with 2% astilbes, bleeding heart, ferns, and a few other perennials. This area gets no attention at all until I'm ready to start dividing hostas in the spring. Maybe a little weeding if I'm feeling up to it, but for the most part those hostas make it all on their own. That area gets some oak leaves and lots of walnut leaves. My only slightly coddled hostas are some very small minis that live in a bed that generally doesn't get many oak leaves. Things like Manzo, Kifukirin Otome, and few other tinies live near cedar trees, but in a mostly sunny area, in a slightly raised bed, and they overwinter very well.

My experience with allium is what you've said--you have to get the bulb out. It will be better to dig in and get them out before your grass fills in and really takes root. If you wait for the allium to grow sprouts that's another year the grass has to dig in it's heels (roots). Allium, for the most part, are pretty hardy. From my experience they will grow wherever you transplant them. It might take a year for them to come back robust and healthy, but they almost always seem to come back. The only trouble I have with allium bulbs is when they've been too wet. Heidi