What's eating my lonesome dove hosta?

Lonesome Dove Hosta is a medium-sized cultivar with heart-shaped chartreuse-to-gold leaves. Its softer, lighter-colored foliage is particularly attractive to slugs and snails. Deer will browse it in shade gardens. Rabbits clip emerging shoots. As with all hostas, slugs are the headline pest and should be managed proactively from spring.

Holes and ragged tears through the chartreuse leaf tissue, often starting at the margins and working inward Apply iron phosphate pellets around the crown in early spring as leaves emerge; use slug-resistant mulch like sharp grit; hand-pick after dark

Leaves and stems browsed, particularly in shaded woodland garden settings where deer feel secure feeding Spray with egg-based repellent; use motion-activated sprinklers; in heavily deer-pressured areas, physical fencing is the most reliable solution

Young shoots cleanly bitten off at ground level in early spring before foliage fully develops Install wire mesh fencing around the bed with an underground skirt; apply rabbit deterrent granules near the crown in spring