I like Huchera and Hucherella as companion plants. THey give color as well as height to the beds. But always remember, Hosta are shade TOLERANT, not loving:P

Dave

Heuchera "Creme Brulee" - a dreamsicle colored Heuchera that looks great with green and blue hostas
Heuchera "Purple Palace" - looks great with gold hostas
Campanula glomerata - an upright campanula with little balls of purple flowers every six inches up the stem
Maidenhair ferns
Hanenochloa grass - golden grass that looks great with dark hostas
Lysimachia "I forgot the second name" - AKA golden creeping jenny - looks very lush with hostas
Japanese maples - any color but my favorite is "Emerald Lace"

I love all of the above and would add astilbes, Japanese painted ferns, actually all ferns (I just like the painted ones with blue hostas), Pulmonaria, creeping sedum, lamium, ginger. Even daylilys will grow quite happily as long as they get some sun during the day.

Alexa

I actually have more shade tolerant perennials other than Hostas (gasp!) half a dozen different bleeding hearts, Pulmonaria, Brunnera, Bergenia, Huecheras, Tiarellas, ferns, Japanese forest grass, Hellebores.

Heuchera, there are some beautiful new varieties...Brunner, Berginia, Sweet Woodruff, Eupatorium 'Chocolate', Cimicifuga(which now has a new latin name and I am too old to learn it), Hakone Grass, hmmm and more that escape me now. Now all I need is shade. Working on that though.

I like ferns of all varieties with my hostas. The contrast between the delicate ferns and the solid hosta leaf makes a interesting combo.

celandine poppy- it grows great in the shade, and gives my hosta garden some color in the early spring.

Ligularia,Painters pallet,Ferns,all Gingers,Jack-in-the-Pulpit,Geraniums,Shrubs,Rocks,Drift Wood,Rocks,Statues,Trough's filled with Small Hosta's,i am just discovering,most any plant will grow with hosta's,as long as they get some sun.Did i mention Rock's? :0)
cAROL

Well,in my garden,I have a lot of Trilliums;a few which I actually planted. Also ferns,and Heucheras. A couple namely Heuchera Caramel,and Citronelle,which are really good growers. Phil

I have very few real shady spots in the yard and I have pretty much the same things.. Palace purple Heuchera, Ostrich fern, Dicentra spectabilis(Bleeding Heart), Tricyrtis Toad Lily), and Persicaria Lance Corporal(Virgina Knotweed). You have to clip the blooms on the Persicaria though or it'll fling seed and you'll have them all over the place.

In another bed I have Oxalis (pink wood sorrel), and pink lipstick strawberries which get pretty deep pink blooms. A lot of strawberries do well in the shade. I have Aquilegia (columbine) as well but as beautiful as it is in the spring, the leaf miners always find it. Some people don't mind it but I don't care for it myself. Oh and.. Leopard's bane.

I had a Jack Frost, Lamium, and Jacob's Ladder but those didn't fare too well. Especially with the Jacobs ladder, a little too moist one good time and they were done.

All that has been previously listed, even if I don't have them all, plus sedums--Angelina (bright chartreuse/yellow)
and the blue variety with the same characteristic of the 'Angelina' and another sedum that is also bright yellow/green
that came in a pot from my mother's place in the N.C. mountains and winters over very well in pots and spreads every
so easily, but also easy to remove if it gets where you don't want it!

Did anyone list Dead Nettle? I love the silvery/green leaves and deep rose/pink blossoms that
will rebloom if you cut them back after their first blooming! They are easy to control and easy to root!

Also, the various Liriope/Monks Grass--the solid greens, the giants, the blue green and the variegated!

I also picked up a plant, that I doubt will make it as a perennial in my garden--really it's more of a bog plant
thus the name 'Bog Rosemary-Blue Ice'! Nice neat little mound of very intense blue--almost looks fake!

Oh, and Iris--just getting into those, though!

Here is a link that might be useful: Dead Nettle I have!

Epimediums, Disporums, Geranium maculatum.

Lots of great suggestions, love the cimicifuga(now actea) (sp)
a couple I didn't see though it's possible I missed them are thalictrum, aruncus-(goatsbeard), filependula, angelica gigas, and anemone robustissima.

