Well, I'm another Californian with hot dry summers. But I grow a lot of irises, all kinds of lilies, dahlias, salvias, dianthus, foxglove, peonies, clematis, centaurea, pelargoniums, echinacea, snapdragons, guara, echinops, hellebores, heucheras, alstromeria, glads (altho they don't do that well), african daisies, asters, mums, euphorbias, gazanias, gaillardias, gerbera daisies, marguerites, rudbeckias, penstemons, shasta daisies, tracheleum caeruleums, lion's tail, verbascums, veronicas, lavenders, scabiosa, lantana, eucomis, caryopteris, stachys.... The best of them are the dianthus, echinops and lilies. The irises have to be thinned out about every three yrs or they become invasive and quit blooming. Salvias can get overwhelming. I have three "Hot Lips" in one bed and by summer's end they engulf the whole bed. The tracheleums are lovely, but they also get huge and spread all over, and have to be deadheaded. Asters and mums have to be hard pruned and thinned. Same with Shasta daisies. Euphorbias get really innvasive too, but they make nice fillers, until you have to deadhead. Snails and slugs like the gerberas. Dahlias have to be staked, or they become trailing groundcovers! Dang I hadn't realized just how many different plants I have put in the yard.. Not to mention the many Japanese maples and butterfly bushes, azaleas, camellias, rhodies, daphne, witch hazel, pieris japonica, etc all in the shady areas. Yikes.... Now, if I could just get delphiniums to grow!....

That pale yellow/white rose is Elina--an absolutely wonderful rose that I adore--I have three of them. The blooms are large, long-lasting, and very prolific, and the plant is very BS resistant. It does suffer a bit of thrip damage, but since I don't "show" roses in competition, that is no problem in the garden where most people are viewing them at more of a distance. In fact, I often see cars driving down my alley with several heads/necks angling out the windows to get a better view of the three Elinas growing by my neighbor's (ugly) garage. Kate

Ohhh, there are so many choices! Are you looking for things that will bloom other than in springtime? All of those listed above bloom pretty early. I have the yellow (and red and lavender Epimedium) and it's new leaves emerge bronzy like the photo above, so I don't think it has to be E. rubrum I have hellebores, solomon's seal, false solomon's seal, fairy bells, dicentras ( the little ones, pink and white), lots of early bulbs, primulas, dwarf hostas- I have a tiny 2" high one that gets deep purple flowers, Paris, spotted hardy orchid- (Dactylorhiza maculata), double bloodroot (I love the flowers, and they last a lot longer than the singles), corydalises- Corydalis Flexuosa Purple Leaf, Corydalis ochroleuca (white flowers-neat habit, and will bloom for months!), and one that I forget the name, but the leaves look like a fern and it gets yellow flowers (not lutea), arum italicum, Hakonechloa (I have several varieties), oh and Himilayan blue poppy, ummm can't think of any more off the top of my head... Heucheras, Lime Ricky really stands out in the shade, as does Stoplight. Oh, and shooting stars, camassia, anemone nemerosa (the double white again lasts the longest)...depending on the amount of light- Astrantias, ajugas, one of my favorites is A. Metallica crispa- it's tiny and well-behaved.

What a lovely thread this is! Thanks to all who have posted. I will second Peren.all's suggestion of Actea/Cimicifuga, particularly the dark-leafed types such as Brunette, Hillside Black Beauty, etc. I have many of the others mentioned here such as Hydrangea macrophylla varieties in the half shade spots, a few types of Solomon's seal/Polygonatum, Dicentra eximia/ fern-leaf bleeding heart, Astilbe, European ginger, columbine, and primroses. There are a few plants that I have with hosta that I didn't see in others' posts (though I may have missed since this is a long post). Veronica 'Georgia Blue' grows for me in both sun and mostly shade. In sun it has a tighter growth habit and darker leaves, while in shade it spreads among other plants in a friendly and nonaggressive manner so that it just winds arounds other plants filling in bare spots. It blooms well in both sun and shade in late spring. Iris cristata (crested iris) is a slowly spreading spring bloomer that is fine in full bright shade. Depending on the selection, it blooms can be from white to medium blue. It is mostly done blooming by the time the hostas are fully leafed out but the foliage is a nice contrast to the hosta foliage for the rest of the season. This photo has a couple of foamflowers/Tiarella as well in the upper right corner and center bottom. Some have fancier foliage than these two, and there are also Heucherellas which are Heuchera-Tiarella crosses. 'All Gold 'Japanese forest grass/Hakone grass/Hakonechloa macra is one of my favorite gold plants, and I often have it with hosta. It expands very slowly; I think I've only divided mine once in 15 years and is happiest with a lot of shade. This one is being crowded by a self-seeded Hosta. Leucosceptrum japonica 'Golden Angel' has the unfortunate common name of Japanese shrub mint, but it isn't a shrub, just a medium perennial, and though it is in the mint family, it doesn't spread like mint. It does expand slowly, but is easily controlled; I haven't had to do anything to mine in 5 years or so. Gold Angel is just to the left of center in the photo below, farther back in the bed. Hakone grass is on the right. Between it and gold hosta are a biennial foxglove which blooms pink and is trying to out-compete a Japanese painted fern, which looks a lot nicer in better circumstances. The Sputnik-like seed heads are from a white allium which is happy in a bit less than half day sun. An evergreen shrub to go with Hostas (if you have acid soil) has a few branches over on the left, Leucathoe. Partridgeberry/Mitchella repens is native groundcover that likes shade. Another native is False Solomon's seal/Maianthemum racemosum, which has red berries later in the season. There are a couple of groundcover shade-loving geraniums - Geranium x cantabrigiense 'Biokovo' and Geranium macrorrhizum - that might be too aggressive for Hosta - I am just trying the combination in the last couple of years.