they dont look like hosta roots to my poor bifocaled eyes..could you take another step back ... jeez ....

the one one the right doesnt look like hosta leaves ...

better pic please ..

regardless.. anything is better than just water... plant them in mother earth ...

ken

Don't bother to amend the soil ever, mulch on top and walk away. Don't ask to explain it will wear you out.

Take an aspirin and this link, call me in the morning.

Here is a link that might be useful: mulch is your friend

And those are not hostas...or did you already know that?
Linda C

Plant them in the ground,whatever they are! Not hostas,and I don't wear glasses. Phil

Pardon me.

I did not know these were not Hostas. I thought they were just severely underdeveloped because they've been smothered for 10 years under an evergreen bush.

I went over to "Name that plant" and someone has suggested Bergenia.

I think they are a campanula of some sort....

I think Bergenia is right. The leaf is the right shape and color, and the rhizomatous root looks right too. Dig a 3" deep trench an plant the root horizontally in the trench. Cover it up and it should sprout leaves all along the root/rhizome. It likes partial shade.

Lainey

I guess they do look quite sad there out on the sidewalk.

I can't dig a hole quite as deep as these roots are--how far back should I cut them? To be clear--should I leave, say, six inches attached? I thought I'd plant what remains, just to see what happens.

Here is a link that might be useful: This is campanula?

don't dig deep. dig a shallow trench as long as the roots are long and plant them in it

Thank you greenguy. Key word in the above was "trench."

I remembered that when I had pulled them out, some of them had had leaves at each end, so they must have been fairly shallowly in the soil.

They're planted, now. Hopefully the picture won't hurt your eyes.

I cut off some of the old thuja's leaves and placed them underneath for "mulch." As they had been sitting on the old browned leaves, originally, I figured that would be OK. I don't think it really likes to have its leaves in direct contact with wet soil, either, so we'll see.

Thanks everone.

Botanybabe--so sorry, I hadn't seen your post when I posted at 19:34. How silly those questions look! It is in partial shade.