Cookie, if you have a picture of your location, then add it to the post. It will be easier to make a judgement.

What kind of maple trees exactly? Some are worse than others, so they say, not familiar with growing beneath them personally.
A lot of people have problems growing things beneath the maples. If you enriched the soil and added the hosta, I bet if you dig up a couple of them, you'll find that tree roots are having a fine time with the new nourishment, and their roots are choking your hosta.

They could use the sun, of course, but not being in the light is not what's causing them to languish.

We have plenty of folks around Ontario to give you a spot-on report, so hang on, they'll be here to give their replies.

All that soil and compost is probably full of maple tree roots. A mistake I made a few years back.

Dig up one of your hostas and wash all the dirt off. When washing the dirt off, you should be able to tell if maple tree roots are tangled up in your hosta roots, they have a different texture.

If you have maple tree roots tangled up in your hostas, you'll never be able to grow nice size hostas in that area. You'll have to either put them in pots (which can be buried in the ground if you like) or use spin out bags.

Gesila

They are very large silver maples. When I dug them out, I don't remember them being entangled but I probably wasn't paying much attention because the root situation in my nearby vegetable garden is pretty bad. Thanks. Plus I have clay soil. Nearby, I have ten hostas growing and they are huge! I guess I will try the pot thing. Thanks.

Here is a link that might be useful: [http://s641.photobucket.com/user/shebagirl/media/IMG_0021.jpg.html?sort=4&o=0(http://s641.photobucket.com/user/shebagirl/media/IMG_0021.jpg.html?sort=4&o=0)

Speaking from experience here.

Large Silver Maples cast dense shade and have dense fibrous roots.

The hostas may grow there, but they will never grow large, or full. They might put on growth for a few years, but they WILL get set back probably by year 4.... and they'll look smaller than when you bought them.

I have a bed that is in its 7th year. It has old favorites like August Moon, Frosted Jade, Shade Fanfare, Sun Power and Sea Fire, just to name a few....
After 7 years, those suckers should be HUGE.
Well, they're about the size of a 1 gallon pot, if that. aded, lots of root competition and I'm betting with clay soil, it's rather compact too.... and in this pic, it looks dryish.

My suggestion.... find something else to plant there.... or be ok with small hostas that will dwindle over time. They will never be huge.. But I dare ya to prove me wrong!

i like the tire swing ...

listen to me ... learn how to grow hosta in pots ... and forget about growing anything under one maple.. let alone two ...

your members page bio.. seems to indicate hosta are not the first thing you are struggling with under those trees ... and gardening should not be all this hard ...

its the darn trees.. they will suck the life out most anything you find interesting ... yeah there are a bunch of drab things the you can 'make do' under there .. but that isnt all that fun ...

i often joke.. that you ought to just throw your hosta on the driveway .... and thinking about it this morning.. the driveway would be more friendly than those 2 trees .. lol ...

we want to enable you ... and i think a couple of our potting gurus should show you what you can do with hosta in pots ... babs.. moc.. bkay ... show her the light ...

but let me even tell you this ... if you put a pot of something.. within 5 feet of the those trees.. as i did once.. you will have to lift and turn the pot once a month ... OR THE FREAKING TREE WILL GROW ROOTS RIGHT INTO THE POT... and still go after the fine media in those pots ...

come on pot junkies.. show her the way ...

ken

ps: and if cookie is a man.. forgive me the presumption ....

pps: dirt doesnt go in pots.... media does ... there are 60 pages of posts... and MANY are about growing in pots ... perhaps the pot-heads.. will give you some links ....

Is there any benefit to using heavy landscape fabric to line the holes? It must not work because I never see it mentioned. Can some one tell me why that doesn't help.
Thanks

pic for reference (paste the html link in your text to show pic)

Paul

Lots of people with your situation try spin-out bags. They are treated with some kind of metal (copper?) that repels tree roots. You dig a hole and put the bag in it and then fill with hosta and dirt.

Or, you could put stepping stones down and put pots on them. I'm in Texas, so growing in pots would be different for you in Canada. Mocc is in Alabama, Babka is in Silicon Valley and Paula is in Florida. None of us have the experience of freezing pots. There's one of the guys who is from the frozen north who grows lots of his hosta in pots. Is it Steve? That's who we need to help you.

If you are interested in growing in pots, and don't get a response, post a new thread with Pots and Canada in the subject line. You will get some suggestions.

bk

Another idea, although a bit pricey might be to do a tiered thing? Maybe use pressure treated wood at the back and raise it 2' (3' front to back), then 1' (another 3' front to back). The roots of the tree wouldn't grow upwards, would they? We will be in this house for a long time so I don't mind making the investment. I just wanted something nice in the back corner.
Another tip I'd take is how to directly post a picture. thanks.

Sadly, those roots would grow up into a raised planter, unless the bottom were lined with the root-repelling material. I have a love hate relationship with our two maples...lovely trees, but those roots are a high price to pay!

