I'm interested in this topic as well. However I don't yet have any good photos to share. I have some groundcovers in a few places that I hope will play nice with the hostas and other things - some ajuga Black Scallop, which is very pretty and doesn't seem to spread too fast or aggressively, some liriope, which I'm keeping an eye on, and some vinca minor - also keeping an eye on that one. But the neighbor behind has a lot of vinca, so I decided that if I can't beat 'em, why not join 'em. I really think it will be fine if it stays in certain beds, and if I have to yank it up in other places, I will. I have one hardy geranium - Max Frei - and plan to get Rozanne this year. Also - Epimedium - which is very slow to expand, but clearly well behaved and semi-evergreen. I'm planning to divide some of that this year and spread it around a bit.

I've been planting shrubs and hoping that some of these will be nice companions and backgrounds for some hostas - a few different kinds of smaller spirea: Goldmound, Neon Flash, Golden Glitter, Magic Carpet. Some viburnums of different sizes and leaf colors. Some yews. Little Lime hydrangeas. Blue Shadow fothergilla. Boxwood. Arborvitae.

It's another building year here in my garden.

And I've been lurking in the daylily forum for nice cultivars to use here-and-there. I'd like to try some of the other lilies in my sunnier locations. Anyone ever pair up hostas with the Asiatic or Oriental lilies? Martagon lilies?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Windy, I had a pic one time...of course cannot find it now...of my Sum and Substance with a pink Asiatic lily that had fallen over on it...it looked like a big hosta with a big pink bloom! Shocked a few hosta friends when I showed it to them!

I grow ferns, heucheras, gingers, hydrangeas, ajugas, hellebores, primroses...have several jap maples in ground but the roots are a problem so will keep the new ones I got last summer in pots...a couple of dogwoods and redbuds around. Have one epimedium and will be getting more....love to scatter caladiums and inpatients among.....my daylilys like more sun than my hostas get so they aren't together.

Be sure to keep both eyes on that vinca minor....It's trying to eat my yard and probably would my house if I didn't keep at it...

Sorry no pics....

Green is a color with many shades. Any of these conifers go well with hosta.

That was my thinking when I put this together.

Unfortunately, I am not up on what would do well in your zone. The brunnera 'Jack Frost' is always good as well as smaller leaved or needled plants because they help vary the texture. Like anything, it is a matter of balance and making the eye move (I do it with color-blue(ish) snaking through in this case) while allowing it to rest somewhere (bigger leaves here, negative space elsewhere in the garden).

tj

P.S. The reality is I did not think everything out beforehand, just kept moving things until it felt right. Take some of your hosta leaves with you to the nursery and see what looks good with them.

I love to a touch of color to my Hosta beds. I have several companions. My favorite are ferns, coral bells,caladiums and Hydrangeas. Hydrangea work well as a shrub in the backdrop.
Corals Bell are great and they come In a variety of color.

Caladiums also comes in several varieties and stays until the Hostas go dormant.

Tsugajunkie, you are not alone, I don't think anything out either.

Tsugajunkie: love your conifers and gardens. I don't overthink planting plans either. Like you said, just move them around until I find a pleasing combination.

TJ, I love all the new buds on the various conifers - their various shades of green are so appealing to my eyes. Those photos are quite beautiful and an inspiration to me and anyone who wants to add beauty to their surroundings.

Because we have so little snow cover, evergreen companions add winter interest to my garden. And I like fragrant plants so I have Daphne, Sweetbox, Sweet Olive, Chinese Witch Hazel and Burkwoodii Viburnum for shrubs. Heuchera and Hellebores, evergreen ferns and clumping liriope.

I copied this from the other duplicate thread.

My two companion plants, that most everyone knows is astilbe (don't know its name) and daylily Mayaysian Monarch accompanied by one annual every year. This year it was calibrachoa Cherry Tarts.

I've bookmarked this thread - love the suggestions and comments!

DD - So glad you gave the name of the daylily - I've admired that in some of your other posts and wondered which it was. I'm assuming it is somewhat shade tolerant, to bloom so well for you! And a bit of color from annuals is a good idea too.

