I am just a few hours north of you and have stayed in the mid to upper 90's for quite awhile now. I too have been watering a lot. I do it every other day for two hours each time. I don't let the ground dry out at all. I have lost very few leaves.

I wouldn't base moving things around on what the weather is doing to hostas right now since this isn't normal weather for the midwest.

Everyone talks about the weather but no one does anything about it! How old is that expression?

With the weather this summer, all of us are experiencing stressed plants. I have decided to do all the watering I can and then take a page from Ken's book and not get myself stressed.

The leaves on some of mine are horrible, brown, withered, sickly. But I figure as long as the plant lives to become beautiful next year, that's OK. Some are still beautiful, great for them and they keep me happy.

As Frank said, don't move or even judge your plants based on this summer. Everything could change next year (we hope)
I am in the mid-Atlantic and this is not normal for this area either!

chris

I totally agree with franknjim. The hostas will survive in this strange year and maybe even come back stronger in 2012. But if you start digging them out you could be doing major hurt to them. Do what you can to keep them watered.

I lived a couple of hours south of you for quite a while and it was very common for trees to undergo a major "leaf-drop" when the ground dried up and heat pulled the moisture out of the leaves faster than it could be replaced. Maples could loose more than half their leaves. That is how they compensate. Hostas compensate by going into early dormancy also. It doesn't mean they are dying. But do the best you can and I have confidence you will be rewarded.

Les

Its been humid enough here, that shaded areas aren't drying up so bad, but those in direct sun for long..good luck

heck I think I had prime looking hosta until thanksgiving last year ;) hahah

I am not looking to repeat that this year.

I have lost a few leaves,here and there, but for the most part the hostas are OK,and they will be back. We actually got a half inch of rain the other day and it helped a lot! One thing I keep noticing that a lot of you don't know the diference between the words lose and loose. They are two entirely different words with two different
meanings. I admit I can't type that well,but I can spell. Just a thought,and no,I am not the spelling police! Lol! Phil

I wir an ingunear and everyone nose ingunears kant spel. Its in da jeans.

Les

The leaves on my Silver Maples are getting loose.

So loose that some of them are falling off of the branches. ;^)

I live across the river from you hostasgreat and the hosta are holding their own, not quite sure how much longer thought. I'm watering constantly with making the circle around the yard. I'm really surprised how well they are holding up, the ones on filtered shade are doing great it's the one that get 2 or 3 hours of sun that show a little damage. I try and give them a cool shower some time after their sun bath, seems to be working. Lou

Thanks hostafreak, it does make me squirm when I see the word "loosing".

Despite watering bans on lawns....i am watering. when i say i'm watering...i am watering 12 hours a day....yeah, really. lol my justification is that i essentially have no lawn, i don't care about the grass!

my yard is large and so i am doing "zones" at 4 hrs each. my stuff still looks hellish in some areas but by golly...it's still alive.

i'd much rather pay a 160 dollar water bill than replace 1000s of dollars worth of landscaping!

Golly nucci and hosta freak: have a little love! Getting bent out of shape about loosing is losing it, don't ya' think. But when you consider lost and loost I guess you have a point though. I am curious, are you English teachers? Actually, we have a weatherman on Chicago's WGN-TV that seems to have a speach defect. He thinks there is an "h" in storms, like in shtorms and I have to tune him out.(lol) You're cracking me up! I am glad I am not the author of this thread!

Les

That weatherman must have some German in him, that's how you pronounce 'St' correctly!

No,not an english teacher,but I have always been able to spell correctly. It's one of the few talents I was born with. Kinda like people on TV pronouncing the word nuclear,as nucular. There ain't such a word,but many broadcasters still do it! Just one of my quirks,I guess! Sorry to offend! Phil

Spelling has always come easy to me also, Phil. It really doesn't bother me when people misspell words. But it's almost impossible for me to not notice it. The misspellings just jump out of the sentence at me.

Lol, now I find myself reading over my post to make sure I didn't misspell anything!

Wendy

It kinda bugs me too, I have to confess. Another one is when people say "irregardless"....makes me want to correct them. It's a lesson in grace, for sure!
Karen

The weatherman is Austrian but has no other accent. My guess he is several generations here. My German grandmother always talked about downshprouts on the gutter, but she was tough on people who didn't speak english. But she wasn't on TV influencing children we are trying to teach proper english. Oh well!

I'm half German and 1/2 Irish, and if you think German is hard try Gaelic. Ever try to read Baewulf? We sure are drifting aren't we!

My hostas leaves aren't falling off yet. Neither are their leafs. Just covering my six! (lol)

Les

Indianapolis has a watering ban? How dry is it a few hours east of us?!?

The summer has been dry here. Think for the year we are still ten inches plus for rain. The big rivers look normal.

Half my hostas are suffering. If they die they die. Only soo much time for babying in my life. Will replace them with hopefully hardier selections.....although the ones doing fine up front are in need of division.....