you posted other pix.. why not one of this one?

Without photo it's a hit and miss but sounds perhaps like it's weather related. Last year in July my RE was ugly and I took the blame but plant was just sunburned...I did not offer supplementary water. I moved it to the front where it is also very sunny and hot but I did it on purpose to promote vigour. (I needed to plant Mini Skirt in its spot.). I have three plants now instead of one.

Esther, I find this particular hosta to be deceiving in that it looks tough with its almost leathery looking leaves, but find that in my garden, it is susceptible to sunburn. I'll look for the ugly photo from last July...it was actually June 19th. Poor thing... granted, it was moved but still... yours just has a few brown tips? Sunburn?

I will try to take some pics and post them. I only discovered this yesterday as I was out looking at my roses and stuff. It was quite sudden. RE has been in the same place since I got it a few years ago, and has not been sunburned before. It gets sun until about 1 p.m., then the building overshades the garden. I am suspicious because of the weird rounded leaves it has this year. I hope that fungal stuff has not returned.

I was just in the Hosta Library and a few RE’s have rounder leaves. One of my divisions also has a few rounder leaves. Perhaps there were TC variations?? Or it could be a characteristic of maturity?

Last year Android had Southern Blight, and I treated it with Bayers. It looked ok this spring except for short petioles and rounder leaves, but once the weather got hot, the leaves twisted and then turned brown on the edges. Maybe it's an after effect of southern blight - although Flemish Skies had blight, was treated, and is fine.

While hunting for help online, I read that you should re-treat for Southern Blight the next year or two. By then Android was looking horrible, so I dug it up, potted it, and sterilized the shovel. I doused both hostas and the spot Android was planted. It's down to one leaf now.

None of this is particularly helpful or comforting. If I find something that works, I'll post. Now I'm wondering if the Bayer treatment has side effects on some hostas.

MadPlanter, your description sounds eerily like what's going on with my RE. The leaves are round, not pointed like they should be, and the ones in the very center are curled like a Fritos chip. Now there is the browning at the edges of some leaves. Perhaps I should just discard the poor thing. How heartbreaking for me, as it's been a gorgeous thing all the years I had it.

It does sound like like same thing. I'm going to leave mine in the pot and see what happens. I can't see how a fungicide and systematic insecticide could be causing that kind of damage, but for now, no more Bayers, and I'll hope it cures itself. At worst, it will die anyhow, and I'll get rid of the potting soil. Annoying, as it was hard to find, and the place that had it is gone.

Fingers crossed for both plants.

I use flutolanil for Southern Blight. I have noticed the short petioles and shortened and misshaped leaves the year after the attack, but not every Hosta has the problem. I saved Winter Snow from SB and it now is pristine. I soaked it in ~ 10% bleach solution while I treated and enlarged the bed. I treated Key West for SB and it came back the next year with the short pets and weird leaves and eventually ended in the compost pile.

Our current weather pattern is the one that seems to make SB grow. Rain following an extreme dry period followed by more hot and dry weather. I’ll be on the outlook for it in my garden again.

I am thinking...at this point just thinking...about moving from NYC to suburban Baltimore next year. The decline of quality of life is accelerating under the current mayor. If I sell my place and move, I would dig up and move all my favorite hostas, heuchies, and other perennials with me. Darn if I would leave them for someone who wouldn't cherish and care for them like I do. My downstairs neighbor agrees no one would do it like I do it, so why leave the stuff to die. Therefore, I am going to leave my Rainbow's End to fend for itself. If it makes it, great, and if not, I will mourn it, as it was a simply spectacular plant. If I do move, I would make sure to get a place where I can garden, and probably get another baby RE.

Ouch, now I wish I hadn't followed the instructions to treat with Bayers 3 in 1 the second year. Like Esther, I'm going to let it live or die on its own.

Esther, Moving is a big step. Good luck with whatever you decide. I will say that just potting up the plants I want to save from our soon-to-be- replaced retaining wall has taken weeks. The place looks like a nursery.

Mad, I have about 3 dozen hostas and over a dozen heuchies. A couple of the hostas, like Little Treasure, First Mate, and High Society did come up this year, but were extremely puny. I would just leave those there, as I don't think they'd make it as transplants. I would leave (reluctantly) my 3 rose bushes because I think it would be too prickly of a problem to handle them. I will have to research it, if it happens, but what would be the best way to move them? Pot them up and put each into a clear recycling bag? Then I'd put them into the moving van in a safe area.