I am experiencing a similar problem. The one tree that provided shade in my backyard is an aging peach tree. I lost about half of it between last year and early this Spring. The hostas in that are that were shaded before are no longer shaded and are badly scorched, especially the blue one. I am intending to plant another tree but it will be years before it's big enough to provide the shade that my 18-year old tree did.

In the interim, I am considering using a sun sail (colaroo) over the area attached to the house and possibly what's left of my peach tree. I have seen other people build simple shade structures with posts and shade fabric. I'm diligently trying to figure out if I can get someone to build something for me.

That is definitely an idea for a temporary solution. I would like to save them long-term though, but I am not sure that’s possible.

If it would look good in your yard, you could build a pergola. That would give both you and the hostas some shade.

I have dug up several hostas this year and put them in large pots. They are already looking a lot better since I can move the pots to any location in the yard. Eventually they may go back in the ground when I find the right spot.

I lost a lot of shade last year too. Some cultivars are doing much better than others, although it may be that they have some shade during the day that I don’t know about because some trees and bushes are still standing. Basically if one is doing really poorly I dig it up and move it, or tell it I’m sorry next year will be better. I’m planting a crepe myrtle and hoping it will grow fast.

For temporary solutions you can interplant your hosts with tall annuals or perennial to provide some shade. Even dill sometimes tall and shady enough

move them to the end of the house that receives the most shade from the house.

move them to the side of the house that only gets morning sun.

hosta are only shade tolerant ...

they can grow like weeds .. shortening the years to maturity.. in more or full sun ...

more sun.. means more root growth.. means bigger plant next year ...

the only down side.. is they start getting real ugly in july/august ...

and of course.. the further south you go.. the earlier they get ugly ...

so.. there is no hurry to move them .... theoretically .. lol ..

they sweat .... give off water.. and in sun ... if they give off more than they take in... they get.. wait for it .... ugly ... so try to drown them ... ugly or not ..

also along the same lines .. keeping them out of sun.. during the heat of the day ... reduces the uglies ... so you know what you need to do ...

its getting to root growing time... where they store energy.. in new roots.. to emerge on that energy next spring ... so it would be a good time to move them.. so they have the rest of the season.. to settle in ... and store that energy ...

welcome to the hosta insanity forum...

ken

ps: and keep in mind.. not only hosta.. but across all plants ... most are just shade TOLERANT ... its more of a watering issue ...

I lost part of a large shade tree last fall( either that or the house) so way less shade and as Ken stated just ugly from all the rains and then the scorching sun all in the same hour. The ones with white edges are the worst but WTH it is almost August

Ken got close to my suggestion: WATER WATER WATER.

Thank you all. Looks like I need to dig them up & plant them next to the house...and water them like crazy. I do have a flower bed there already in between the sidewalk & house, but nothing has ever grown in it since it was completely in the shade in the past. However, with all of the sun, it is overgrown with weeds so I will need to clean it out and put some ground cover down before moving the hostas. Dang it! They have been so low maintenance up til now.

Don’t ya love mother nature when she gives you left Hook? Very sorry about the loss of your tree. I love popmama’s suggestion Of a sun sail if that’s possible. Otherwise I would get the weeds out and plant there. Can’t a rototiller get the weeds out easily? Maybe you can rent one or if it’s in the budget, maybe a person who does lawn, edging trimming and other yard maintenance could do it for you.

So an update finally. I ignored all my plants last year. I paid for it this year. I’ve been digging out the flowerbed (that never so much as grew a weed) to get it ready for my hostas. They are finally all moved. I still need to finish the rest of the cleanup, but the battle with vinca vine and Lily of the Valley has been brutal. Not to mention Polk salad...the roots on that stuff were HUGE! In moving my stuff, I came across this little Hosta. Is it Zebra Stripes? I also picked up a Fire Island Hosta at a local nursery that was looking all sad, but it was so cheap, I bought it anyways. I’m hoping it’ll perk up.

Show us your whole bed when you get everything moved. I have the same problem coming up in the future. There is a huge dogwood in the lower front yard that is dying of the dogwood disease that has killed the trees in my woods. I will have to do something with the shade plants under it but not until the tree dies and hopefully it will take a few years.

It’s such a mess still, but here are some pics. You can see that I’ve almost cleared out the bed to the corner of the house. I hope to make it around the corner this weekend. I can’t believe how much my hostas have grown in the sun...they’ve always been very small in the shade. I’m gonna to try newspaper and mulch when I get done to try and make sure all the other stuff gets smothered and dies. One of the big ones came with a batch of baby snakes when I dug it up...had it right up against me lugging it across the yard when I looked down and saw them. It got thrown into the driveway and kicked around quite a bit haha.

Ha Ha--I can see that hosta flying. Ken would be proud that you threw it on the driveway--that will make it grow better. Maybe they were baby rat snakes. Their Mom can lay up to 30 eggs in a nest. They won't hurt you, but my DH says they will make you hurt yourself. I like snakes bu he doesn't.

The hosta bed is going to look great. Some sun impatiens would look pretty between your hosta and give you all summer flowers.

Haha yes, I thought of Ken when it happened. I’m sure it was a sight to see. My boy pulled off the “price tags” (plant labels) years ago “helping” me so I have no idea what many of my Hostas are; however, I renamed that one Satan going forward. And I am definitely keeping an eye out for the Mama snake!