First of all, thank you all. Now more info...They are under the maple tree, because I have axactly two areas of full shade, one is under a crabapple and the other under a red maple (that, to spite the fact that it has surface roots and is a pain to plant near, I love) I do not think that moisture is an issue, I am well irrigated and the ligularias and astilbes are quite happy (both are well known floppers when deprived of water in the least)... The soil is interesting, we live on a river and I have areas of clay, clay loam and damn near 100% sand, the area that the hostas are in is quite loamy, and I have been adding compost as long as I have gardened that spot. The roots, I know are an issue, I did not have a good time getting the plants in there, but it is super irrigated to compensate...maybe too well irrigated, I will have to check it out. I am pretty sure they are planted properly, I am a HOSTA newbie (because of lack of shade) but not a garden newbie, I have too many perennials and roses to count right now, as well as a well developed prairie along the river. I am well informed on how to install plants. I looked up the variety of hosta in my files, and it is "White Christmas" ...Unfortunate as it seems... I did pull on one of the brown leaves, and it did fall right into my hand. I have been looking up Hosta crown rot on the web, and it has moved into our neck of the woods, it is not common, but it is here. Not surprising with all the travel that plants do now days. The U of M web site has clues as to how to diagnose it, I will dig one up and see what I can find out. Apparently if it is crown rot, I have things to take care of so as not to create more problems for myself. Bottom line, I obviously choose the WRONG kind of hosta. But the tag did not say that it was difficult to grow, it said shade to part shade, well drained moist soil...blah blah blah, as they all do, even on catalogue web sites, you don't get detailed plant info...and it was pretty...and it was on sale, any gardener with a bad plant habit and a somewhat limited budget can understand the draw in that. So there we are, I think I will take the advice of the majority and dig em up and put in easier hostas...anyone with advice on which ones those are? Thank you all again...Helen.

All day, everyday customers ask me what are the best appliances because their expensive two year old appliance is broke. I always tell them the cheapest ones. If a frig is full of electronics it will break and cost 2-4 hundred to repair it. A basic simple no fancy electronic frig will last. Whirlpool or Frigidaire. The fancier the range the better for me. Keep it simple. All ovens heat at 350 degrees. It seems today everyone is a chef, must be all those cooking shows. They buy $2000.00 ranges and pay me $400.00 to fix them. I love it. People pay big bucks on a dishwasher with all those buttons but only use the normal cycle. I don't get it. A mid line whirlpool is a good dishwasher. All dishwashers work about the same. Water comes in, sprays around, and drains. Its not magic. If you like the Bosch, Samsung, Miele, asko etc. make sure there are people in town that repair them. I'm like the only LG servicer in my area which means I can charge more to repair them. No competition, business 101. There are only a couple of people in my area that will repair Samsung refrigerators, bosch, asko, etc. And they are not cheap. Everyone repairs Whirlpool and Frigidaire. I live in an area with over 500,000 people so its not like we're in a small town out in the boonies. Talk to an independent local servicer that doesn't sell appliances and he can advise you on the appliances that he has the least problems with. You won't find too many appliance tech's that own GE. Their parts are the most expensive in the industry. Whirlpool, Frigidaire and even LG parts are reasonable. Fischer Paykel. There again one maybe two companies repair them. The only place I can find parts for them is from Fischer paykel and they're in New Zealand. Takes about 3 weeks to get parts. I just picked up a customer with apartments full of Viking. Viking controls their part distribution so only one part supplier on the east coast carries the parts. No competition means expensive parts which equals expensive repairs. Its a great time to be an appliance repairman. I was never this busy in the 90's with the simple basic appliances. All those new fancy electronic appliances keep me very busy.

Pool & Spa expert here. Lets clear up a few myths: 1) Bromine is harder on tub components than chlorine. Also chlorine is only about 10% active in the 8.0+ pH range so if you are using chlorine I hope you know what you are doing. Bromine is much easier to manage in spa water and the amount of residual buildup on tub components, though more than chlorine, is not likely to cause major problems. 2) If you have just purchased a new (used) hot tub that has a questionable history then you need to raise the sanitizer level to 10ppm minimum and use a line flush product to clean bio film out of the pipes. If this were my tub I would pipe flush it two times at least. 3) Take a spa school course to learn the basics of what you are doing and then test the water like crazy. Also have the water professionally tested to make sure that you are getting accurate readings with your tests at home. If you have ANY hot tub related questions I would be happy to answer them. I wrote a tutorial about pool water maintenance as well as one about spa water maintenance and I would be happy to clear up any confusion that anyone has. Here is a link that might be useful: Spa Water Care

You may want to go to the container gardening forum and read up on growing fruit trees in containers. I would use 60% pine bark, 20% perlite, and 20% peat moss. It is possible to grow fruit trees in containers but top soil does not work well. I would repot in the next few days. Top soil will not drain well and become compacted. While fruit trees is possible to grow in containers, it is usually more complicated than in raised beds or native soil. You may have to water daily in the summer and will have to fertilize more often. Drainage is also a major concern. Trees and fruit will be smaller. It would have been better to try an annual like tomatoes or peppers and learn from doing those in containers before planting trees, but as long as you look at it as a project, you can learn as you go. Is there a chance it can work? Yes, but you will need to plant into a better potting medium.