I was typing when your post came out. I haven't checked for in the ground losses yet as most of my hostas haven't unfurled and I still have one hosta bed in deep shade which is still farther behind than others. I feel you pain as I lost quite a few potted up hostas myself.

Connie

Connie, me again.

I had a large loss in the ground but we had the same terrible year re early heat, late freeze then drought. They may have been stressed by the terrible year and many plants die over the winter after a really hard year when they seemed to be alive going into winter. Trees in particular will even leaf out in the spring then just go caput.

Rambling again.

I lost 'Sun Power' and 'Pineapple Upside Down Cake.'

I admit, however, that I kept them in pots way too long and planted them after the first frost. 'Sun Power' rotted--I just pulled up the mushy brown crown yesterday. 'Pineapple Upside Down Cake' seems to have disappeared altogether, as if it melted into the soil.

I have a couple that are smaller than last year....notably Thunderbolt and Eternal Flame, but I don't think any are gone.
But I lost roses, and a clematis, mums and I think a Eupatorium...
Francee is just now poking the slightest bit out of the ground....I thought all the Francee were gone....but thought it odd that 3 of the same hosta would just die.
Linda C

Lost Fire and Ice (3rd year), White Christmas (2nd year), Allan P. McConnell (2nd year but planted late) and Snowden (2nd year).

Becky

We all need to stand back and realize that what we are fretting over is such a small problem compared to those poor people in Burma or Boreno who have lost their lives, could be as many as 10,000, homes,as well as livelyhood in the recent cyclone. The problem being 'out of sight out of mind' for us Americans. I guess we can't save the whole world, only our little part of it.

Connie

Connie,

No fretting here, I wasn't crying over dead hostas, I was simply wondering if anyone else experienced winter kill like I had, that's all. Regardless you're absolutely right, the loss of human life far outweighs losing ones' hostas. I can always purchase hostas, I can't replace those that have lost the fight against death. Life is so fragile, we shouldn't take it for granted.

Donna

Didn't lose a single one here;and I even found some that I forgot where I planted them! All hostas are thriving here already. Phil

Didn't mean to say you were not unfeeling about world happenings Donna. I guess I was thinking about my own situation and how unimportant in the whole scope of things my loss of hostas was. Does that make sence to you? That's what I ment! Saying thoughts aloud and writing them down they sometimes don't come out properly and this was one of those times! LOL

Back to the hosta world and our ups and downs with them.

Connie

One very small Francee failed to emerge. It may have been trampled... My last hosta to unfurl was a Fire and Ice in deep shade. I had good winter conditions for dormancy of everything, and no hail beating on tender leaves.

I only lost one, Sum of All. It was new last year. Got it on eBay. It was quite small to start with and didn't grow well. I almost lost Stained Glass too. Not sure why. It was healthy all season long last year. Perhaps winter heave? The crown seemed to have dried out but there is a little shoot coming from below the crown. Not a total loss I guess. Well, I guess two out of 66 is not bad.

Diane

I lost a lot of TC hostas...(surprise surprise) and some of my MONSTERS that I have had for years are down to one or two struggling eyes. WEIRD! Sieboldiana Mira....Rascal...Dick Ward...Thunderbolt....Frances Williams...Tokudama Aureonebulosa...Wooly Mammoth....etc etc etc

Yes Connie, I totally understand your thinking! I just wanted to make sure you knew we were all on the same wavelength.

Andrea I lost a lot of hostas, but I only bought one 1st year tc last year and that is doing great, go figure. My biggies are smaller too. I don't understand it, I guess I'll baby them more this season. I know its not for the lack of water last summer/fall, I watered the heck out of them.

I'm wondering if the lack of snow this past season had anything to do with it. That insulates them and there is some nitrogen benefit there.

Donna

Fire and Ice 3rd year and gone. Still uncovering the back beds and I'm sure there will be a few that went to the wayside.

But, that only makes room for new ones.

What a habit!

Deb

I lost Ice Age Trail, Guacamole and Pandora's Box. I had a dog take out Red Dragon, Devon Green and 2 others that I can't find the tags. Good thing the Georgia Hosta Society sale is next weekend .

Annette

Just for the record, from the potted hoasta stored on a rack in the shed, I lost about 10 percent. The larger potted hoastas kept outside and covered with a blanket of about 6 inches of shredded leaves all made it. All in.the-ground hostas as far as I can see made it.
A few typical latecomers like F. Ellerbroek havr not reported in yet.

