There can be 2 things - you could damage the leaves while you were repotting and such - and the bent surfaces now die on the bend. Second I saw chunks eaten from my leaves - and it was a vine weevil - black beetle with elongated head with a "trunk" - and they say the larva is even worse. I know that it happened to me when I brought a potted palm from outside in a fall. They hide somewhere for a day - and feed in a night time. I think any isecticide will kill them if you spray or leach the soil with it - but the problem is that it can be detrimental to the violets as well. Hopefully Nancy Robitaille will give us an advice what to use. The lesson for me was - do not take plants outside - you never know what you are going to bring back. Or if you do - treat them as annuals. Irina

Thanks. But there are no roots to wash. Something has eaten the roots all the way up to the hard part of the seedling (looks like a giant pencil tip). I've seen little feild mice/rats running about, and I've seen a big ground hog in the vicinity. The strange thing is that the ground looks undisturbed. My only indication that something happened, was my seedling tilted to one side. When I went to straighten it, it lifted right out of the ground. No signs of digging around the seedling, unless something is tunneling from underneath. Also, its been very cold here lately, like lows in the 20s at night. Could weather be a factor? Like frost upheaval? Around here it seems to get warm and rainy, then suddenly very cold. Can cutworms live in such frigid weather?

When I started my recent love affair with hostas, I began with HOSTA PLANTAGENEA, which is the granddaddy of the fragrant hosta family. It is doing fine, and so is my desire to grow different hostas with the different colors, the curly or corrugated or striped variegations. And big ones. So I understand the issues with zone 8B gardening. I looked at the white rocks, and thought it a neat looking addition, but wondered what it would do for the hostas. Maybe you can look for something like the aspedistras, or maybe daylilies. Aspedistra like shade too, but they are not as finicky as hostas. I've been trying the variegated ones too. They deal very well with tree roots. And so does asparagus fern. Now that asparagus fern stores water in its roots, and can deal with all sorts of sunshine, potted up or in the ground. Nice thing about asparagus fern, it stays green all year round, unless it gets down to maybe 15 degrees when it might have some fronds burned. It blooms and it makes red berries too. Lots of good qualities.

Interesting issue.... Based on the clockwise twining seen in your pictures, this appears to be a Japanese wisteria. Is is a named variety/grafted plant? Does it produce a lot of root suckers and, if so, do you allow them to remain and climb on the structure? You said in your original post that the vine is doing well - is any part of it visibly dead - i.e. no leaf or flower growth? Does the vine lose its leaves at some point in the year in your climate? (My two wisterias are just losing their leaves for the winter now....) If the vine loses its leaves at some point in your growing season, that's a good time to give it a close inspection. Since the support structure is also wood, it may well have rot too, so check it carefully (What kind of wood is the support structure?) Wisterias are pretty tough plants that can survive a lot of damage. If it is still producing healthy new growth from the stems that have split, I wouldn't worry too much about the vine. If there are areas where the vine is dead (i.e. no leaf or flower growth) I'd prune out the dead section and let nearby healthy growth fill the blank space. If there are suckers from above a graft union or if you normally let root sucker grow and they flower the same as the rest of the vine, you could use them to help fill in any dead sections too. If there is a nearby botanical garden or a commercial grower of the vines, you could ask them for further help in identifying the source of the problem and what to do. At this point, I wouldn't give up or the vine or assume it will die out. They are very tough plants and it would take a lot of damage to completely kill it! Do you have a picture of it in flower on the structure? If so, I'd love to see it....