Are their leaf fans showing and looking healthy? If they are, then straight below them will be the new roots and they will have settled in, thought they might not flower this coming season. As the weather warms and the leaves get more growth on them you could brush back the soil covering the rhizome so it gets the summer sun. If there is no obvious sign of new growth (and you can see there is in local gardens) - fossick with a cautious finger or small hand tool to see if you have a growing tip below the surface. Generally they 'make their way to the top' as the new growth becomes older so you may not need to lift the plants at all.

I did my red maple in earlier in spring, trying to raise it. Mine was planted about 10-12" too deep, but I planted it myself, with the help of a hired hand in fall of 2015. BTW, I'm in Marlboro NJ, zone 7A. The tree in question was a beautiful October Glory maple. I was just aiming to get the top of the burlap bag an inch or 2 above the surrounding soil, not realizing until next spring, that I had made a mistake. It started out a beautiful 'rubrum' in spring, giving me hours of pleasure, as I just stood around it, sometimes nursing a drink. But as a very wet spring progressed, and the leaves were still not opening out fully, my mind raced to a number of things that could have gone wrong in the planting. I definitely had not cut the cage around it as thoroughly as I should have (damn thick guage wire, so hard to cut with pliers!). So, one very wet day, in a very very wet week, I started investigating, prying the dirt away, in an effort to find the wire cage. In the process I discovered that I could not see the root flare at all, instead the trunk was buried, and was discoloring and fraying from the surrounding soil and water. So I decided to raise it. I leaned on the tree, this way and that until it was moving on it's root ball. I shoveled dirt under the root ball, trying to work it in with my foot. Then I had a brainwave! I soaked the root ball and surrounding with water and waited. As the water drained down, the dirt mixed in the water found it's way to the bottom, while I was still wiggling it. It worked, the tree was slowly raised. And then I made the fatal mistake! I also saw roots that were growing from down on up. Now, with the tree raised, these roots were poking into the air. I started cutting them, some of them were big and juicy. I felt horrible, but could not stop! After I had raised and root pruned the tree to my aesthetic satisfaction, I covered it with dirt just so, and mulched and staked it. It looked really nice, with the frayed trunk, previously suffering the indignity of being buried, now finally breathing and recovering, or so I thought. I kept the tree well watered, even spritzing it a few times a day (deputizing my kids in the job as well). But the leaves started drooping. I increased the watering and spritzing, but to no avail. One by one, the leaves gradually turned brown, and then dropped. After a few weeks, in a frantic effort to save the tree, I cut back the branches a couple of inches from the terminal buds to encourage growth. But to no avail. Right now, it's late August, and a scratch test reveals a dead tree. No cambium, no phloem, no nothing! There are leaves growing from the base, but even those are drying up right now. So, I will definitely be replacing the tree. I have a question from this learned group, but I will first let this greek tragedy soak in first.

sure.. why not ... to a trained eye ... if you know each hosta well enough .. some of us.. can just look at it .. and realize it seems kinda squat ... not properly tall ... if you suspected a few.. you could post pix ... but all that said .. if the darn thing is performing ... properly ... then who are you to go tell it its too deep ... it seems like many.. can adjust themselves.. well enough.. that i wouldnt bother digging them up ... anyway ... it more about a hosta thats only been in the ground 1 to 3 years ... that seems to be struggling .... anything older than that.. that is performing.. i wouldnt worry about ... ken

I cut off the base of the White Ghost, and it was dried out and woody, totally dead material. Here is a photo of the plant after cutting up the base a few times. I encounter now a hollow section that does not look like rot, but I guess this is the start of rot, potentially? Should I keep cutting until I encounter a completely white and flat surface that emits sap all over?