TJ - love the different conifer colors and textures! I'll have to study up on that category at the local nurseries and see what will work here in Kansas (KC area). I just remember that most of them seem to want full sun. The only evergreens I have so far are yews, arborvitae and boxwood. I have a Black Hills Spruce, but it's in full hot sun with sharp drainage, and it seems (so far) to be deliriously happy - growing well. It's not an area that I would ever plant hostas. And brunnera is definitely on my list - it looks awesome with your Spilt Milk. Looks like you have some astilbe and daylilies mixed in your beds as well....

Dedez - You have some great combos! Looks like Autumn Fern with that gold-edged hosta? Super pretty!

I'm really glad to see you all write that you didn't have too much of a plan when you started. That's encouraging. I have lists, and some ideas of what I want to put in particular areas generally (based on the light/moisture conditions), but I think I'll have to "play" with things a bit - and that's the fun of it anyway, isn't it?

Also - Glos, you mentioned ginger... how does it behave? Does it spread aggressively, or is it pretty controllable? I always think its so pretty is photos!

BTW - I came "this close" to buying and planting some "Chameleon Plant" last summer... but I held off and came home to read about it. Omigosh, its so attractive, but sounds like a nightmare!

Windymess, the front of my garden gets 6 - 7 hours of Sun daiily. I added additional Sun tolerant hostas last year.

Very helpful to see all of the companion plant that everyone have used. So far most of mine have been transplanted from the dark woods. So I am limited to ferns an jack-in-the-pulpit. I've tried coral bells and astilbe with poor results. I did plant europian ginger last year. We will see how that works.

where possible I have planted day lilies.

An orange-y daylily behind Orange Marmalade. :) No, I didn't consciously plan it that way. I like the strappy daylily leaves and the interestingly shaped/colored leaves of the heuchera mixed in with my hostas.

Windy, I have 4 or 5 different gingers and have not had problems with them being too aggressive. The large leaf ones seems to be hardier for me so do grow bigger. There is one under a jap maple that I noticed is spreading but as I mentioned earlier the maple roots are making it hard for the hostas to thrive so I may move the few that are there and let the ginger have it if it's happy.

In my earlier gardening years I just had to have some of that "beautiful chameleon plant".....oh my goodness....talk about eating your house! And it turned all green in the shade so it wasn't even pretty when I was fighting with it....FINALLY got rid of it. You did good to resist!

I would be very cautious with the Vinca. I have a few spots where I let it go and is very difficult to get totally rid of. It will choke the hosta if not controlled.

This whole area was a solid mass of Vinca (like the back half). I started with just three small clumps and let it fill in all the bare ground there before I decided to make it a hosta bed .It has taken three years to get rid of it and still some pops up every year.

Some day I may have to tackle this pathway.

I like a few Ostrich Ferns with large hostas but they also need to be kept in check. These need some thinning around Big Mama. Don't even ask about the English Ivy underneath! Total nightmare!

My favorite and not to invasive is the European Wild Ginger. Along path ways and spotted here and there among the hosta. It will self seed but easy to control.

This year I hope to take a page from Delaware Donna and use more Astilbe.

Jerry, It isn't true when you say you don't have a sense of design. I think you have created lovely gardens. Good luck with the Astilbe. Just keep it watered in a sunny location.

I have been fighting self-seeding liriope and vinca major for years. I think I might get it eradicated for the most part this year. We shall see.

I'll be looking for some ginger this year! I love the look of it!

I agree with Donna - you have created lovely gardens, Jerry!

It is nice to look at all your choices. I am envious of your warmer zones. I consider myself to be in zone 4 based on my experience with perennials.. For a while I was very much into roses. Almost all the hybrid T roses did terrible. The climbers also didn't do well because most of the growth where the flowers were got damaged in the winter.

My first catagory of companion plants is bulbs. They too are not that great a success in the long run but I keep trying. Faye is 1/2 mile lower down on the hill and her bulbs alway increase while mine fade away after a couple years.

Here are some of the more successful ones. Tulips will diminish but look good for at least a couple years. Small daffodils do ok. The windflower has been there for ages but doesn't spread. I do like the way they look with the emerging hostas.

The next group of companion plants is Perennials and bushes. When I started this garden 26 years ago I wanted (and tried) to grow every plant there was. What I have left is the 'thugs' as they are known. These survivors are tough and carefree. They are great companions to the hostas because they can be moved or ripped out as you desire.