Then I won't spend the money. Thanks for the input. I have no love for my maples but they are staying.

If you just want to post one photo, the easiest way is to use Gardenweb's upload thingy. The shaded line at the top of this "post a follow-up" window is for posting photos. Just hit the browse button and it will go to your computer, then you direct it to the photo you want to use. The downside is if you edit your post, you have to upload the photo again.

The other way is to post your photo from photobucket. If you'll look at your photo at the link posted on the first post of this thread, on the right hand side, is a box that says something about sharing your photo. Just click on the one that says html, and it copies it - it will say "copied". Then you paste (control v) it to the post where ever you want it.

bk

I think Pieterje is the one growing in pots. Plus UKHostaman, but he is in England, don't-ya-kno.

When you have a cold zone like yours, you must begin with an escape plan for the dormant season. Some folks take their containers into a protected space which is not heated, and leave them there. How many hosta are you talking about for your garden? Twenty? Thirty? Oh gee, that is an easy one to handle.... it's when you get 3-400 hosta that you'll work yourself to death to keep them from dying in the cold.

I do not have spinout bags. One of the Canadian hosta folks uses them turned inside out, so the copper will stop the tree roots, not the hosta roots. They come in 5 gallon, 10 gallon, and probably larger as well. I am THINKING about getting some, because I want to let my giant hosta have the luxury of growing fairly unimpeded in a hole in the ground. All of my nearly 350-400 hosta are in containers, except for three.

You need the advice of a cold climate container grower, since down here, the problem is not protecting them from the cold. It is getting it cold enough to go and to stay dormant, and not rot with the rain normal to our winter weather.

Yes indeed, I grow the bulk of my hostas in pots, BUT, my winters here in Canada's banana belt are very different from the OP's in Ontario. The biggest concern you have with growing in pots is to use a well-drained medium. You will find plenty of discussion on that subject in the GW Container Forum, with the subject properly covered inthis subject posting and this one.

Pieter

My experience may be unique, but I planted Sieboldiana, elegans not knowing maples could be so difficult.

I have another I planted under a mature Crimson King Red Maple last year and it is doing well...too soon to tell if it will thrive or not.

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Last year after planting. It was just eyes when planted in the early Spring.

It might be worth trying some vigorous large, thick leaved hosta such as the elegans. Small, variegated, or light colored hosta would not stand much of a chance. I know it is possible to grow hosta under a maple. It would be very difficult for someone to convince me it is impossible when I am doing it and have been for over 15 years.

Jon

I moved my plants around and behind the trees I was just going to put grass seed down. Problem is I am not happy with that. It just seems off balance but my hostas were far from thriving there. The crazy thing is they have no compact issues. There were no roots and the soil was light? (not sure if that is the right word).
Would I be crazy to dig up some big, thriving hostas and try them in that spot, in pots? Should I give them fertilizer more often because of root competition?

Others recommend NOT fertilizing as it will encourage roots to migrate to the area. Elegans are readily available and inexpensive. IMHO, they will do fine and be very capable of competing and thriving.

Jon

Do not line the holes with fabric.... tree roots will eventually grow thru and because fabric isn't as permeable as soil, you will basically be setting yourself up for crown rot.

Tiered planting.... bad idea. 1st, the roots will come UP into the tiers. Second.... in the meantime, you're depriving the tree roots of the necessary oxygen.

Grass will not thrive in that area without a lot of sun. Even "shade" varieties of grass. And remember, grass needs even more water than hostas. So that may not be a good choice either. I'd look for a groundcover that can handle dry shade.

I think the potted hosta idea would be a great one.... if you have a plan for what to do with those pots in the winter.

Just to tell you what I did with my Back40 where most of my hosta pots sit.

I had most of the weeds gone, and treated the rest with Roundup. I then rolled out the landscaping fabric, to cover about 50 feet in length of my available spaces. Any of the fruit trees in the space, I cut holes for them. This fabric is permeable to rain. Then I put down a lot of shredded cypress mulch. It looked like a county fair animal lot, to be honest. With you having small kids, I'd recommend that you lay down the pine bark mulch over the landscape fabric. No splinters with that. Then you can arrange your hosta pots on the mulch and keep moving to your heart's content. To elevate them and allow good drainage and air circulation, in the mulch setup, try the 2x2 boards cut to length to set your pots on. Babka uses 1/2 inch x 1/2 inch sticks for her feet, but she sets her pots on her wooden deck. I need something beefier!

Since using the shredded cypress mulch, the problems with slugs are much reduced. I don't think they like to trek across the splinters myself. I put this down last spring sometime after the hosta woke up, like maybe April. It's been fine all this time.

I'm always tweaking things, and learn as I go. I plan to get the pine bark to renew the display area. As it breaks down, I'll wind up with really fine bark fines. My little dachshund girl loves to help me dig in the garden.

Save your hosta now, put them in containers. You'll be glad you did. Work out the rest as you go.