What new hosta/companion plants will you be adding?

I have been looking at catalogs, online, ect. and still not decided. What are you adding?

I am adding 7 new ferns different varieties, and some squirrel corn which isn't for the squirrels at all. Then I plan on finding some new heuchera, heucherella, and tiarella.

Maybe more, have to wait to see how the hosta look when they come up.

Susan
=^..^=

I bought Key Lime Pie, heuchera last year it is very pretty.

bluegrass425, my companion plants are more Hostas, actually I have been adding hardy ferns, hardy fushias, huecheras, saxifraga, acer palmatums, hardy cyclamen, helleborus. hydrangea. lol hostajim1

Oh yeah, I have astilbe in there too.
Susan
=^..^=

heucheras i want lots and lots more!! its starting to become as bad as my other plant addictions!!

I will have heuchera and a few other things thise year I think one will be Brunneru.

Susan how about any rain out there. All day you could smell it here and not one drop. You know the grass is starting to green a bit and some of the plants that have been dormat are stiring. You better watch those water levels in all those hosta pot. I have watered 2-4 times since christmas. I am going ot have to lauch the traveling sprinkle next warm break. It takes all day to move about 100 ft and does it ever put dwon a lot of water. Things will dry out real fast now.

Hi There,

I have ordered a new (to me) red Astilbe "Red Sentinel". I have a few red ones already, but my Montgomery isn't really red - more maroon. I'm thinking it was mislabelled. I also have some white Astilbe and fern or two.

Also ordered helleborus "White Spotted lady:. and 3 new Heuchera - "Hercules", Hollywood" and "Peach Flambé". If I decide I need a bit more color, some New Guinea Impatiens does the trick. But for the sunnier end of the bed, I've ordered a Hibiscus "Fireball" just for fun.

And like hostajim1 said, more hostas. 14 new ones on the order list so far.

Ann

Ann do you grow helleborus up there??? I seen somewhere they were only rated for zone 4 and no higher.

Oz,

Never tried them before. But this is what the blurb says

I bet it is right also Ann. It did seem funny to me because I did not see much ab out them down south on here. I suppose it was the pamplet I read. you will get all sorts of storys in those things.

I have some that I need to divide if you want to try a couple. The ones I have the most of have the light green blooms.

Anyone growing toad lillies with their hosta? I also have a pretty lungwort that has speckled leaves. Such and ugly name for a nice plant.

I would love to add more of all mentioned above and then some, LOL! But alas! I've still got about 1000 hosta and and about that many other perennials that are in pots that need to be planted.

I planted some toad lilies with hostas and heucherae last year, so got just a few blooms so far. I'm planning to add Pulmonaria 'Red Start' if I can find it, but that's for early color with species tulips in the hosta area. Which lungwort do you have, bluegrass? Does it bloom with the hostas leafed out? (I know nothing about them, so the 'Red Start' will be my first effort.)

I need to check the PFs. I love how the blooms on the toad lilies are down the stems.

I like that quality, too; but it makes them more difficult to see since mine aren't upright. I need to figure out how to showcase them better this year.

Besides the plants mentioned above (I wish I could grow fushias), I also grow native azaleas, regular azaleas, mahonia, and Italian Arum. The Arum and mahonia are so pretty right now next to the heucheras.

Pins, do you have any pics to share containing the above. It sounds really pretty. I love a variety of plants. Key Lime Pie is my favorite heucheras now.

I have never posted a picture, so bear with me. Remember that underneath all of that are lots of hostas and deciduous ferns. You can see my daphnes in the top left corner and to the right with the yellow flowers is the mahonia. I have some Sissinghurst White pulmonaria blooming along with the daffs. The heucheras don't show up very well because its winter, but they will perk up before long. At least they're evergreen (and orange and peach colored) lol

This message was edited Feb 18, 2006 3:39 PM

My mahonia threw off a number of seedlings last fall that I put in a new hosta and heuchera bed - also mostly sedelings so they won't come true. But I'm really looking forward to seeing how that spot grows up.
pins, your mahonia has quite a few flowers for its size. I'm gardening vicariously with your pic today, and all the green in it is a welcome sight. :)

You did it pins, now you can share all those pics of your summer garden. You are way ahead of me. I am under 3 inches of snow today.
Teresa

Thanks, guys. The major brown to the right of the picture is a huge pile of shredded leaves. I'm waiting for the weather to stop with the rain already so I can put down pre-emergence and then out a layer of the mulch all around. Sorry, no summer pictures from last year. I'll be better this year.

pins-- love your pic--- wish you would post more!

I would like to add polemonium (jacob's ladder)

http://www.stewo.no/P/Polemonium%20caeruleum%20640.JPG

to my hosta bed.

Does anyone know if that will work? (Just 'wintersowed' a packet of seeds.)

Yes, they would look great! You can't see them in my pic, so I just took a close up. I have a plain green and a variegated polemonium. The green is in a pocket surrounded by azaleas and daphnes, to the side of the hostas. The other is just across the walkway. Here is the green.

