Hosta groupings? reply

Hi Rebecca,
{long post}
Oh, boy -- new shade beds! You ought to be able to do some very
lovely groupings with this setup.  Hope you're planning to amend your
soil, if needed, with peat or oakleaf mulch, manure, etc., before you
plant.

Here are some of my favorite hosta varieties & groupings, followed by
comments on other shade plants you might enjoy:

1.  Blues:  Blue Angel is a wonderful, very large powdery blue hosta,
great for backgrounds or a focal point. Blends well with almost every
other variety of hosta & all other shade plants.  Nigrescens is a
species, of which there are a number of blue forms, also gets large and
is more erect (vase-shaped). Pearl Lake is a green-grey, nice mid-size,
fast growing. Blue Moon and Blue Cadet are small to dwarf varities, for
clumps in the front of beds.  I like these with astilbes, which should
also do great in your landscape (see below).

2.  Golds & gold variegated:  August Moon is a wonderful fast-growing
medium pure gold, looks great with Yellow River or Yellow Splash rim
(green with gold edges).  Sun Power is a great med-large gold with large
leaves that twist a bit, offering more texture. The old stand-by, Golden
Tiara, gold-green variegated, is a wonderful small fast-growing clumper,
excellent for edging. Little Aurora is a med-small tokudama variety with
pure gold leaves, not fast-growing. The tokudama aureo-nebulosa is a
wonderful slow-growing variegated with grey-green, blue, gold all
intermixed -- makes a great close-up plant, looks superb with gold
grasses.  Gold Standard is my favorite gold-green hosta, gold with green
edges; the tones change throughout the season, depending on light and
heat.  Sagae is my second favorite, an erect, vast-shaped plant that is
gold with blue-green, looks great next to Blue Angel.

3.  Green, green & white:  Royal Standard is a green hosta par
excellence -- large, takes sun (or shade), tall white flowers late.
Happy Hearts is a nice mid-sized green for contrast with the variegates.
Carol is a superb dark green with white edges, grows well in sun or less
than perfect conditions, gets large after 2 or three years.  The
undulata group, though common, offer excellent white & green
combinations. There are dozens of new varieties (on which you can spend
a fortune). Most of the above are in the reasonably-priced range.

Other shade plants.  Ferns, of course.  Astilbes look great in this kind
of garden -- white or pink with white-edged hostas, reds & salmons or
lavendars with gold hostas.  If you like yellow, get three plants of
corydalis lutea -- ferny little clumps with small yellow flowers from
May to frost (related to the bleeding hearts).  They'll self-seed around
and offer a wonderful contrast to the big leaves of the hostas. Unwanted
clumps are easily pulled out. Hellebores, brunnera, epimediums would all
offer contrasting foliage and flowers in this setting.

For winter interest, you might want to consider adding a Leucothoe -- I
have Leucothoe fontanesiana 'Rainbow', with arching stems of leathery
cream, red, pink, green leaves to about 3-4 feet, small white bell
flowers in spring, and stays evergreen pretty much through the winter.
For a big impact, the perennial Kirengeshoma palmata will give you in 2
or 3 years a big 4x4 clump of maple-like leaves, with yellow bells of
flowers in August.  For some grassy effects, the Hakonechloa (either
green or 'Aureola,' which is green & gold), is superb (expensive, but
worth it to my mind). And a clump or two of Polygonatum odoratum
"Variegatum" (variegated solomon's seal) will bring joy to your heart
each spring when it emerges!  I started with 5 plants in a clump, have
divided it twice in 6 years to spread the wealth around.

Hope this helps with some ideas.  Have fun!

Anne - Chicago

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