A perennial primrose that spreads and always comes back unlike the more showy ones you buy early in the spring. Shown here with feather boa.

Sweet Woodruff spreads everywhere and I love it.

Yellow bleeding heart another favorite. It has spread itself from the shade into the hottest sun and is so easy and long blooming.

Yellow loosestrife growing on pavement

Yellow/gold perennial daisies. These bloom all summer and I love them. It's a good thing that yellow is my favorite color since it seems to be everywhere.

Polyanthus rose The Fairy

I appreciate both colors of Creeping Jenny. The dark green one made a wonderful lawn in front of the new garden bed a couple years ago. It was full and beautiful within a couple months of planting. The color is great and it never needs to be mowed. I'm thinking of ripping out my other 'little' lawn with grass and putting this in.

In this picture are two surviving clematis now totally in the wrong spot. We use to have a picket fence they could be wound around. For the past ten years we've had this faux adobe wall. They manage to come up anyway and drape over the wall or climb the roses generally lay on top of things. It's interesting that they are almost the same color and not a favorite of mine but they do look nice for quite a while. Also in this picture is more of the gold sunflower and a sprig of the wild campanula also know as devils weed. Faye has some of this and does a beautiful job of keeping it in neat clumps.

The hot side of the house. This has the heat lovers like daylilies, roses, regular lilies and lavender.

Another place with surviving roses, astilbe, perennial geranium and bush Anthony Waterer spirea (bright pink)

The last group is the annuals. My choice in color is red and orange. In sun it's wax begonias

In shade impatiens.

Occasionally I use pink especially to compliment the blue hostas.

Meryle, I'm enthralled with the photos of your garden - worthy of a spread in Home and Gardens. Do you have garden tours? What is that monster hosta next to the tree in photo #9?

@Windymess- The link is an old post talking about shade tolerant conifers. All would do fine in the K.C. area. Also look for posts by davesconifers in the Conifer Forum. He's near K.C. and has a dandy conifer garden.

Hosta & Conifers

@Josephines- When folks tell me conifers don't bloom I show them pix at bud break or when cones of some are forming.

Picea omorika 'Pendula Bruns'

tj

Some great pics above. As much as I love hosta, even with their diversity, by themselves they make a monotonous garden (I think).

I agree with Old Dirt about vinca and ivy.

I have lots of different companion plants. Seems like I want to try everything. Then I see what I like and what does well, the others die out of get moved to an unobtrusive location.

I like Columbine for the spring flowers. It seeds freely, so every year there are a few more.

I've added several hydrangea to my garden over the past several years. This is 'Bloomstruck'. The bush like shapes give a different form among the hosta and some height. Some have lovely leaves and red stems as well.

Love Spiderwort. Comes in many different colors. I do find it gets straggly in late July or August. I just cut it down to a few inches and fresh foliage grows back, sometimes to bloom again. Irises are good too.

I discovered Epimedium a couple years ago. Many colors. Too bad the flowers are only in spring, but the foliage is a nice contrast to hosta all season long.

TJ - I love the photos on that linked page.... bookmarked it.... In reading about some of the different Tsuga's and Thuja's (a whole new vocabulary to learn!) - it does look like part shade and moisture will be okay for some and I could add a little evergreen variety to the garden! That would make DH very happy, as he is always lobbying for evergreens - and I can't disagree - winter can be pretty dismal. I've given up on the evergreen hollies around here. Some folks locally have great luck with them, I never have. Same with rhododendrons. Soil around here is quite alkaline. Maybe some have pockets of slightly more acidic soil... I don't know... or maybe they amend or supplement. I've tried, but without enough success to make it worthwhile - so no more rhodies or hollies. But I'll be strolling the evergreen aisles at the nurseries this spring to see which varieties they will offer!

Here is Elvis Lives with Hens & Chickens.

Francis Williams surrounded by just planted begonias and Hercules coral bells (I think). I love the intense hits of colour I get with the annual begonias and they are pest free for me and rather forgiving if my watering is a little erratic. And my happy green frog loves them too!Orange Marmalade with Jackmanii Clematis

Love the blues in Halcyon and Tokudama Flavocircinalis with the rose begonias.

More Heucheras - love the different colours and the blooms are just a bonus.

