You can remove the leaves and let them be. Hostas are very cold hardy and pretty low maintenance. Next year they'll come back even bigger.

If you did go ahead and mulch them (even though you don't need to), you risk rotting the crown of the plant. You would want to remove any mulch around the base of the plant at the first sign of new growth in late winter/early spring.

As long as your soil is relatively well-draining, there is little concern that mulching will "rot the crown" of any herbaceous perennial. Fall mulching is recommended by the American Hosta Society for various reasons, not the least of which is insulating the soil and protecting from frost heaving. While frost heaving is not much an issue in the PNW, I've mulched over the crowns of hostas for years, don't remove the mulch in the spring and have yet to lose a single one to crown rot or any other fungal ailment. I use compost to mulch, as it provides organic matter and nutrient replenishment and reduces the need to supply any commercial fertilizer in my gardens. Leaves, pine straw or shredded bark works just as well. Just don't go overboard - 2-3 inches is adequate.

Wow, in my 15 year of collecting, I've never given that much attention to a Hosta. Even when I was gardening in -10 degree winters, or even my collection that sits in pots on my deck. Zero winter care and they always flourish for me. Interesting!

I'm not sure that anyone was really recommending any specific winter care. Hostas are indeed tough as nails and require no special winter treatment in our climate. Generally, it is recommended to remove the old foliage after it fades with a couple of frosts, as it can harbor insects and possibly fungal issues if left in place over winter. And mulching is just a standard fall garden care practice for many of us - it will reduce weed development and depending on type, improve soil conditions over winter and can smother spores of powdery mildew and other common fungal problems. Plus it just makes everything look clean and tidy.

In my situation I have to mulch with slug bait to keep them healthy so I don't grow many. My best success has been growing them in relatively dry shade with woodchip mulch. Not the dryest shade though. I'm a little stingy with water district water and ten acres. :-)

I love them but haven't had much luck. The hosta forum suggested that I was planting too deep and then with mulching they were in trouble. I pulled mulch back from the crowns and planted new ones higher and also hand watered even in beds with soaker hoses.

I did have more growth on those that were living than before. We shall see. I have tons of shade and many other plants grow great for me but hostas have just not cooperated. They just get smaller every year then disappear.

I've also been much more vigilant with the Sluggo.

Cross your fingers for me. I just love hostas.

"Tough as nails" rhymes with snails. With many kinds you must control snails and slugs or there will be damage. Dwindling away might indicate site is too dry and rooty for them, what other kinds of plants or what kinds of trees and how densely planting/growing these are could indicate what situation might be.

My experience with Hostas has been that they aren't really particular to what they grow in. I've got them growing in almost straight driveway chip, lousy soil and soil that's quite woodsy. They all grow into nice looking plants, I have to divide and give away pieces of 1 or 2 every year because they've have got to big for the space alloted to them. Mine are planted quite shallow and have good drainage. I always remove the leaves before they have a chance to rot, sometimes I mulch, sometimes not. The only problem I have with Hostas is the darn slugs and snails which I have to admit weren't as bad this year and a bit of sunburn on one that needs to be moved to a shadier place. I find for me giving them as much light as I can without burning them works. Some can even take some sun, the ones with the blue-green leaves and the ones with bloom on the leaves definitely need to be grown in a shadier spot, at least for me.

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