Because of my zone 7 locations, I havenÂt any hostas that receive more than 1-1/2 hour of direct sun at all; in fact most (95%) do not get ANY direct sun, a lesson learned painfully despite the expert advice of many that were in more temperate (cooler) zones. So almost all my hostas and companion plants are in the shadeÂ
Apart from the Japanese Maples, Azaleas, rhododendrons, hydrangeas and shrub type optionsÂ

Creaping yew (shrub type but very low, approx 18" high but can exceed 8Â Dia)

Helleborus (Lenten Rose)

Jack in the Pulpit

Astilbe (many colors)

Foxglove (many colors)

Heuchera (many colors)

Ligularia (many shapes and colors)

Wild ginger (many sizes and colors)

Iorn plant

Ferns....

autumn fern

Holly fern

Japanese fern

Tassel fern

Shield Fern

And the infamous Dog fernÂ(high maintenance)

lol@dog fern. Thanks for the photos. I'm kind of looking for a little variety in my shade plants as well.

What is in the bottom right of the next to last photo?

There is also one ornamental grass I know of that tolerates shade.

You "comb" it rather than cuts the bejesus out of it.

It's Blue Fescue.

dkB

^ _ ^

I was laying in bed thinking about this question last night...hmm, instead of counting sheep I was counting shade loving perennials...how sad is that? I forgot Arum italicum, lamium, Helleborus and Lord only knows how many others.

Yeah,I have others that other people mentioned,but only listed a few. I have wild Vinca,which has taken over a portion of my woods,and some hostas are still in there with them,but the weaker ones have been moved elsewhere. Phil

aezarien,
The plant at the bottom right in the last photo is a Calla Lily, it is marginally a perennial here in Zone 7, if/when we have a very cold winter here, I fear they wonÂt make itÂ

Mikey

Ah, ok. Thanks. It has very pretty foliage as do the gingers. I'll have to check into those.

In addition to all of the above-variegated solomon's seal is stiking and gives a nice vertical accent, any of the variegated carexes mix well, columbine, oxalis triangularis (the purple one, and selaginella uncinata(which has gorgeous turquoise tones..but can be a real spreader), and some of the euphorbias.

Micky,
In your 3rd picture, is that Trillium and not Jack-in-the-Pulpit?
I have both in the woods, and yours look a lot like my Trillium,Jacks are taller and have a little pulpit in the center??
cAROL

Carol, I thought the same thing ... Trillium.

Bleeding heats? all varieties
Mayapple
Virginia Bluebells
Forget me nots
I really like the Hac grass "all gold"
violets
Johny jump ups (a type of viola I think)
Irish or scotch moss (nice)
a very nice low to the ground bird bath always looks nice
and just like Carol said Rocks and Driftwood
Blue oat grass
Ladybells (grows like crazy, can be restricted, and looks like a tall campanula that blooms for weeks
the dreaded vinca along with snow on the mountain
oh and the always increasing Lilly of the Valley, I finally got rid of mine, and then I found it creeping thru the fence from the neighbors (rock band house)
and plenty of snakes to scare away the verman (hopefully eat them) LOL

and dont forget the Dandelions!! They will grow with anything!! LOL

Paul

There is also a hardy orchid (mine has not bloomed and had it about 4 years now)

there are many annuals that look really great with Hosta, Try the Purple alternanthera, Persion Shield, Crocosmia, Mona Lavender (blooms like CRAZY in the fall) Coleous and a lot of them,
elephant ears (all varieties, give them a lot of water, they will get huge)

and last but not least, all hosta will look great planted around a backyard pond or streambed or waterfall

okay... I think that I am done

Thanks for all the posts! I found some of the Japanese forest grass today along with some ginger, holly fern,& trillium. I'll look again this weekend. You guys have been great and given me many good ideas. TIM

I didn't see lungwort mentioned. It repels deer and there are some that don't look like much alone but put them next to a hosta and they are dynamite. The silver one is gorgeous with blue hostas - the white-spotted ones are so cool - yet another texture. Oh - and the lamium 'Anne Greenaway' is beautiful with all hostas because it has every color in the leaf - dark green, silver, blue and chartreuse all in one leaf and a really pretty dark lavender flower.

I also grow Turk's Cap lilies in with my hostas. Last year I experimented with dwarf oriental lilies and they did great also, but my bed does get a couple hours of sun in the morning.

Rogersia and Uvularia grandiflora also work.

I have Siberian Iris in the Hosta garden, might not get as many flowers but nice texture with the vertical leaves.

melati, what's the plant with the large pink cups?

Paula.. those are just volunteer pink Columbine.. have lots of pink, white and red/whites :) I don't mind them volunteering at all.. where I don't want them I just pull them... they help to keep down weeds.

I like the goatsbeards which are similar to astilbe but don't seem quite as touchy about moisture. Both the regular (Aruncus dioicus) and the dwarf (Aruncus aethusifolius) goatsbeard do well here alongside hosta.

I have the hardy orchid, it's called Bletilla. I'll see if I have a picture to post.

Also, we should not overlook hydrangeas. Even though they are shrubby, they look fabulous with hosta. Especially the short ones.

Lainey