June Fever in full sun with a Rhododendron in bloom and white lupins in the background - I still try for lots of colour in my garden and use hanging baskets as well.

Fire Island loves the company of a 'wild mushroom'.

Bed in progress last fall with various colours of Heucheras.

A lit bit of everything.

And all the hostas are sleeping here (winter 2014)

Barb - beautiful!

Thanks Donna, That hosta is Lakeside Prophecy (also shown on the Lakeside thread). It has been a real show stopper since in got it in 2011 from Sebright in Oregon. They gave me a wonderfully large plant. It is next to Sun Power and the two are great complements to each other. Myrle

All of the plants mentioned here are terrific! Here are a few more.

This is a new planting of Dicentra 'Luxuriant' because I love it so much I needed more. It starts to bloom very early and continues until frost. Heuchera 'Magnum' is behind it and H. 'Marmalade' is barely visible. The large bells are Campanula 'Sarastro' another plant with a very long bloom period. The 4' white is Gillenia trifoliata. It is a perennial but looks like a shrub.Actaea simplex 'Brunette' and every Actaea is lovely.The foliage is striking and it blooms late season. The flowers are very fragrant. This was Cimicifuga renamed Actaea.Kirengeshoma (Yellow Waxy Bells) with Revolution. This pic is old but shows the interesting foliage.I like the dark stems of the Kirengeshoma and the flowers are unusual. The seed pods are interesting as well. Extremely well behaved.The burgundy flowers belong to Astrantia 'Lars' but there are many named varieties. It blooms from June on and has great foliage too. Tiarella is not highlighted in this pic but is another terrific plant. The white flowers on the right are Sanguisorba obtusa alba. It can take sun or partial shade.

Rodgersia is a big bold plant that I adore. All are wonderful and average 3-4 feet tall and wide. The foliage is bronze when it emerges in Spring.

A few more favorites.

Aruncus (Goatsbeard) are great because they come in sizes to suit any garden. The white on the botton right is A. aethusifolius and it is under a foot tall with a spread of approx. 14" with finely cut almost ferny foliage. The 5 foot tall white in the back is Aruncus dioicus 'Sylvestris'. p.s. There are Hosta in this bed, just not visible from this angle.

This is Aruncus 'Horatio'. It is approx. 21/2 - 3 feet tall with dark stems. Love it!

I really like Epimediums too, all of them. This is one of my faves, it is E. versicolor 'Sulphureum'. It has great spring color then is green in summer and then with the slightest bit of cool in the fall it gets this coloration again.Here is the Epimedium on Nov. 15th. I thought I had a pic after I raked.

H. sieboldiana surrounded by Phlox stolonifera 'Home Fires' and Forget-Me-Nots.

My power was out for 24 hrs. then back on for 2hrs. and then out for another 9 hrs. I have been enjoying this thread and didn't want it to disappear lol!

Laurie - Your gardens bring a smile to my face. I like the changing colors on the epimedium. How much land do you have?

peren, Beautiful plantings and garden; a wonderful setting to stroll around. What is the red flower to the left in the distance? That nice compact Sanguisorba obtusa alba seems hard to get around here.

Sorry I meant the 6th pic from your previous post.

Thank you Donna! I am so happy you like it because I know every time you post your garden it certainly makes me smile! Yours is all the more special since you do it for yourself but also your community, I am sure they all appreciate your effort.

I have 60 acres and roughly 90% of it is forest. I garden at least 3/4 of an acre. It keeps me out of trouble lol!

Thank you so much garcanad! I do love to stroll the garden. Spring is my favorite time, it never ceases to amaze me when the plants break ground after our gruesome winters.

The red flower is Helenium 'Moerheim Beauty'. It is my favorite because it starts to bloom in early June and continues until killing frost hits. I have others that are nice but they bloom late in the season.

Some great plants do seem difficult to find. This one is well worth trying to find. Where are you located roughly (zone 5 is huge)? With your user name I would think somewhere in Canada?

My favorite fern is Adiantum pedatum - Maidenhair fern. The stems are nearly black and the foliage is pink when it is young. This pic was taken on May 23rd.

Ligularia is another plant I enjoy and they all go well with Hostas. The dark foliage peeking out is L. 'Britt Marie Crawford'.

