Mine did the same thing, just dwindled down to two small eyes and even they were smaller than the year before. Last year I dug it up and put it in a large pot. Before I knew it, the eyes were getting larger, then it grew a new one. This year I moved the pot to dig out some giant grass that grew behind it and I forgot to move the pot back to the shade. I could tell it was kind of enjoying the new location so I left it. Now it is getting 6 hours of morning/noon sun and heavy watering twice a week. It has 5 big healthy eyes and only one leaf has any "sunburn". I don't know how it does it, but the blue is just as pretty in the sun as it was in the shade. I thought it was suppose to burn off. So this year I dug up my other Frances Williams and put it in a large pot and sure enough it is also growing pretty fast. I hope this helps with your problem.

Hi...there you are, Ken! nice to hear from you... LOL....actually, this is the same one I had on that 'blacktop' so I scared it into growing more pips, I guess!!!! It got the driveway threat alright! Yes, it is taped, no worries, Guru No, it wasn't outside...been changing water daily Did some research re FW sports but haven't reached conclusion re name...will wait until pips appear, or better still, until it comes up next year. You referring to anything relating to Tom Schmid as in same named hosta? Thanks for the thought and don't forget to let me know if you remember names. Well, it's 89F out there...here as of 8:30 ...was puttering around, ground watering hibiscus and a few potted hosta....can't stand humidity... You know, I've come to the conclusion that I won't have too many hosta in pots....worrying about them drying out, moving them around so they don't expire in the sun, etc,....it takes a certain kind of discipline....like potty training toddlers.....you have to train yourself to remember!!! I respect and admire all the 'potheads' and your diligence and commitment to your potted hosta. I'm not using the excuse (but its a good one) that I don't have space, which I don't....it's the intense heat/humidity that curtails my gardening for certain time segments throughout summer, much to my dismay and all tHat hand watering would kill my back. Speaking of sore back....reminds me when my family grew vegetables for a living for over 20 years. My Dad used to drive down to the Ontario Food Terminal around 4:30 a.m. With a full refrigerated truck or two of prime veggies. He also supplied various fresh food markets in Toronto. I remember being out there on the fields, rain or shine, hot or cold, freezing or frying in the sun, weeding, thinning, cutting, packing, pulling, bunching..crops such as radishes, kohlrabi, head lettuce, romaine, celery, cucumbers used for Willy's Pickles, carrots, onions, onions for seed (that was nasty and hot as plants were taller than we were and temps around 100) and other veggies I'm sure I've forgotten....I was used to being exposed to the elements. Now that I'm older I just can't tolerate it half as well. I've learned to accept it and that's saying a lot, considering my personality! I'm one of those pessimistically optimistic independent kinds and stubborn to boot....where there is a will, there's a way. Even though I am a new senior citizen, I am a youngish one and still have lots of zip, can run and play with my grand kids, am on no medication and am able to still lift, lug, dig etc. I consider myself among the fortunate .... maybe good genes have a play too. So bad back or not, I shouldn't complain. All this because of the weather...apologies but thanks for listening to me go on...lol There are a couple of cooler days coming...low 20's...good time to hunker down and git things done!! Have a great day, Everyone!!! And a great week-end! Keep cool, take it slow and remember to hydrate...Long Island Iced Tea would go good right now! Or Jack D. n coke, or Scotch, nice cold beer with condensation running down the side of the bottle....visualization required here....you get the drift...hehehehehee. Jo

I KNOW what you mean--"When she's good, she's VERY VERY GOOD, but when she's bad, she's HORRID!!" I've placed mine in a deeper shade situation, not because I believe the spots are caused by the sun, because the one I've moved NEVER did get any direct sun, but because I'm hoping Spring will come later for it in this location, and if the cold temps (some think it doesn't have to be freezing temps--just cold) are the culprit, if I pile on the compost mulch and delay it's emerging--there may be hope. Funny thing, my daughter has FW's in her front bed, facing east and hers almost ALWAYS look wonderful, hardly ever any of those spots! I'm thinking it may ACTUALLY be more about the quality plant itself. Or it may be a type of 'virus' inherent to just that cultivar--is that possible? Can't imagine it would be exclusive to a cultivar but we really know very little when it comes to the many and varied micro-lifes of this world. Amazing discoveries are being made all the time, and from the incomparable enormous sizes of things in the Universe and beyond, to the very most minute microscopic forms of life--it seems endless and only fully comprehended by the Maker of all things small and large and 'us' inbetween!! Simply mind blowing! Does ANYONE have one that has never or rarely presented the rusty spots?

Thanks for your response, Josephine. I ask because I got some divisions from my neighbor when they moved last year and I now have the perfect FW. I was unaware of OBL so never considered it as a poss. OBL. Then I saw the OBL at Cantigny near a FW and shook my head trying to differentiate the two. I already had many FW's with most of them usually displaying dessication, though not so much this year. Someone here last year offered the advice that if you don't like the FW when it displays poorly to dig it up and throw it away. I haven't done it yet but that is always an option!