There are lots of hosta eyes up here! Many of the little ones are up & fully unfurled! Dh as usual has beat up a few name tags with the shredder or the blower. Most of the tags he destroyed were on the Sum & Sub sports & seedlings. I had never noticed this before, but all of them have those dark almost black eyes. This list includes Sum & Sub, Parhelion, Tiffney's Godzilla, Bottom Line, Winter Snow, Lady Isobel Barnette, Little Black Scape, Sum of All, Sum It Up, Vim & Vigor, Beauty Substance, Sum Total, Sum Cup-o-Joe, Titanic, Zebson, Corona, Grand Total, and even Gunther's Prize. I haven't seen Blizzard yet , so a few days should tell. I just can't wait for them to unfurl so I can relable them. Now hopefully the weather will settle down & stay in the upper 30's to 40's at night. I sure dont'want a replay of last April!
Elizabeth
No man needs a vacation as bad as the man who has just had one.
Many of mine are coming up and good news is several of the ones I thought I lost last year are coming back (Krossa Regal, Royal Standard, Elegans). Most interesting is Invincible - has really increased in size and I thought this was going to be sort of a boring hosta - bought it because it was cheap. Really starting to look good here.
Glad to hear they made it through the winter ! Good luck to all watch out for late frosts!My favorite time of the year is when the last straggler pops up , then you know they all lived. ~ Dot
Excilting news, Beth, to hear that your hostas are up. I'll have to make special note to watch for the dark eyes in my plethora of Sum and Substance family members as they come up. Can't say I've ever noticed it before.
Linda P
And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten.....
Algernon Charles Swinburne
That;s funny for you to notice 'cause I was just out strolling and noticing the different colored eyes on the many different hostas. Or maybe it's the new bifocals
On the keyboard of life always keep one finger on the escape key.
Cheryl My Hosta List
I was so excited to see hosta eyes on Saturday, I e-mailed my daughter right away to tell her I saw my lst hosta today.
She e-mailed back, said my hosta were happy to be back too and probably told the others "We saw Mary Ann today". Only you folks would understand that hosta conversation.
Okay, we need pictures!
Pictures of eyes are fine by me.
If you like Mary Ann, i could send your Hostas an email, and tell them I saw them to, and you could read it to them!
You could whisper to them, "the email is from the crazy canadian, who lives in a snow belt"
Izzy
Sorry, Izzy - I didn't take time from my cleanup yesterday to get any pics. I was single-minded enough to stick to the task I'd set for myself, and managed to get 4 of my hosta gardens cleaned up. Good thing too cuz it started raining last evening and it's still at it. Now all of the gardens [except for the one I keep forgetting about outside the back door ] are tidied up & ready for hostas to start emerging.
I'm sure sorry to hear about your hail damage, Baja!!
Glad mine are just nubs showing. I think I'd better get some potting soil & do some covering this evening. We have an 80-90% chance of rain mixed or turning to snow in the forecast for Thurs/Fri... And thick fog this morning.
Oh, HAIL! I hate it. I hope your hostas will make a nice recovery, Debbie.
No eyes showing here yet in NW Illinois. We had pouring rain yesterday, cloudy today, and rain in the forecast again for Thurs and Fri, possibly turning to snow overnight Thurs.
I don't have any of the big hosta beds cleaned out yet. I'm still working at cleaning up the horrid mess from all the ice storms this winter. Closing in on that, though! I borrowed my dad's battery operated chainsaw-on-a-stick.
Linda P
And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten.....
Algernon Charles Swinburne
Pia, it's just the first leaves so they'll be ok. It just pisses me off. By the time the second set of leaves form they'll be frying in the summer sun.
Reldon, I bought that Sea Gulf Stream because you showed a pic of your last year. I've gone through about 7 bags of topsoil/compost trying to keep mine cover up since the 1st week of March.
Me too Linda!! Hate it. I was standing in the house lookin out the window. My ice storm debre is gone now. Nothing left but 2 big tree trucks I need to get taken out. I lost all my trees, of course I only had 4 trees on my city lot. I just about bought one of those chain saws on a stick last year. Now I don't need it! Did you loose trees your hostas are planted under?
