Plant them now. Put lots of compost in the soil. Water them; don't let their roots dry out totally this season; hostas grow best if they stay somewhat moist. Remove the leaves that turn yellow or brown; they will not do any photosynthesis.

Hostas are remarkably resilient. The leaves will seek the sun and arrange themselves in a symmetrical fashion over the next month. At some point this summer they may put out a second flush. If they do, the extra leaves will fluff them out even more. Next year you'll see a fantastic return on your rescue efforts.

One other thing. Where are you planting them? Will they be in full shade, with absolutely no direct sun? Maybe that would be too much of a change; they have survived the sun for years; they should probably have some morning sun. Got pics?

I can assemble some pictures- of the plants in their current state, the location where it was (currently empty), and the location where I planned to put them. The location where I planned to put them is probably best described as part shade. It gets filtered and reflected sun, but not much direct sun,

it doesnt really matter where you put them ...

with all that digging and cutting.. they are not going to look pretty ... actually .. maybe they will.. maybe they wont ... i am trying to set your expectations at teh right level ...

tape ... if its not to late .. see link

ken

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2000608/moving-a-large-fully-leafed-out-hosta-lots-o-pix

Poor hosta Marrakech after having been left in a parcel for a week. Not my fault of course, I was worried sick where my parcel might be, got no information from the parcel service it was sent with. But a good example that hosta never give up:

Nothing more than old salad, then my dealer told me to cut away all the leaves.

I did it with a bleeding heart...kept the pot in the shadow for a few weeks and look what happened:

And believe it or not, I took the first picture beginning of May and the last one this week! I will never give up on problem hosta, so good luck with your saved ones! :-)

And in the parcel where 6 hosta plants, they took it differently, but all went well in no time at all. If you are interested have a look at my ideabook about it :-)

This is the issue most often: Moving them vs them looking good. I gave up the NEED to have my garden look perfect in every corner years ago when I "just had to" move this hosta over there and divide that hosta so I could have some of it over here. Unless you are digging and dividing almost before you know where everything is in your garden..you have to accept that the hosta you move/divide will look anything but GREAT until NEXT YEAR. My personal rule was move/divide before mid June or after August. This is when the chances are GREATEST no one but you will notice the moved hosta is not all it can be. Well of course the Sept. divisions look AWFUL, leggy, loss of turgidity..tape holding the up..BUT it is not for long at that point and the roots need time before freeze to settle in!! The only REAL answer to your frustration is, you should have moved said hosta last fall.

arcy recaps what i tried to say ... if i missed the mark ... ken

As long as they will come back next year that will be fine. :)