Manfred

LACK OF SNOW???? Donna, I've got some property I want to talk to you about.
Pat

"The larger potted hosta kept outside and covered with a blanket of about 6 inches of shredded leaves all made it."
Fred

That is the way I've had the best results as well, when or do you knock off the leaves? I've left them on and knocked them off when they start to come up with about the same result?

I lost Lakeside Black Satin.

Donna, not to rub it in, but newbie that I am....I moved a whole bunch of hostas to the garden at our new house last fall. But ran out of time to plant. Also apparently, ran out of steam (moving 150+ pots of daylilies + probably an equal number that had been in the ground will do that to you)....anyway, when I ran out of steam, I took all my remaining unplanted hostas, wrapped the soil & roots in newspaper, and then stored the plants outside....in cardboard boxes or paper grocery bags! Little Blue Mouse Ears and all her little friends made it through the winter just fine. And (and this is embarrassing to admit - even worse than the box & bag thing) I forgot about a hosta that I'd ordered, and it sat all winter in one of the grocery bags still in the plastic bag it came in!

I lost Garden Party, but that seems to be the only one. All the rest have come up, but many of the older established ones have come up with lots of much smaller eyes. I can attribute a couple of the oddities to being planted near a devil tree (Silver maple) but Guacamole is not near ANY trees and came up with tons of tiny eyes so that one is a mystery.

Sorry for everyones losses

Alexa

No losses apparent so far, but Gilt by Association looks MUCH smaller. The crown was very crowded last year, oddly so. Maybe it choked itself. The Stained Glass next to it also looks smaller. I have newer Stained Glass that are larger than the older one this year, so am wondering if rodent activity is the problem. The 2 problem hostas are next to each other. Won't have a better idea until everything fully leafs out. Things are just starting to really jump around here.

Lynxe, good for you! You're not rubbing it in at all, glad your faux pas' worked out like they did!! I had one hosta in a pot and forgot about it, I had laid it on the North side of the garage, under the eave and it looks fabulous. Go figure.

I found another loss last night, 'Fort Knox'. That one kind of made me feel bad, it was the "friendliest" hosta I owned. The leaves would catch the breeze and out of the corner of my eye it would look like someone was waving. A very bright and cheerful hosta. I'll probably buy this one again, but the others I won't.

I'm sorry others had winter losses as well, but Deb is right, that makes room for more hostas. I guess the snow theory is bogus, huh Pat? We had scant amounts of snow here, but it got very cold. I can tell, because the buds of all my hydrangeas were frozen, that only happens at around 0 degrees. I don't know if cold is a hosta factor.

Donna

"I don't know if cold is a hosta factor."
Donna

Cold is seldom a factor, hosta are hardy to zone 2 or 3 but moisture in various forms, snow, rain, freeze/thaw are questions. Problem is there are few perfect answers. I've had hosta lay out bareroot over winter and do fine, don't recommend it but don't worry much about cold.

It seems the common belief is to much moisture and changing temperatures are the biggest problem. Many have reported problems with too much moisture in potted hosta stored in garages, etc.

I lost several.

The one that hurt the most was Lakeside Kaleidoscope. I waited so long to order that hosta.

All hosta potted in whiskey barrels and the fake foam barrels survived great. I lost several that struggled last year after the week of Easter freeze. Some of those came back last year but were tiny all year. If they were tiny last year, they didn't make it back this year.

Our winter was very rainy with the typical yoyo temps - two snows of 1/2" each and one snow of 5" and all snow was gone within a day. I don't think our temps were ever in the single digits.

I knew I grew hosta seedlings for a reason - some of the monster ones are filling the vacant spots.

No winter losses over here

One spring loss however, I succeeded in killing myself Little Jay by stepping on the small plant, it doesn't seem to come back...

That is the way I've had the best results as well, when or do you knock off the leaves? Butch
By the middle of April I start peelimg away the leaves in stages.
The problem with the shed is, they were on a rack near the window, and no way to get there, unless I clean out half of my shed. I think lack of moisture may have been a problem.

Fred, I swear I don't think lack of moisture is a problem during the winter while dormant, BIG BUTT that doesn't apply when they start to emerge in the spring.

Lets look at growers who field grow hosta for "Boxed" sales. They dig with an apparatus that looks like a potato digger and my be a potato digger. They shake as much dirt off as possible and store in refrigerated units for months with out moisture. Then they put them in bags with a little dry sawdust, box and ship DRY. Why doesn't lack of moisture cause problems in that case, finally I think moisture isn't necessary for dormant hosta.

Moisture surely is necessary at some point in the spring but what is that point. This is the type of thing I would enjoy learning but isn't worth the work.