More snow for you guys!!?? We have more storms coming in tonight. Supposed to have strong winds, tornadoes and large hail.
I may regret it later but I opted for something different this year since I found a new source of free compost. I'm topdressing all the beds right over the old mulch, dead leaves, and dog poop that I wasn't able to pick up during the winter. It should all decompose eventually anyway, and it's easier to fling the compost over all the beds now rather than mulch around individual plants in June. And there's no danger of stepping on emerging eyes.
I've loaded my Trooper twice already with the free compost. That equals about a cubic yard per trip. It smells delicious and the beds look fresh and ready for the emerging hosta.
Debbie, Fortunately I haven't lost any whole trees, but my curly willow has been thinned out by about 1/2 to 2/3, and the entire south side of an ash tree is gone. There will be some hostas that will be getting a little more sun than they're used to. Sorry to hear that you lost all your trees.
I hope the rest of the spring and summer make up for such a horrible winter and early spring.
Mary Ann, that is lovely stuff! (I can't imagine why you would have dog poop in your yard.... ). I just went out and looked at my composting leaf mold, and I think it's going onto the beds as soon as I get the rest of the sticks picked up.
Linda P
And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten.....
Algernon Charles Swinburne
Debbie.. have some tall sunflowers ready for a bit of shade. 4 trees lost in a city lot I have 5 in mine- one still a tiny crabapple
Umrellas, tall grasses or bamboo in pots
Mary Ann... I do it every year- add a thin layer of compost on top of everything. No problems. I have even piled up a H. Kiwi Full Monthy with 1½ gallon of sharp grit- it emerged way to early and it was what i had around and have done it before with compost, wich I was sure would not harm it. The grit was a test
I do not seem aple to keep that hosta down in the soil
Against stupidity the gods themselves struggle in vain.
E-mail for pics hostapics@gmail.com
That's good to hear, Pia. I usually discard hosta leaves in the fall after they're frosted but it was suddenly winter and it stayed that way for 5 months, and I'm too wimpy to go out in the cold and do all that bending , plus I was wary of spreading any nematodes with my hands and feet.
Cleaning up debris in spring is a huge job. Does anyone else just leave it where it is?
Linda, that compost pile is a thing of beauty, the texture much better than my own half cured pile. It's a one time deal, a big incentive for me to get more before it's gone. It's going to cold and rainy until Tuesday. ~groan~ Even the crocus are shivering tonight.
Many of the little ones are up & fully unfurled! Dh as usual has beat up a few name tags with the shredder or the blower. Most of the tags he destroyed were on the Sum & Sub sports & seedlings. I had never noticed this before, but all of them have those dark almost black eyes. This list includes Sum & Sub, Parhelion, Tiffney's Godzilla, Bottom Line, Winter Snow, Lady Isobel Barnette, Little Black Scape, Sum of All, Sum It Up, Vim & Vigor, Beauty Substance, Sum Total, Sum Cup-o-Joe, Titanic, Zebson, Corona, Grand Total, and even Gunther's Prize. I haven't seen Blizzard yet 
, so a few days should tell. I just can't wait for them to unfurl so I can relable them. 
Now hopefully the weather will settle down & stay in the upper 30's to 40's at night. I sure dont'want a replay of last April! 
Glad to hear they made it through the winter ! Good luck to all watch out for late frosts!My favorite time of the year is when the last straggler pops up , then you know they all lived. ~ Dot
] are tidied up & ready for hostas to start emerging. 
And thick fog this morning.
Did you loose trees your hostas are planted under?
I'm topdressing all the beds right over the old mulch, dead leaves, and dog poop that I wasn't able to pick up during the winter. It should all decompose eventually anyway, and it's easier to fling the compost over all the beds now rather than mulch around individual plants in June. And there's no danger of stepping on emerging eyes. 
I have 5 in mine- one still a tiny crabapple