We're "mixey, matchy" because every time we see a new hosta, we want it and sooner or later we get it. Makes it hard to have beautiful drifts of one variety unless the garden is acres large. I certainly respect well-designed, artistic gardens; I choose to have a hodgepodge. Nance

Agree, if I had a large garden, I'd do more drifts of hosta , because I think that looks very nice. But since I don't, I treat my hosta as individual specimens.

I do plant my accent perennials in drifts around the hosta.

as a 'collector' ... of many genre.. i have no clue why one would need more than one of anything ...

are you a 'collector' ..???

if not.. whatever makes you happy.. is as far as you need analyze it all

ken

Thank you for your responses, much appreciated.

You could have this:

Or this

Both look great to me.

Steve

Gorgeous Steve, thanks! I think I'm a bit partial to the mixed, especially when done with an artful eye as you have.

I have a friend who is not a hosta collector, but has used groups of hosta beautifully in her garden, which is not especially huge.

Sum & Substance

Frances Williams

Montana Aureo...whatever

Montana A and Love Pat

And this is a display of Frances Willimas and Lady's Mantle at a botanical garden in Maine

Wow what is your friends secret to get Francis Williams to do so well!
Dave

coll 123, thank you so very much for the pictures of your friend's wonderful hosta beds.

I'll add my thanks for those inspiring pictures as well! That 1st FW picture takes my breath away! I am now officially rethinking my position on mixing, lol

Coll,

Great pictures! Who is your friend? Can you take us on a "tour" of that garden?

Steve

Add me to the list of people impressed with your friend's garden--especially her FW. It's very calming seeing large drifts of everything. I don't think I'm enough of a planner to design my garden like that. Or I'd need blinders so I wouldn't get tempted by different hostas.

Steve, my friend is a very talented interior designer, and she brings that design sense to her garden. I'll see if I can round up more pics. It's really not that huge a garden, so it's interesting that she used such large specimens so effectively.

My friend has never seen my garden- I'd be mortified if she did because I'm sure she'd think it was one busy, hot mess! And she'd be right, lol. Like most of you guys that frequent this board, I am addicted to these things so I end up with the hodge podge approach...hey, whatever makes us happy in the end!

Coll

Make sure you start a new thread when you do get those pics. Just because you are collecting plants doesn't mean that your garden is too busy. Take a look at this pic from Cochato Nursery. Its display garden is award winning.

Steve

Superb! Hosta seem to be more forgiving (at least to a novice gardener like me) because they kind of "call back" to one another. This is definitely not the case with my "cottage style" sun bed, which is a disaster zone! (I learned the hard way that I can't just take home one of a kind with most other perennials.)

This may have already been posted here somewhere, but this article helped me keep my shade gardens somewhat organized. The main tip I keep in mind is to be mindful of the golds and the bold variegated--make sure that I have enough solid blues and greens to give the eye a "rest."

Here is a link that might be useful: Designing with Hostas

Weekendweeder, that article is really inspiring. Thanks. I've bookmarked it as a reminder.