Santa, whatever you are doing will work until you know better, then it goes downhill with a big OOPS. At least, that is my experience! And I am chuckling here, because I too started with about 6 or 8 plants and that was in 2010 when we had a house in Massachusetts too. I put about 3 in the ground in Alabama in 2011 May. Next year, which was 2012, by about June I was welcoming #200 in the mail. It was my Hosta Sparkler, still have it noted on its name tag. As they say, the rest is history. How far will it go this year for you? Now that you've made contact with the forum, we'll have to see. It's a wild and crazy ride, and it becomes more exciting as time goes by. As a side note, I ran into an old acquaintance at a meeting. She is a master gardener, so I mentioned that I was growing hosta now. To which she replied that oh, hosta don't grow here, they always die. Words to that effect. So I said I'd like to show her MY hosta, along about late May or early June, when I have everything all spiffy and under control. It is an amazing sight, and I want to see her face when she treads down the garden path beneath tall sasanqua camellias draped with spanish moss, solar lights twinkling on as the light fades, and the tall liriope and the naturalized ferns hide all the pots, the cypress mulch quiets our steps. It is total MAGIC. Then we'll see if she still believes hosta don't grow here. And I won't share a single plant, they are not mature!

Moccâ¦..We have a ton of squirrels as we have a ton of trees but I have managed to keep their nuisance level to a minimum after I quit putting out bird feed. That helped a lot with that issue but they still are in the yard every day. Whenever I see one of the little bastards I send my dogs out to chase them off. I had to build nets around my potted roses because they wouldn't stop chewing off the buds and digging in the pots, but for some reason don't dig much in the hosta pots. Maybe because the dirt wasn't so obvious like it is in the large rose pots. Also, I stared using cedar mulch to cover the media in my hosta pots this year. That has seemed to stop almost all digging, and I also rarely see any holes dug into my beds that are mulched with cedar. It doesn't stop the skunks or other diggers in the beds but it does detour the squirrels. Same as you, the heat does not seem to have an affect, at least short term, on any of my hosta. Also, as we don't get regular rain, we get downpours or two or three days of light rain followed generally by long periods of dry, so that isn't a huge concern with me right now. I totally agree, my concern is the affect of a warm winter, although we had one two years ago and my 6 or 7 plants all came out and did fine. Again, long term, I don't know. They were slow to come out that year, not showing up until probably around April 1, where as last year after we had a super cold winter they all started popping out in late February. I planted maybe six of my new plants last year in the moisture control MG before I knew that was a no-no and had planned to repot as soon as they went dormant, but now I have decided to experiment with them and leave as is. My weather is pretty unique to yours, ilovetogrow's and even bkay's, so with our combination of warmer and drier winters I want to see what happens. Most of my plants are potted in straight regular MG and new plants next spring will be planted in Ladybug natural potting soil mixed with some expanded shale and nuggets of some sort. Then I can do a real comparison of any differences. So bottom line I plan to hold course with what I have been doing, for better or for worse, pots mostly shaded year round, sitting on the mulched ground in my beds and on feet on my patio, and see what happens. All that said, we NEED rain to fill our aquifer! Lots of it!

Anything in bold you should rethink: The best houses orient the public rooms towards the south for the best passive solar heating and cooling (What direction does your house face?) The best houses are L, U, T, H, or I shaped. The best houses are only one to two rooms deep. And covered lanai, porches, garages, etc count as rooms in this case. The best houses make sure kitchens have natural light, meaning windows so one doesn't have to have lighting 24/7 to use the kitchen. (And no, dining areas with windows 10' or more from the kitchen will not allow for natural light.) The best houses make sure all public rooms and bedrooms have windows on at least two walls. The best houses do not if possible put mechanical rooms, pantries or closets on outside walls The best houses keep public and private spaces separate. The best houses do not have you walk through the work zone of the kitchen to bring laundry to the laundry room. The best houses do not have the mudroom go through any of the work zones of the kitchen. The best houses do not use the kitchen as a hallway to any other rooms. The best houses do not put toilets or toilet rooms up against bedroom walls, public rooms or dining areas. The best houses do not have walk in closets too small to stand inside. The best houses have an organizing “spine” so it’s easy to determine how to get from room to room in the house and what makes sense.

Your hostas and others are beautiful! If Fire Island is shrinking, perhaps digging it up to see if it’s got tree roots bound in its roots. I occasionally have to do this because I have a maple in the front where many are planted. debra