I feel for you, Shade. FB is one of my very faves.

such a nice healthy plant

sorry to say it is a good example that you have to be careful where you buy because even a great looking plant can show the signs sometime between a couple of days or 4 years

i don't know about the rabbit thing, possible i quess, but maybe you can use it to get your neighbor to get rid of their plant

Hi Shade!

Maybe a well-grown plant, but not so healthy :(

yes, those markings are telltale signs of HVX. Since there are so many leaves affected over the whole plant and since the symptoms are so clearly defined my guess would be that the plant has been infected for several seasons and its possible you simply missed the symptoms earlier. When I've seen infected Guacamole it looks just like this, but was very, very difficult to see in the first season. HVX also usually shows up in just one or two leaves early on, making it easy to miss.

Again, sorry for the loss of this big plant, but you are doing the right thing by getting rid of it as you don't want to accidentally, or let the rabbits accidentally move this around the garden.

Take care,

Chris

ST - I hate that for you. You had a very nice arrangement going. Such a disappointment when it shows up after the hosta is mature.

Thanks Patann. I felt really bad digging it up, almost like the plant knew its' garden time was up, sad but I do have another Fragrant Bouquet, an older one from about eight years ago so the loss is not too bad.

I do agree with you Greenguy on being careful where plants are purchased. I'm always on the lookout when I see hostas at local nurseries. Not so much for my own purchases as I have more than enough hostas (can't believe I admitted to that) However I do like to alert the nursery if I see telltale signs of HVX. Recently a manager at one local garden center didn't believe the hosta I pointed out to her was diseased. She thought it was sporting and tried to tell me that hostas are always doing this!! Hah! Tried to explain to her I've been collecting for quite a while and perhaps she should check out HVX online. Anyway bottom line she did pull the plant and promised to research it later.

JB, thanks, it is hard to deal with a sudden hole in your planting design. I knew I couldn't place another hosta there for awhile so I dug up a sedum from another part of the garden to hold the space for a year until I can put another hosta there.

Hi Chris! Thanks so much for your thoughts and confirming the "diagnosis". For those who don't know, Chris is the very wise and trusted HVX expert. Gosh I was thinking I must be blind as a bat or blinded by hostas since this Fragrant Bouquet was right up front, I pass by it nearly every morning and evening and never noticed anything amiss. Since Guac is a sport of FB I can see how it would be difficult to detect the beginning signs. I found a pic of the same plant from about a month ago, I guess the virus is lurking in here somewhere, just hard to see--Eileen

Hi Eileen,

Check out the leaf at 3 o'clock, plus possibly the new leaf emerging way down below at 6 o'clock.

Hopefully you were able to get it out without damaging any of its neighbors.

It really is amazing how quickly the virus showed itself when it wasn't that bad a month earlier.

Arrrrgh. What a gorgeous vignette.

Feelin' the pain here.

I feel for you, I just dug up a Striptease about a week or so ago, bagged it and trashed it. I noticed two leaves that looked suspicious, a week later there were two more leaves. While I was standing looking at it, debating whether I dared leave it and watch it a bit longer my two dogs dashed through another section of the bed, with one of them stepping squarely on another hosta. That did it, I decided it wasn't worth the risk and went and got my fork and a bag.It was it's third year in my garden and was really looking good this year (at least before HVX showed up)

Yep Chris, thanks for pointing out the three o'clock leaf, that did look suspicious. So far all neighbors look ok but I know how that can change.
Thanks Inlimbo and Hostaholic2.
H2 that sounds like me in my garden, looking and debating what to do while my crazy dogs come romping outside! Sorry about your Strip Tease, I had to toss one of those too a few years back. I know how pretty they can look in their third year.