What I'd do: Wait until just before or after first frost to dig & pot the hosta. Use a porous mix to fill in & around the root ball. Move to an unheated shelter to wait for the move. (Any place where they won't get rained on.) As to how you actually transport them will be weather dependent. If it's unusually warm, I'd forgo the rooftop bag where they'll get heated up by the sun. (Weight on the car top also a concern?) Have on hand some ice, frozen in 1/2 gallon plastic milk jugs to pack in between the potted hosta and tuck a couple of blankets over them to keep them well chilled--if you transport them inside a heated car. Another thing you might consider doing--before you load the hosta, put down some large pieces of reflective mylar (cheap tanning blankets), load the hosta & cover with more mylar & then cover with blankets. The mylar will work to reflect heat away from the 'package' and help keep the cold in. Might want to insulate underneath the bottom layer of mylar, too, to protect from any heat rising into the car from the exhaust system. Use recycled styrofoam packing or get a sheet of the cheap (white) beadboard from Home Depot or Lowes. Aim for packaging them in a sort of free form ice chest. Once you're at your destination, transfer to a place in the shade (but not next to any heated structures.) As soon as you can, pop them out of the pots & heel them in somewhere shady (but dry) and maybe consider lightly covering them with something like pine boughs to keep them from getting too wet. Then maybe the easiest thing to do would be to just leave the MA hosta in MA & replace them with southern grown hosta. Spring comes really early in Alabama so you won't have long to wait!

Hi JB, Most hostas are hardy to zone 3, so yours should be just fine outside in the ground without being mulched, but they will be one of the very last things to come up in spring, so donÂt start worrying that they didnÂt make it when everything else starts to grow againÂjust sit back and wait for them. TheyÂll also be one of the first things to freeze, just as a warning! If you just put them in this spring/summer, with a couple years to grow and develop they should be just beautiful. If youÂve been trying them for several years and not having any luck, if theyÂre being planted in heavy clay, next time you plant some, add a substantial amount of organic matter (good quality compost or moist Canadian peat) to the soil in the area where youÂre planting them. That will help hold moisture and nutrients, and hostas usually appreciate a lighter soil. Skybird P.S. Kath, that looks like the sunny side of the house! Are yours doing that well in the sun? They look great!

Was checking on FW minutes ago - thought I'd also check on Striptease who is looking good after its move to centre of that bed and up close it is developing some bright colour to its leaf centres. Had no tape, see no droop, no problem! But the water bill this month will hit the roof, lol!!! At first I thought the bed was kind of blah, not enough pizzazzzzz but then remembered Striptease will become more colourful, Bedazzled will add colour as will Wolverine and Hanky Panky up front. That bed is so sunny for half a day that it can use a bit of muting down. June resides to the right and provides brightness too. Hard to believe I had FF, GT, JCC and Ginsu Knife all in there! Looked fine two years ago though! LOL Time stops for no one...peony show just about over... hosta scapes, lily scapes, delphinium scapes, etc. taking the relay... almost summer!

Beverly, et al: What is "lightweight potting soil"? I'd like to know so I can order some from Amazon before I start digging up hostas. I have no idea when my place will sell so I can complete my purchase of the Baltimore condo, but I think I should start potting up the hostas and heuchies I intend to take with me. I intended to dig up all my hostas, like I said, before the ground freezes and snow covers the ground, so the I.D. tags would not get separated and I don't have to freeze my behind off out there digging. For one of my largest hostas, Paradise Island, could I get away with a 12" plastic growers pot? My huge Paisley Print is already in a pot. Right next to it is a very big Blue Jay. Also a 12" pot? Some of the teeniest minis, like Pure Heart, are already in groups in an 18" ceramic pot. I guess Marilyn Monroe, a big girl, should also be put into a 12" pot? Ripple Effect is a bit smaller, but still biggish---a 10" pot? Now, I have Virginia Reel, High Society, Hyura Urijiro, and a couple of other small hostas---should they be put into a BIG plastic pot as a group? Then I have Raspberry Sundae, got very big this year--10" pot? THANKS to all, very much, for your advice in this. I don't want to lose my 36 lovingly selected and cared for hostababies!