There are yellow hostas that will brighten a shady corner. I have had better luck with my hostas in containers. Something--either a critter or a fungus was getting the roots. You might also consider the lime Elephant Ears. Begonias in a pot will soldier through the heat. Something always eats them when I leave them in the ground. Here is a shot of a small corner of my garden. The big yellow hosta on the left is Squash Casserole. It hasn't been through a hot summer yet, but I sure do like it.

Okay, now here is a slight hijack for all of you lovers of green. Being a "green person" I painted my kitchen BM Saybrook Sage several years ago. I love it and so does DH (he said he was surprised at how much he likes it). I painted the cabinets a creamy white (BM Lily of the Valley) and like that with the green. Problem is that we have two and sometimes three large long-haired dogs who sometimes get past us when they are wet and shake. We also have 60-something eyes that often miss drips or dirt on the cabinets unless I put on my glasses and look carefully. DH doesn't even bother to look! Now, I am not saying I won't be cleaning, but I do want to avoid that moment of horror that I occasionally get if someone drops by and then I notice drips or something after they go and wonder what they thought if they noticed the mess. So, does anyone have any ideas of a shade I could paint the lower cabinets that would work with the sage and with the upper cabinets which will stay white (dark kitchen when lights aren't on during the day). Thanks and feel free to ignore me if you think I should start a new thread. Just seemed that with all of us loving green, this would be a good time!

Thank you every one for your encouragement, enthusiasm and assurance. I feel really lucky!! I really feel it was meant to be. I'm not getting this because it's a marble, as I knew nothing about marble nor I cared to learn, although I'm getting educated quickly through GW. I'm getting this because it's just so beautiful and it will be a perfect honed white counter top with green accent, which is pretty much the vision of my dream kitchen. I am even thinking of having a buffet built in the dining room just so that I can put the marble on top. Or have the breakfast bar made with the marble as well-but maybe not if staining is a big issue. 2 active kids (8 and 11), so I'll just keep wood as planned there. loves2cook4six- Thank you for your concern. But I was already ready for scratches as I was going to get a Corian before I saw this anyway. I need to learn more about stains, but I feel ok with it. wallycat- yes, indeed, especially since this was the only major decision I had to make at this point. All I have to do now is to wait for things to happen!! Well, I still have to decide how to do the backplash, which was to be my focal point, but now I'm not so sure. macybaby- no, I'm sorry, but I'm on West Coast. shannonplus2- at the stone yard, the sales person called it "white marble with green crystals" LOL. As for green being "serpentine", maybe so, but mine is basically a white marble with green spots, so I think it's different. But if this turns out to be less porous, that'll be icing on the cake!! And here is the picture of my backsplash. Mine will have polised and matte tiles.

They do go through a pale color on their way from green to red. They also get softer. Once the greenest green has faded to that whitish color, they're not far from ripening. They will actually continue to ripen on their own at that point. And they will still be flavorful. The skin is still smooth, just pale in color. Sun scald looks like a lesion and has a rougher texture. Reminds me of being blistered from sunburn when I was young and didn't know any better. Doesn't sound like what you have. I found this summer that the greenest hardest tomatoes were easiest to process when shredding for relishes. The ones that were past that greenest stage turning pale into pinkish were softer and had to be diced with a knife instead of being processed on the grater. You want solid bits, after all, not sauce. For relishes and mincemeats, especially.