others can get more specific ... im just going to start you off with a few observations ....

potting media is a water management system ... and dirt in a pot.. is never described that way ... dirt is what you have all over yourself.. after you fill the pot with media .... and soil is mother earth ... and mother should be in a pot .. go ask her .. [and dont get me started on the marketing term ... potting soil ... thats an oxymoron...]

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=oxymoron&t=ffcm&ia=definition

i would never fert a newly potted plant ... if they make it thru winter ... fert in late spring after all chance of frost freeze is gone .... when you pot them.. they will be stressed ... not hungry ....

with your level of experience.. i suggest.. when you dig it up.. you pull apart a couple divisions.. and do more than one pot ... increase your odds of success .. instead of betting it all.. on one roll of the dice ...

many peeps on the forums.. do not like miracle grow media ... try to avoid it..

whatever you get.. mix it with some chunky material ... like mini bark chunks ...

which hosta makes no difference ... same rules for all of them ...

we have time to figure out winter location ... an attached garage can be worse then just leaving them outside ...

does your ground freeze ... do you have snow cover all winter ... give us alittle more info in that regard ...

we cant tell you how big a pot.. without some idea.. of how big it is now .. how about a pic???

ken

Wish I could give you a pic, but the poor thing is practically all burnt up. I gave her lots of emergency watering after the tree disappeared and I realized how much damage the plant was suffering from the sun. With the watering, some new green growth started in again, but Paradigm is really pathetic looking at the moment. Before the sun damage, it was a healthy plant about 2 ft wide.

As for winter issues, the garage I mentioned is NOT attached (unattached).

My zone 6 is what I call a transition area. Growing up in South Dakota, I know what a "real" winter is like. Here in my Zone 6 we might have a month of "real" winter with blizzard like conditions and temperatures heading towards zero for several weeks. January is the bad month, but March can bring a milder repeat of that weather. However, I remember many a February when I was in shirtsleeves out in my garden cleaning up some mess, and this last March was so mild that the plants started blooming about 3 weeks earlier than usual. On the other hand, at some point, the periodic freezing damaged a larger number of plants than usual. My hosta came back fine in the spring, but a number of my roses have been limping all season.

In other words, the winter weather can be very unpredictable here--too cold or too mild and back again to too cold or mild. Obviously, snow cover does not remain for long. We have what I call ugly "brown" winters much of the time.

Thanks for your thoughts, ken, and I welcome anyone else's input.

Kate

I use promix, never soil.

If you can leave it be and move to pot in early spring.

5.1.1 recipe above is very very porous, works wonders for conifers and bonsai but requires tons of frequent watering in my experience during summer for everything else. You do want some porosity but also will need water retention. So you might play with what works for you.

No to any moisture control added if you can avoid it.

Here is a fairly recent thread about different containers:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/4633508/question-for-pot-people-pot-heads-potters?n=6

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/4600453/thinking-of-becoming-a-pot-head?n=21

In container, homogenous environment isn't possible. One and another pots will be different. No moist sharing, no soil sharing for roots. Porous media is good, but more dense will be savior at lazy time.

Thank you for all the helpful advice and links. With what I've read so far on this thread, I'm thinking now that I should wait til spring before actually doing anything drastic with Paradigm. (That poor baby sure does look horrible, however.)

Really appreciate all the advice on soils. (No "moisture control"--got it.)

Now I'm off to follow the links and read about pots--but I'm open to any additional advice.

Kate

Really appreciate all the advice on soils.

==>> i said:

potting media is a water management system ... and dirt in a pot.. is
never described that way ... dirt is what you have all over yourself..
after you fill the pot with media .... and soil is mother earth ... and
mother should NOT be in a pot .. go ask her .. [and dont get me started on
the marketing term ... potting soil ... thats an oxymoron...]

==>>> when i came to understand the difference between the meanings of those words .. i made a quantum leap in dealing with pots ...

i dont know if pot size was discussed... hosta like to be NEARLY pot bound ... so never put a small hosta in a giant pot.. because someday it MIGHT fill that pot ...

if its as bad as you keep saying.. without a pic ... odds are it might not be there in spring .. so i dont know why you are delaying ...

ken

Nearly pot bound--OK.

Delay--don't delay. Now I'm not sure. But since it is raining--heavily--today, I guess I don't have to make an immediate decision.

Forgive me, Ken, for not being able to follow all your cryptic observations, but I did understand the meaning of "oxymoron" before you so condescendingly sent me to a dictionary. What I don't understand is the free association that produced "... dirt is what you have all over yourself.. after you fill the pot with media .... and soil is mother earth ... and mother should be in a pot .. go ask her .. "

Angie's advice on potting mix and pots is easier to follow.

But thank you for the info. on pot size. I didn't know that.

Kate

I'd wait until Spring. Keep watering to help the roots and just look the other way regarding the top. Pretend a hail storm destroyed it, or a critter gobbled it. In Spring dig it up just as it breaks dormancy and begins to send up tiny shoots. See what you have root-wise, and then get a container that fits, whether it is a 3,5 or 7 gal plastic nursery pot. Then, find a beautiful container that will hold that nursery pot.

Next Fall, after your first freeze, lift the plastic pot out and put is somewhere where the sun don't shine. ;-) Outside if you have a place to tuck it, or in an UNHEATED building. If it is outside, tip it if you can so it doesn't fill with rain or snow that melts possibly turning it into (as Ken says) a "popsicle" . Depending on the size of the pot and the media, you probably won't have to give it any additional water while it is dormant.

Don't fret. If you worry too much about doing everything just perfectly...the plant will probably die. Then you can start over with a new one!

-Babka

Babka--very practical advice! I will take your advice to wait til spring, but partly because I'm busy hatching another possible solution to my problem. I have a daylily that gets some shade (not a lot, but some)--I think I might be able to switch the two. The daylily won't mind the blazing sun, and Paradigm just might likely welcome the somewhat shady part-of-the-time other spot. And I found another spot that has a semi-wild perennial garden geranium in some passing shade--might be a good spot also. I shall be checking them out for sun/shade in the upcoming weeks.

The more I thought about all the excellent advice offered on potting my hosta, the more it began to sound like work! I'm retired and looking for more ways to take life easy!

But I'm saving this thread--I have another hosta that I've wondered on more than one occasion whether it needs to be grown in a pot.

Lots to contemplate this winter, eh? Thanks again for everything, everyone. : )