Geranium phaeum 'Samobor' is just starting to bloom. I would grow it for the foliage alone.

Here is a 1st year Hepatica acutiloba. It has a quiet beauty that I really like. Trilliums and Sanguinaria canadensis (Bloodroot) are terrific also.Donna I adore all Astilbe but A. 'Fanal' gives me the red I crave. The red berries at the top of the pic are from our native Actaea rubra. Ligularia 'Desdemona' is on the right.

Laurie - That astilbe provides a great pop of color. Would you happen to know the variety of my astilbe. It is a taller version planted a few years ago.

Thanks peren. I do have 'Moerheim Beauty', but the way you use it seems so ideal! Your composition in that pic; the way you locate and stand the rock, and the subtle foliage texture, colour flow is really impressive to me.

I am just a plant addict in Milton Ontario.

Just curious, is your garden a display garden that opens to the public?

This thread is full of so many beautiful garden pictures that make the winter much warmer.

Donna the good news bad news is that there are so many Astilbe. The breeders have been very busy putting out scores of new ones every year for many years now. I would say yours is either a japonica or an arendsii (George Arends crossed 4 species to create this hybrid) then other hybridizers created many others.

Yours resembles A. japonica 'Reinland'. The problem is too, with books or Google the coloration can be wildly different for the same plant.

TJ, that's about the nicest June I've ever seen. And it may be the biggest as well.

Can't seem to find any recent (or very GOOD) pics of them, but Asiatic lilies do well in the same sun conditions as hostas. I've mixed a few varieties in the hosta beds. I plan to get a few more varieties this season.

garcanad you are too kind! Anyone here who checks out the Perennial Forum will know that garcanad has a real mastery for putting together beautiful textures and colors. I will take that as high praise indeed!

Yes my garden is open to anyone who wishes to come! I have dug and planted to my hearts content for the past 30 years lol! You are 4 hrs. and 14 min. away from me, not exactly around the corner but perhaps doable. Feel free to message me!

I'm with hostahosta - I want to try everything so I have a lot of different companion plants. Here are a few that I wouldn't be without.

Trilliums & Mayapples in the back:

Geraniums (Espresso & Raven are shown here. Rozanne is an absolute must have for continuous bloom)

Various Sedum (these are some of my seedlings)

Heuchera (Who needs flowers with this much colour?)

ConnieMay, Your first photo - MY OH MY!!

Thanks Donna. That pic is from May 13 last year - ahhh spring.

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.

Great to see you here Babs. Leucosceptrum japonica 'Golden Angel' is one I had never heard of and I like it! So happy to have a new plant on my radar.

I am a big fan of Mitchella r. as it is native here too. I have found it growing under Maples and it makes a wonderful groundcover.

That is a really nice swath of Maianthemum racemosum. I get strays starting here and there and will definitely promote it colonizing after seeing yours!

I occasionally visit here Peren.all, but often feel a bit lost as far as posting since while I have a bunch of types of hosta, I am not a collector and don't have any of the newest varieties. I have gotten some nice suggestions here over the years, though.

I learned about Leucosceptrum from someone in the New England forum a few years ago and have found it easy and trouble free. (This post was the one that got me started taking garden photos and has some nice shade foliage photos.) Leucsceptrum's blooms are only minor ornament, and come so late in the year that it doesn't go to seed, so it's easy to control. As long as it gets shade from the hottest of the afternoon sun, it isn't fussy at all. I only watered it during establishment and it was fine even with no extra water in last summer's almost drought conditions. Mine is perhaps 2 1/2' tall.

My Maianthemum racemosum came in as seed from some soil we moved into this bed to fill in some low spots, and it has spread via more seed. The voles keep it thinned a bit, and mine would be happier with less sun than the all day it gets in the spot I posted; in dry years it disappears part way through the summer. I moved a chunk last summer to a shadier spot where I expect it to be really happy, and we also have some growing less densely in full, all day shade. I like the ridgy texture of the leaves and if one doesn't want it to increase, the berries are easy to remove since they all are in a tuft at the end. Critters do enjoy the berries.

Really like that enchanting patch of Aquilegia canadensis. Their little lantern-liked flowers on slender stems add a sense of airy space among the relative dense Hosta foliage, and add a pleasant bright colour for the shady area.

Beautiful garden.