Too much shade......

It's actually one of the few that mysteriously vanished for me, too. Actually, it rotted, but I never understood why. It started to come up in the Spring with all the rest, then just stalled out and rotted. Two of them, not in the same locations. Nothing else did, just FW.

But dog urine kills stuff pretty good too! I've lost astilbe to that.

I wish mine would disappear. lol I have had it 20 years, in the same spot for 10 years. Early spring it looks good for about a minute then the edges go to pot. Out of the thousands of pictures I take in the yard, that is one hosta that rarely ever looks good enough to take a picture of.

Take a lot of pictures and keep them in dated folders so you can always go back to look and see what went where and when.

I replaced mine and then made it disappear this year, Frank. Gave it to my FIL, who doesn't care if a hosta looks a little crappy. Me, have a small garden and don't want ones prone to late Spring ugliness.

I know that lots of people don't care for FW--but mine seems to do very well in this spot every year. It is a division from my parents who had it for quite a few years. It does get a little of the rust on it, but usually not too bad. There is an eye that is almost all solid peeking out there too.
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I replaced one of my FW with Olive Bailey Langdon this year as it too did not come up...my other 6 did come up, the one in similar location (other side of walk)NORTH is very sluggish while the others on the east side of the house are flourishing.

I don't understand why many here give a bad rating for FW. My FWs do very nicely, are prettier than most of the hostas shown here on this forum. Most hostas including my OBL will burn in more than 3 hrs of afternoon sun without daily water. My FWs in shade or less than 2 hrs sun will not burn.
Bernd

I have 6 FW's,and they always come back every year. Olive Bailey Langdon is definitely faster growing,though. Phil

Jennaj. That is the prettiest FW I have ever seen. I have 4 of them and they look nice but yours is amazing. Gail

I have three FW that I bought for 89 cents each at a fall clearance sale. They were tiny tissue cultures. I planted them in the back of the garden four years ago. They were totally neglected, never watered for three years. Tons of weeds grew around them. I moved them this year to the front of my LOV bed and now have all three of them together. They're starting to become some nice clumps.

Jennaj,I forgot to add that the gold leafed part of your Frances Williams is called Golden Sunburst. I have one like that,that sported all the way to all gold leaves,and it used to be an ordinary FW. Over the years,more gold leaves showed up,and then one year,it came up all gold,and has never reverted back. The only bad thing is,the gold leaves are subject to dessication,the same way the gold margin does on FWs. I have to move mine back to more shade,as it burns very easily. Phil

Bernd, I have seen some nice FW in close to full sun at a client's house. I don't believe the brown spots have much to do with sun exposure, personally, since mine was in TOTAL shade and still got ugly, year after year. I think it's just like any other hosta- not all of us will have the same experience with any given one.

Phil, Did I understand you correctly...if your FW turns gold than it will no longer be a FW, but called Golden Sunburst instead? I have 2 FW and they do well. One of them is 3/4 gold now.
Kimcoco, I have 3 hosta that disappeared, just vanished. I'm blaming voles.

That's funny you mentioned voles. I think I have either voles or moles - saw a little rodent waddling along my garden bed and then found a tunnel he dug on top of my retaining wall. Too fat and slow to be a mouse, too small to be a rat. I had never seen them before. Last year, we were battling mice and rats in our detached garage because siding on the back had rotted and part of our garage was buried. This year we installed a drainage system, solved that problem, but now voles are here. Just can't win!

I lost a hosta that I had just planted last year, and in the same vicinity one of my 2 year boxwood are dying. I THOUGHT it was possibly dog urine, but I could be wrong.

What do you do to get rid of voles or moles? I don't know which of the two I have. I ran my hose in the tunnel the other day, turned it on full blast and left it running for awhile. it took 5 minutes for water to seep out of my retaining wall. I read they aren't nocturnal, so I'll try it again in the evening.

All those years I have FW I never lost one and never saw a gold leaf, but this year I am seeing a gold leaf on a big plant only getting late afternoon sun. Two of my FW must be 15-20 years old.
Bernd

Sassy,yes the all gold version of Frances Williams is called Golden Sunburst. I read it once in one of Diana Grenfells books. You can look it up in the Hosta Library,but I don't think they say where it came from. Here is a current pic of it today. You can see how it dessicates,and this is in too much sun,which further makes it look bad. I plan on moving it into total shade,and also because it is getting crowded,where it is now. Phil

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This is a mole.
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This is a dead mole. I used a spring loaded mole trap.
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While I don't like killing animals this guy killed one of five in a row of my Strictus Junipers last year, had damaged my Blue Mist Spirea repeatedly and was damaging my annuals.

