I live in St. Louis and it seemed like we got lots of rain. The hostas where happy but now I am developing fungus in grass. This was a wet year.

How many people have drip irrigation? How are your hostas handling the heat with drip?

Steve

We unearthed some pieces of drip line that were left over from DH's days as a landscaper, and installed them in three of our beds yesterday. Sooo tired of dragging hoses around. Some of the beds are on soakers, and we have impulse sprinklers to reach the rest. The hostas look ok so far tho there is a lot of sunburn and heat stress. I'm more worried about the trees and shrubs. We're in SW Missouri, only a half inch of rain since late May here. Looks like the worst week yet is coming up, more hundred degree + for the next several days. We've already had about 3 wks of that.

Mosswitch, I know when I moved and left so many hosta behing I should not think of them any more, but I can't help thinking about my 8 year old T. Aureonebulosa in the 100+ days in Mountain Home AR. Honestly, I am glad I moved.

Les

Les, I've been to Mountain Home AR. Where ya at now? 80 right now,at 8:30 a.m.-gonna be another scorcher, be safe every one.
So far, my hostas are ok.
cAROL

I am in Wilmington IL aout 20 miles south of Joliet. It was over 80 at 7am this morning. Yesterday we had some cloud cover so it only got to 88. Not today though. One of my hoses blew a pinhole in it so I am going to the store to get a repair coupling. Once I fix the hose I am done outdoors for the day. Probably a cold salad for supper.

Les

Strangely,as hot as it is,at my house;87 right now,out in my garden it was only 70 in the garden yesterday,when it was the same temp. as now.I'm through for the day today,as I did my work out there this morning. I guess the trees do an amazing job keeping the hostas cool! We had a light shower yesterday afternoon late,so all hope is not lost,even though some hostas are looking a little peaked. Phil

No irrigation of any kind. just water, water, water. According to the weather map I saw on the evening news, it is going to be in or close to 100 almost everywhere east of the Rockies for another week!

We have also had no rain other than a few short thunderstorms since May.

chari

We're supposed to hit 100 come Thursday, and back into the 80's by next week. We had a couple of good thunderstorms yesterday and saturated the ground, so the plants ought to be all right for a couple more days, though I might still get out there after 7pm and give them a little drink and a cool down. My 'Janet' is scorched badly, a few others have a little crispiness, but most seem to be doing okay.

Karen

We will get 97 tomorrow, Thursday, so I will give the hostas which get more sun a one-hour drench with sprinklers this afternoon. But since it will be so hot, perfect time around 9 am to put sealer on the driveway at the garage and at the road, will dry in one hour, will look good until next year.
Bernd

I have been watering all of my hostas every other day and don't let the soil dry out at all. Very few have lost any leaves. I either water very early mornings or early evenings to prevent scorching of the leaves due to having water on them when sunlight hits them. I water a lot even when we don't have a heatwave.

Maybe its the clay, maybe its because my newest Hosta are all in pretty deep shade, but I've watered only twice this year. Once on 7-3 and once on 7-16 and the plants seem fine (only .6 of an inch of rain this month). We're hovering at 99 degrees as I type.

tj

I bet my hostas right now did not need any watering, but then they could have received burns, anyway I watered as insurance for the next 2 days of 97/96. I did not water the conifers group in full sun, they had moist soil, and it was said they like to dry up a little.
Bernd

I hope this season isn't the new *norm* for us all! I've heard reports that for some sections of the country the climatologists are proposing that's what is happening!

Canada--here we come!!

I remember the summer of 1995 (year I graduated high school) was pretty gosh darn hot most of the summer. 1988 was pretty hot, and dry too. I was little, but I remember all of the grass turned brown and there were an awful lot of locusts. I lived in Michigan all of my life until 2006 when I moved to Ohio. Things are supposed to cool down a bit for us next week. The 80's are looking very inviting!

Karen

Ah yes, Karen. I remember those years too. 1995 was the last time the Milwaukee Airport hit 100 degrees. And in 1988 my wife nearly killed me because we didn't have A/C yet. Memories...

tj

According to the weather forecast today we are in for more of the same through August. That immovable high pressure system rotating over us sends all the rain around and to the north. Grrr.

It hasn't been this hot here for so many days in a long time..but when I was a kid it would happen every summer.. I used to hang out at friends, because we never ran the air... One time i worked at the state fair, and it was over 100 most of a week..really humid too. people were dropping everyday. it wasn't so bad back then, I didn't have hosta to worry about ;)

I am another St Louis resident. Been in the upper 90's and tapping 100 for what, two weeks now?

Just tonight I watered the hostas up against the east of my house for the first time. Yesterday they looked ok, today like I used the torch too close to them.

Funny what how the more established ones on the west side of my house slightly further from reflected light and where the soil is deeper look fine....well at least for the next couople days lol.

Weather gal tonight said we are +10 inches of rain on the year. This is our first dry spell in awhile so it is surprising more plants are not being caught shallow rooted.

I was raised on the northwest side of Chicago and it seemed every summer we would have a stretch of 100 degree days. Then it seemed hitting 100 became rare. We also had colder winters and had ice to skate on in the parks.

Hopefully this is a cycle the earth goes through periodically. One year in the early 1960's, June was gruelingly hot and I rushed out and bought a window AC. Never got to use it - July and August were beautiful. It doesn't look that way this year but it is nice to hope.

Les

And to think St Louis is only 4 hours away from me, and you've had plenty of rain, but we were already having a drought in June.

Deanna

Don't you think the heat never bothered us when we were kids BECAUSE we were kids? My parents didn't get A/C until I was 18, we just hung out in the shade or on the side porch.

As long as we had a nickle for the Good Humor man every day, we were fine. Oops! a nickle? Looks like I have given my age away!

chris

Youth is such an uncomplicated period in our life. Too bad we never fully appreciated it. Because we knew so little it seemed life was really a challenge. I too sat with my neighbor kids in the shade and waited for the ring-a-ling of the Good Humor bicycle cart (now who is giving away age). At other times we might have been enemies but during the dog-days of summer we were friends in the shade.

By 11am the power from ComEd has so deteriated in quality from load that my computer system UPS unit kicks out and doesn't restore until 9pm. It doesn't make any difference whether I have heavy loads (my AC, TVs etc.) on or not so it must be area-wide.

Talk to you tonight - it's a good excuse to take a mid-day nap.

Les

....I saw a dog chasing a cat the other day,and they were both walking! Badump dump! Seriously,folks even though my hostas are making it OK,we could still use some serious rain! Every late afternoon,it seems,we get thunder and it rains about one hundred drops,then the sun comes back out. It was 96.5 here yesterday. Phil