Here is the variegated. It is in a bed with just a few hostas, but has lots of gingers, trilliums, jack in the pulpits, and other natives. It looks naked, but they are all dormant now.

I'm going to be adding some Arisaema (jacks), Podophyllum (mayapples), fern, Asarum (gingers) and Hepatica along with a few more hosta! I would love to add more Pulmonaria, but will wait and see how the ones I added last year come up and look. Our property is very humid and we learned a couple years ago that air circulations is very important with them, we lost most of what we had at the time. We cut down a number of trees and limbed up a number of trees. So if the Pulmonaria look like they are doing good I will add a few more later in the season.

The only problem with Hepatica (shich I love) mixed in with hostas is that they are so tiny. They could get completely overcrowded.

Pins, This will be my first experience with hepatica, I was thinking about putting them in the front border. Would I be better off putting them in the woods along a path?

I am watching for my new ferns to reappear after this snow is gone! March, please hurry!
Ostrich and Japanese ferns.

What is hepatica?

bluegrass-- a google search brought up these hipatica pics... http://images.google.com/images?q=hepatica&hl=en&btnG=Search+Images

I love using the google image search for plants/flowers. It will bring up almost everything. (FYI You can try google to locate Value Seeds, too.)

bluegrass, I especially love this photo of the unique variegation commonly found on some of the Hepatica that grows wild on our property http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/38306/.

Shady, be patient with your Pulmonarias. The first two years we planted ours, some of them continued to look a little shabby. But by the third year they were outstanding!

rcn48,
LOL, 'patient'--Those Pulmonarias came out that year and then just up and died! It was quite obivous they were not happy with how humid the yard was. It was a neat (but hard) lesson to watch. The terrain of our property is what helped contribute to the problem. The garden is down in a 'valley' about 20-30 feet below the house. There is a creek at the bottom. We had so much rain over and over that year the area was not drying out. The trees were helping to keep the humidity in and sunlight out. So we thought about what trees needed to go and took them out that fall. Last year was the first season with things opened up. I am looking forward to seeing how things come up after having a good growing season last year. As much as I hate to cut down a tree, I do think it was for the better.

Those are pretty, t. Did you buy them last year or plant seeds?

shady-- so you took drastic measures to fight humidity! Your garden should be spectacular this year, then! We took out a lot of limbs to open up our yard and improve air circulation. I hope it works, too.

bluegrass--I don't have hepatica (yet) but hope to. Will try seeds I guess, since I'm really into wintersowing this year (trying to acquire a wide variety of flowers/plants on a restricted budget! LOL)

tabasco,
We needed to thin things out, plants were in DEEP shade and not growing well, then we had that really wet year and there comes a time when you say ' I think we need to cut some trees down', we are still heavily wooded. We figure it is better to cut down a few trees & then wait two years and reevaluate. I believe our gardens will be better for it. I did plant a few Pulmonarias last summer/fall (found some on sale) This is a picture of one of our moss covered paths taken last summer.
Shady

Shady

Your place is gorgeous and I can see in very good shade! So inviting and lush!
My pulmonarias are evergreen in our zone, so they've added a bit of green to the landscape this winter.

I have planted wild trilliums from my woods in with my hostas and also the Italian Arum, with it's beautiful varigated leaves, plus native Jack in the Pulpits. Also have let Columbine naturalize wherever they may drop their seed. I have several varieties of ferns in my woods I will transplant soon, I think Southern Shield fern and Royal ferns (for the back). Also, have added more dicentra eximia, which reseeds nicely here, and blooms longer than the more popular Dicentra spectabilis. And begonia grandis, for it's foliage and late sprays of pink flowers on 3' stalks.

Now, I'm looking into finding some double or semi-double hellebores to add to my beds- boy, they are pricey!!

Arg, I'm all itchy for my trowel, with all this garden talk!!

I have tried several times to grow dicentra eximia and it never comes back, much less reseeds. Please tell me your secrets. I love that plant.

pins2006, in your area you'd need to make sure it's in FULL shade. I had some plants I brought from Maine to move into my gardens here six yrs ago and the darned D. eximia seeds somehow found their way all the way to Virginia!

Shady, once again (sighing), your photos are beautiful! So lush and green! We have been trying to create more shade for our plants here by planting a ton of trees. Although it's a slow process, I amseeing some progress. However, it will never match the lush green woodlands and cool summers of Maine. Years ago when I was creating paths throughout my woodlands, we removed alot of trees and limbed up others. Ladyslippers and other wildflowers that had laid there dormant for years, showed themselves when given just that little extra light to warm the soils :)

rcn,
Funny how the grass is greener....Just remember you may not have the same summers as Maine, but look at what you can grow that us northerner's can only dream of! Oh, the thought of Ladyslippers coming out of dormancy, would be like winning the lottery! I bet you couldn't believe your eyes.

Speaking of Dicentra's has anyone tried growing Dicentra spectabilis 'Gold Heart' I just love the color of the foliage.
Shady

I just order a bunch from www.eflowergarden.com they are cheap!
Lori