Mine are interplanted with Astilbe and White Nicotiana for annual "color" and are underplanted with spring bulbs. The Nicotiana reseeds for me.

I've enjoyed fringed bleeding heart (dicentra exima) with hostas. I've also tried foxglove, various heucheras(especially Cascade Dawn), and columbines. You won't have season-long bloom, but with the astilbe mentioned earlier, you will have various and complementing textures and forms. Happy shade gardening!

I have violets and torenia (wishbone flower). Also, coleus (just green/cream varigation), but no flowers on them yet. I really like the purple flowers with the bright green hostas.

ballon flowers, soap wort, the rocket toad lilys jack and the pulpit and lung wort and astibles so far still looking for more. And I use alot of white impatients they really show up at nite.

I have a variegated hosta & I have lamium "White Nancy" planted all around it - very pretty, and very easy to take care of. When I first put in the lamium, I thought it would only bloom in the spring, but it's been covered with pretty white flowers all summer.

One combination I am really enjoying is ajuga'burgandy glow' with my hostas(solid dark green).In spring when the hostas are new and fresh looking i like the look of all the vivid blue ajuga spikes-looks like an enchanted fairyland-but by the beginning of summer when the flowers have faded, my ajuga looks like a bronze ocean flowing beneath the hostas-the contrast of the dark burgandy ajuga makes the hostas 'pop' visually.I know some think ajuga is invasive,but I find they don't anchor their roots immediately so I am able to clean up the edges effortlessly.

I have a purple/chartreuse/white theme so I have Purple Palace Heuchera, Purple Shamrocks, and Palisandra Coleus along w/white Astilbe, Impatiens, and Dusty Miller.

I have a large area of shade and have several varieties of hostas, Japanese Wind Grass, Bleeding Hearts, Coleus, Lady's Mantle, just planted some Ligularia "Othello" and "Rocket".

I love all the textures and color in the plants. I use my Coleus as color mostly, and sometimes Impatiens.

I have ferns, pink bleeding heart (old fashion type) and lamium (anne greenway) and a lenton rose with my hostas. I just started my Hosta garden, I had them spread out all over the place and now they have a sactuary of their own. My only problem, not enought companion plants, sniff sniff in time in time I guess.
~Kymmie

shade bulbs are good to plant in lewof hostas...... they'll come up first and the hostas will come and fill in later...... bleeding hearts do look pretty peeking out of hosta foliage...... a pot filled with begonias..... shade types might look nice stuck in between them...... you can't get more bang for your buck than impatiens but they're are other flower you can try........

Can you suggest any shrubs that wouldn't grow too high to use as a "bone" for a hosta garden. The space is between 15 and 20 feet long and 3 feet wide. Northern exposure with some filtered sunlight in early morning and late evening. So far this "empty canvas" has a really tall cedar growing against the building between 2 townhouse living room windows. I planted some ferns and lily of the valley in the spring from my little back yard and now the topsoil has come for the rest of the front yard. Any suggestions would be great

Fern

FernSK: "Endless Summer", the new, continually blooming Hydrangea bred in (my home state of) Minnesota, has become my bones. I don't know how much room you can afford, but they can always be cut back and I keep mine at 3 to 4 feet. They'll survive to -40, so I think you're safe. If you can find Goatsbeard, it's absolutely stunning in the back - especially 'Black Negligee'....it has leaves that are almost black-green and if and when it ever flowers for me, (this is the second year) it will look like a tall Astilbe. They're great for deep shade, but keep them moist. I also use tall wire topiary for Clematis of all types. It's a beautiful, more formal look and great for tiny gardens. My son is a shade-garden landscape designer, so that helps! It's amazing what you can do with a postage stamp size plot of dirt.

I HAVE A LARGE HOSTA BED UNDER A PINE & ALONG OUR FENCELINE.
IN THE PAST I'VE PLACED POTS OF ANNUALS FOR COLOR. THIS YEAR I'D LIKE TO PLANT IMPATIENS IN THE SOIL AROUND AND IN BETWEEN THE HOSTAS. WILL THE EXTRA WATER THE IMPATIENS NEED, BE TOO MUCH WATER FOR THE HOSTAS? PLEASE ANYONE ??

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Web

Actually, Kamalag, the hostas will appreciate the extra water. These two should do very well together.

Sweet Woodruff makes a lovely ground cover around my Hostas.

I have variegated hostas and recently planted white petunias near them and wow...it really brings attention to the white in my hostas and brightens up the semi-shady area.

Fern, how about boxwood? I love boxwood, and they'd be great in this area.

Who decided to pull back a 2002 post????

I've used ferns in back and columbines in front. I've also seen hydrangea behind. It depends on the leaf color of the hosta.