This is a vole.
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How come moles don't have dirt under their nails? Ya'all think moles do damage be thankful you don't live in Armadillo land. As their territory has spread they haven't swam across river - they tunneled under them and their nails seem as long as the whole mole.

I have over the years planted 5 FW and lost them all. They all consistantly regressed after planting. This year I have one that is going to make it. I have a large Grecian Urn in the garden under my walnut that is flanked with Blue Angel on either side and the FW in front. When they grow 1 more year I will post pictures. I wonder if the lack of competition for water and nutriants under the walnut is the difference in my case. Every one I lost, a different hosta thrived in the same location.

Les

I think I would have recognized those feet on the little critter. They seem hard not to miss, and he was just a few feet away. I think it was a vole, though mine looked much fatter than the one in the pic. Moles eat grubs and worms. Voles eat plant roots and vegetation. Great. I have small animals so I'm limited in my choices in my yard in terms of getting rid of them. Thanks for sharing the pics FranknJim.

They need to get rid of that paint ad - it keeps turning my GW page red.

I didn't realize FW was such a difficult hosta to grow. Now I don't feel so bad. Kudos to Les for your perseverance!

While moles don't eat the plant roots they do destroy them when they go through them.

Rats are also known to tunnel around. lol

I have to be careful how I deal with vermin as we have five dogs that cost us almost $10,000.00. We have 13 pets total. :)

BTW,I went back and re-counted my Frances Williams. It turns out I have 9 of them and they have been there quite awhile.I can't figure out why anyone can't grow them. I don't know how moles and voles got into this post,but I only used to get moles in my garden paths,but never in the gardens. Phil

I think that the mole stayed out of my main yard because of the Silver Maple roots being so dense. If they travel in light fluffy soil their tunnels probably collapse.

Discussion went from FW to voles to moles to dogs. LOL. FNJ, I have three dogs, and I thought that was a lot to handle!! Should I dare ask what the rest of the animals are? Hopefully you have some cats in there to deter the little critters.

Three Neapolitan Mastiffs(Medusa, Titus & Persephone), English Mastiff(Athena), German Shepherd Dog(Hans), two cats(Caledonia & Maybell), Scarlet Macaw(Kyra), Greenwing Macaw(Misha), Bluefront Amazon(Shishka), Ecclectus(Filbert), Ball Python(Daisy)& a rat(Oscar).

They are all taught not to hurt other animals so they won't go after any. The cats just watch field mice if they get in the house. The cats lay with the dogs even though they are 15 times their size. All are indoor only pets and none of them are allowed anywhere near my hostas. The dogs have the backyard. The frontyard is mine.

Ummm...back to Frances Williams???

Col123 said: "I don't believe the brown spots have much to do with sun exposure, personally, since mine was in TOTAL shade and still got ugly, year after year."

I have to agree with Col123. I believe the burn spots have everything to do with spring cold exposure.

I've been watching FW at my house. I have her right out my back door, so I give it an inspection about every day. She gets about 5 hours of direct morning-noon sun. Becomes dappled after that.

I have to say, the melted out spots from the spring cold spells show themselves and start becoming really ugly around later May in my parts.

I can say that once the spring burn spots are dried up and done...which has been the last couple weeks this year...they are not pretty, BUT, FW is fine and thrives with lots of sun for the rest of the season with no additional burning.

Just need to figure out the best order of protection during the spring weather.

Gayle

FW dessicates because it does not have the ability to always keep its edges full of moisture so they dry up. Even in perfect weather under perfect conditions. It's in the genes, that is why it happens to almost all FW's everywhere. There are rare exceptions but very few considering how many FW's are out there. That is why so many people are taking out their FW and replacing it with OBL since it does not have the dessication problem.

I have to agree with franknjim. My FW is in a shady corner, this spring was perfect for hosta..the same dang rust spots/dessication issues showed up. I moved it from the front of the house to the back a few years ago, trying to find a place with less sun. Before it got some morning sun. Now it gets no direct sun light but the spot isn't dark. It is finally taking on size, but for its potential I am disappointed and would never bother to divide it or get another. It was my first green/yellow hosta so I keep it around for the collections sake.