The Francee on the left looks great in that barrel and it looks like it takes up the whole barrel. If it were me, I would plant another Francee in the barrel on the left. For symmetry. I'd move the nettle and brunerra to a new pot.

Years ago, and a different set of barrels - I bought two Francees. They were the same size, and I put one on each side of the bench. I had no idea at the time that the names on the tags had any meaning, I only knew I wanted a matching pair in that part of the yard. The one that's big now grew and grew and grew, and folks on this forum helped me ID her a few years ago. The other one, which is now WAAYY to the right, shown in the first photo below, was fading away. When I dealt with the maple roots and got new barrels for everything, in 2015, I moved the little one to the right side of the yard, thinking that getting more morning sun (like the big one) would help it grow. It's been 3 years, and the second photo below is all that's left of it. There are a couple of new pieces growing off to the side, but I'm not sure if the main part has shrunk more so I can now see them, Or if it's started to recover finally and may start growing. In the first photo above, the barrel on the left, looking at the bench, gets no sun to speak of. Plenty of bright light, and a short period of dappled sun, but the sun is split right down the middle of the bench, lol!

If you don’t want symmetry, I’d recommend something taller with a waterfall / flowing shape so that you step from tall, to medium height and then down to your FB. Possible choices: War Paint / Niagara Falls, Frisian Pride, Jade Cascade...

Looks like typical freeze/thaw of potted hosta syndrome!

I don't know what you should put in the barrel. What I would suggest is that you take the hosta not doing well out of that large barrel and plant it into a smaller pot. And while you're doing that, have a look at the roots and crown. I suspect it may be suffering from some root rot.

Where are you going to shop? As in what will be your options? There tons of plants that have similar variegation to maintain symmetry of sorts...

You do not have to have symmetry though as bench with barrels is part of the flow along the fence line...

Newhostalady, I'll do that this weekend. While the two were the same size when I bought them, the small one never thrived like its mate. I chalked it up to less sun, but even after moving it, it's just not growing. I think I'm leaning to the dud opinion from manyhostas. :)

Gardencool, it'd be odd, I think, for freeze/thaw to affect only one wooden barrel and not others. I also have a Gold Standard that's on it's third year in another barrel way over to the left, and it's coming back and growing year over year, working on year 3 now. They don't hold water at all and are raised on the pavers, so don't freeze to the ground.

Lindalana, I've been shopping at Land of the Giants, and am looking at NH Hostas, which is closer to me so hopefully less shipping cost. I have all summer to look and decide - not exactly a chore, is it?

Thank you all for the comments and suggestions. There are some really pretty hostas in the ones you've mentioned.

It may be that the smaller hosta is a dud, but it certainly can't hurt to rule out any rot. It is strange that the other hostas haven't been affected, but then all hostas are not created equal. Some are just easier to grow. Also, planting depth can also affect the plant's growth.

Planting depth isn't something I'd thought of. Thank you! I knew less than nothing about gardening in general and less than THAT about hostas when I got the Francees. They were my first garden attempts after we bought the house.

I'm going to check for rot and if all is well when I dig it up, I plan to put it in a smaller pot and see what happens. I have a serious issue with throwing healthy plants away, as evidenced by the inside of my home.

Check out then Green Mountain Hosta then. They are inexpensive and plants are huge.

What you could do is take a picture of the bottom of the hosta showing the current planting depth. Post it here and we could let you know if it looks like it is too deep. If it isn't, then you can rule that problem out and continue to check for other issues.

This forum is a great place to ask questions and to learn about hostas. We're all trying to help each other!

I have it with Night Before Christmas in this pic

it'd be odd, I think, for freeze/thaw to affect only one wooden barrel and not others

===>>> not really.. its one of the inherent problems of working in pots ...

since you have so few ... i would probably tend toward a duplicate ... symmetry ...

or something way out there different .... totally bipolar ...

keep in mind.. potting media can wear out ... and that where the trouble starts ... think of media as a water management system ... and when it fails.. you have watering problems .... aka.. drainage issues ... and if that happen in fall ... that is where you can end up with winter death in one pot.. and not the others ..

your easiest solution.. would be to dump out your giant ... and use a meat clever to cut it in half.. and then put one half in each pot.. after working on improving your media... if need be ... in other words.. perhaps you dont need to buy a hosta.. you might need to buy media ....

just thinking outside your box ... good luck with whatever you decide ...

ken

Looks like typical freeze/thaw of potted hosta syndrome! When the moisture laden bottom of the barrel freezes you have no drainage at all. You said the barrels get different amounts of sun. I would think in zone 6 in January the top of the soil surface might be thawing daily. Perfect freeze/thaw conditions. In my zone 5 the only hosta I'd leave potted outside in the elements is one I wouldn't care if it didn't come back. Of the few hostas I've ever lost one was potted and did come back barely before dying off completely.