If you go with a smaller variety, you could mix it up a bit. There are dwarfs that max out at like a foot or so. And smalls are usually 2 feet or under.

Stay away from Frances Williams. Any sun and it'll scorch.
Great Expectations is a snob. It grows for some, fails for others.

June, Halcyon and Paul's Glory are amongst my faves. Blue Angel is kinda ordinary.

just curious... whats keeping you from modifying the bed? you know... make it bigger? possibly some curves? curves are far better than straight lines... and hostas look really nice aligned with the curves...

Well my house sits on a small city lot where the houses are pretty much right on top of each other. I have maybe 5-6ft between the side of my house and my neighbors driveway and technically my property line ends about a foot before the driveway. So I'm pretty much stuck with roughly a 40x3 bed with an AC unit right in the middle.

I know a linear arrangement isn't exactly ideal but I would like to find a way to incorporate different hostas and possibly some heuchera to bring some character to that bed. The front of the house is lined with green shrubs and the side is just a wall of green hosta. Im over the green walls

well you could do a little expansion... and I'm sure you mow to the driveway right? so what would be so wrong with extending the bed? i'm sure your neighbor...unless he/she is psycho... wouldn't mind you landscaping out a bit farther. You could add some waves to that straight line.. 40 foot is pretty long.. if you had the money for landscaping stone it would be sweet to build it up a foot and extend it out a foot to two to add some waves. if you were my neighbor I'd tell you to go ahead and do it... I would love to pull into my driveway every night seeing a beautifully landscaped area of hosta. 3 feet doesn't give you much room for some of the supersweet large and giant hosta to mature...though 5-6 feet would... I would say get the nerve and talk to this neighbor!

everlastb it sounds like you already have a nice sound plan to me with the addtional color hostas your mom has and the heuchera. You can get the sizes of each hosta on a google search for each name, usually bringing up a certain forum that has them all. Just mix up the colors of hers with your green ones and add a heuchera here and there with the smaller hosta in the bed. You could very easily make that bed stand out. Map it out on paper after you check sizes to see what else you will need hosta & heuchera wise before you start. Good luck and would love to see a photo when completed. Don't forget if you don't like something you are able to move it.
Cher

I've got a driveway strip I dug out & planted.

Not hosta, but a GREAT, GREAT shrub for an area like that is a Buckthorn Fine Line. This pic below was taken early spring 2009. They have grown now to the top of the fenceline. I don't think they're supposed to get a whole lot taller than that.

Lush feathery foliage. Deciduous. Leaves turn yellow in the fall. Foliage comes out early in the spring. Seeds are sterile and they don't sucker. I've never had to prune except for maybe a couple little twigs once a year. They stay narrow like this.

Fine Lines are shrubs and have a tree-like form to them. They grow in sun or shade. You can underplant. One of my favorite shrubs! Great way to break up strips.

Gayle

I guess I should have just came out and said that changing the depth of the bed is not an option. Extending it to the driveway would force me to pick up my lawn mower and carry it into the backyard everytime i mow due to the fenced in backyard.

The plan that I had was to do groups of 3 hostas. A green hosta, halcyon and probably paul's glory clumped together. Then I had planned on using a heuchera here and there to break up the pattern and the sea of hostas a bit.

Everlast I say just do it! If your mom is willing to share with you why not? I think your plan to mix it up with heucheras is nice, maybe also mix in some smaller hostas. You said the bed faces north so how about adding some other low light plants if possible like bleeding hearts (dicentra), ferns, maybe impatiens for a little pop of color?
Whatever you decide a bed of all hostas would like nice on its own. You'll find as you plant them what looks pleasing to your eye.

Just a suggestion but where you can't extend the bed can you build it up? Like add a second smaller tier? I have to do that to all my beds because I have such a small area. It gives more character I think.

But if you can't do that find a lot of small ones and minis so they won't look like they are in a line.

I was trying to find a post for an examplt but I can't seem to find it. Someone here has a ton of raised beds. one of the beds is I think three or four tiers in a square, each tier is turned a little, the same person has a two, two tier gardens that looks very long but narrow. One has lattice work behind it the other the only thing I can really remember is the huge time(i think it is anyway) Thyme plant draping across the tiers. I think it's whooly Thyme. If anyone knows who I am talking about I think it would be a good example here.

everlastb - Your mom has good taste in hosta. I'd ask her to help with the plantings - she'll enjoy it and later you will even more.

Paul

I wouldn't exactly give my mom credit for good taste in plants. She is more of an impulse buyer and stops by Lowes, HD, and nurseries every day on her way home from work. She is a serial killer when it comes to plants so I'm better off on my own

I would be interested in adding tiers or possibly a couple raised beds within it. I have access to a ton of river rock so that is an idea. With the small yard my landscaping is pretty boring so I am open to any ideas. Aside from this bed all I have to work with is the strip of shrubs at the front of my house and a 2ft wide bed around my deck. Its like a never ending straight line around here

This isn't the garden I was thinking of but it is the same idea

http://thriftyliving.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/plot-17b-strawberry-bed-27-april-2008.jpg

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1012475}}

Everlast, your flower beds are like mine. When I purchased home the original owner had already made 4 feet wide beds along the whole gate of back yard. I did not want to make wide beds due to loving grass also. I planted different colored plants like coral bells, different colored hostas, rose bushes, and different day lillies in this bed depending on sun for that area. I looks pretty without all the fancy curves.

Not my picture, but an idea for a small hosta bed.

Here is a link that might be useful: