When dividing hostas, the goal is to cut of as few roots as possible. Aömost all hostas to be divided should be doug up. The only exceeption to this rule is a Blue Angle, Sum & Sunstance or Blue Umrellas with 75 eyws or more. For monster plants just use a spade and chop off pieces along the perimeter. The only hosta I know of, that you may chop into pieces with a spade or an axe is plantaginea. All others again fall into two categories. The ones with a loseley connected root system (example ginko caig). Thses you can pull apart with your bare hands. The ones with a tightly interwoven root system you dig up, slam them on the ground to knock off a large part of the loose dirt, soak the in a bucket of water for an hour and then use the garden hose to loosen up more dirt. The goal is to loosen the dirt, but not to get rid of it. Inspect the foilage from the top and look for a natural division between eyes. Depending on the size of the plant cut down about 1 to 2 inches deep, using any kind of clean knife. Now grab the two halves and start twisting them in opposite directions, while at the same time pulling them apart. Manfred

I wonder how this fallacy came to be. So we divide our hostas often, no longer have huge mature hostas, keep dividing and they never reach their full potential, which means we have more ground for 'filler' plants = more sales for the nurseries? I've heard people say to divide when the crown in the center starts to die, or something to that affect, but I've never seen a hosta impacted this way. I'm not a hosta expert, but my MIL has been growing them for years, has a yard full of mature hostas, and I've never heard this being a concern.

windymess--you can plant directly into the ground any time the ground is not frozen. Potting hostas might make it easier to do any watering required, but it does not promote the best possible growth. Be sure you amend the soil as needed, and water the plants in thoroughly. Very thoroughly. I don't buy in the spring or early summer because I'm busy adding new garden area by reclaiming parts of an old, overgrown pasture that's full of multiflora rose, nettles, thistles, raspberries, and every stinging and biting insect variety in the Midwest. Then I'm busy digging and dividing and transplanting hostas from my own garden. But as I dig up and prepare new areas, I reserve some spots for upcoming purchases, so once I do order, I have a place ready for the newbies and it's very easy to get them planted. Everything from the Hallson order is now in the ground, a day later than anticipated, because Thursday night I got 8 inches of pounding rain over the course of 10 hours. Typically when hostas arrive, I would soak the roots in a bucket of water for an hour or two before planting, but right now the ground is so wet and the roots were in such excellent condition that I put them straight in the ground. The only issue was that the root mass on every plant was as large or larger than the leaf mass, so larger holes than anticipated had to be provided. Not a bad thing at all. hl_60--congratulations on your second June, it's one of the varieties that I enjoy in several spots in my gardens. Always looks great and goes with just about any other hosta, but especially pleasing with minis. Sandyslopes--what a great list, I'm going to have to add a few of those to my "someday" list. Kariin black cat--excellent series of photos showing the recover process. You will love Tenryu, it's quite large, but since it's also quite upright, so you can underplant it with smaller varieties. Eleven--wish I could make it to the Hallson open house, would love to meet the guys in person and see their gardens. The Bitsy Gold they sent was just ridiculous--I was able to tease it out into 5 nice divisions, so there is now a small patch of it in the new area. Miketropic--a feeew--so true, but my idea of a few is usually either a lot, or way too many! Ken--thanks for the award, I think enabling is one of the main functions of this forum. The other two being education and entertainment, of course.

I guess it is sad that so many gardens do have hvx. And the gardeners aren't even aware of it. Or choose not to educate themselves. Or do once it's too late. I suppose it really matters how much you care. I do. I'm a breeder and have many unique plants. Some are coming to market. Hopefully to be enjoyed by others. One I donated for free so that others may enjoy it. It's not about money for me. Considering the hundreds of hours crossing and growing seedlings I would have made more working at McDonald's I have an isolated bed that I've been watching for over 5 years. They were some early plants where I bought from anywhere that sold Hosta. Before hvx was understood. it started as one and moved on to half the bed. The plants were alive and mature but we're looking nastier year after year. Not what they were supposed to look like. I've been destroying the worst ones. I will rescue a couple that are immune. Put in pots and isolate. But alas that soil will be burned by a brush pile and planted with grass never to have hosta there again. i do buy a few plants for breeding these days. They are not cheap. But they are from hosta businesses who can't afford to sell hvx plants. They would quickly go out of business if they did.