Esther, there's nothing I can see that screams HVX to me. If you see no distortion on newer growth, the distorted leaves are likely the result of cold damage when the leaves were forming.

Pieter

Pieter, the leaves are not arching and taut like normal Rainbow's End leaves. They are slack and cupped, and there are areas where there are bubble-like wrinkles. Here is a picture of this one when it looked normal, a couple of years ago.

And here is the plant now.

very mild front damage ... is always my first thought.. early in spring.. especially when this spring has been so cold ...

so i agree with piet ....

ken

seems like just a week ago.. you were complaining ???? .... where was everything.. because of the cold spring..thought you had significant losses ....

and now you want to jump from cold spring.. to summer disease ...

imo.. things just dont happen that fast.. that you can rule out what happened a week or so ago ...

ken

Thanks, Ken. It's just that I noticed that the leaves were significantly different in their whole appearance than I formerly saw. They were never cupped, never had bubbles on their surface. I wonder if the Bayer's had some effect on the plant to cause this, or if the infection caused this. I had questions about where was ___ about 3 or 4 varieties, not "everything", BTW. Happily, only First Mate and perhaps one other variety are still missing, yay. So long as it's not something contagious like HVX (and I only order hostas from reliable vendors online to prevent getting any HVX here), I am quite willing to give Rainbow's End another season to see if next year's leaves are more normal. I have become quite fond of this plant, right near the sidewalk where I see it every time I come home.

OK, I spoke with Chris today at Hallson's. He said it was probably some damage from the crazy cold nights we've been having, despite the warm days, and that the hosta would likely put up some better looking leaves later. Good enough for me!

Hope he is right Esther and the next flush are back to normal! I don't even know if my Rainbow's End survived the winter. It was in a pot in the shed and the Voles had quite the hosta root buffet over the winter. It wasn't labelled but is so distinctive I didn't worry. Now I'm watching all the pots to see which ones have nothing and which ones survived. I'm hoping my RE made it as it is a lovely hosta. Your last year's pic is lovely.

Mine was planted too deep last year, so I removed some soil from the surface and is already looking better this year - and yes I'm just piggy backing on your Rainbow's End thread.

It was interesting to learn that HVX shows up in the summer and not so much in the spring.