Pure yellow/gold: Choo choo train, Golden Sunburst, Golden Tusk, Sunpower.

Mostly yellow/gold: Stained Glass, Gold Standard, Moonlight, Sunshine Glory.

The initial view of my garden is from a distance of 50 yards. All of those pop from that distance. Nance

My August Moon and Sum and Substance grow in the shade and are yellow.

I'm also in the NW outside of Seattle.

Maybe use some with gold margins instead like Aureomarginata or Wide Brim. You could accent the gold with other plants like Lamimium 'Aurea', Bleeding Heart 'Gold Heart', golden creeping Jenny, lady's mantle or corydalis lutea(yellow blooms all summer).

There's a free plant swap in Redmond in November called the Green Elephant. You might be able to find the hosta companions or even hosta there.

You wouldn't want smaller King Tut because it's a slow grower & appreciates some sun. Mine has a few hours of direct sun around noon.

Here is a link that might be useful: plant swap Redmond, WA

My favorite gold for the shade is Piedmont Gold. Mine's in full shade and lights up that part of my garden. Here's several from Rick Goodenough's garden. Notice the leaf tip curl, the ruffling, and the angle at which the leaves are held by the plant. It's just beautiful.

Steve

thanks for all the tips!
corrine1, I wont be around in Seattle for the next couple of years, so will miss the plant swap... So am trying to get my garden into a decent shape before I leave. Its so sad that I will miss the establishing years but I am hoping when I come back they will have grown!

Right now the soil around the trees (if you can call it that!) is tight compacted clay and fill dirt from the construction I suppose. Should I just get some topsoil and compost and lay in on landscape fabric around the tree and make sort of a raised bed ?

I went to the Bellevue Botanical gardens and fell in love with hostas. Are there some places to visit around here with lots of hostas ?

Oh, I'd be careful about putting too much soil over the roots of the pine tree. I'm not familiar with pine trees, but I know the douglas fir dislike that & it causes them to die within about 10 years. It isn't instant, so gardeners don't realize it. I've heard Ciscoe Morris talk about it both on the radio & at Windmill Gardens in Sumner (a nice destination nursery to visit at all times of the year in the greenhouses). They don't specialize in hosta though have them.

If you lay down cardboard overlapping layers, wet it, then 4-6" wood chip mulch you'll have a great start to good soil. The person caring for the garden in your absence would only have to rake through the mulch a bit to keep the weeds down. Some people use that Preen under the mulch to prevent germination of weeds. I don't use it, so don't know more about it.

Here's a bed we made this spring over our existing packed clay soil where grass would no longer grow due to shade, walking feet, & the constant debris from the tree canopy. We mounded up lots of organic matter so it's higher in the middle. I expect that it will sink down a bit more as it composts further. The large green with blue edges is Guacamole with Abiqua Drinking Gourd on left & Blue Angel on right.

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view from the side toward the hosta
L-R: Elegans?, Patriot, Ventricosa Albomarginata, Bright Lights, Abiqua Drinking Gourd, Guacamole
We're pleased with the wood chip paths keeping the mud down & set off the plants nicely. Our dog runs along them instead of through the gardens probably because he can't find a place to go through them as we planted closely!

I don't know of any hosta gardens around here to visit, but they may have hostas at other public gardens in the Seattle area.