Not something I would ever have dreamt myself saying as a child but...great hostas, woody! I love the overall green of your woodland. But where is the prerequisite cup of tea to accompany your book on the porch?

Wow. Your dogs are beautiful! Oh, and yes, your yard too! =) I so miss living in the parts of the country where yards like that exist. Sigh...

adrienne - no tea for me :-) The patio hosta bed is one of my favorite things. The 'Elegans' hosta is a particular favorite - it is 5-6' wide with enormous leaves. I tried to arrange the hostas as a color progression and play with big and small ones. So the bed starts in the L between the patio and the ramp with the smallish blue 'Halcyon', then the huge blue 'Elegans', then the smallish blue and gold variegated 'June' (although the gold variegated has faded out to a light green over the years...), then it moves back to big again but continues the gold variegation theme with 'Frances Williams', then along the north side it goes back to big blue with a couple of 'Bressingham Blue'. Behind the blue 'Elegans' and 'Halcyon' is the big blue and white 'Northern Halo' and behind 'Francis Williams' and 'June' is the large, bright green 'Piedmont Gold' (which is getting overrun by the big Persicaria polymorpha!) The pots of Golden Forestgrass that goes so well with 'Frances Williams' are usually in the boxes of the planter bench. We didn't bother setting up the bench this year so I just grouped the pots near the hosta. I do like to play with color and I like big, bold plants :-)

beeps - The big Copper beast (a Briard - a breed aptly described as 'a German Shepherd in a clown suit'!) is a house guest for a week while her owners are on vacation. The little beast is ours. Misty takes no guff from her big buddy!

What a beautiful shady garden! Those hostas real treasures, nicely done. I'm glad you took some time to lounge about and appreciate it all instead of compulsively working on it all the time.

The dogs look just as happy as the hostas. A good scene all around. :)