Re: Upside Down Hostas

At 05:14 PM 6/23/98 EDT, you wrote:
>What would happen if you planted a hosta, crown and
>roots(no leaves), upside down. Would it develop crown rot? Would it be
>"smothered? 
>
The roots on top dry out, new ones twist down into the soil, and pips
emerge from the crown, going down and then curving out around the root mass
until they reach the soil surface.  When they unfurl, you have an ordinary
leaf, the usual size of petiole above the surface, and a long, whitened
petiole running underground from the soil surface to the upside-down crown.

I don't know if the two that this happened to in my garden would have been
more susceptible to crown rot; neither went through the entire summer
planted upside-down, as I discovered MY HUSBAND'S mistake when the leaves
emerged in an odd pattern and I dug the clumps up.  Both clumps looked like
their roots and pips were gradually changing places, back to the original
orientation.


Sheila Smith
mikecook@pipeline.com
Niles, MI  USA, Z 5/6

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