The original landscaper for our house suggested the hostas, so I'm hoping they will work here. This photo was taken at about 1pm, and the sun is already moving behind the garage (hence the shadow). The house faces southeast, so this particular area of the bed faces due east. The Japanese Maple is brand new, so hoping that also provides some shade in a year or two. Thanks for the response.

Agreed. This does not look like a place where hostas are going to be happy. I would plant them somewhere where there is already more shade, or return them to the store.

If your goal is to have as many pretty things as you can squeeze into a small patch of dirt, then you might be on the right track. While this might satisfy your lust for gardening, I don't think it's going to accomplish enhancing the entrance space (which we should be able to see, but can't.) It's likely to be a distraction to it. Before proceding, figure out what your overall objective is.

It doesn't look like you're planting more than 15 square feet of space. In my view, there's only room for a single type of plant and for me the most appropriate choice (because you're near an area you probably want to make cheery) would be a relatively low annual. It's a matter of what's available and what grows well there. All one type. All one color. It looks like you could plant this with about 2 1/2 flats of annuals ... $30 or so. Begin with something easy and reliable. If the soil is heavy, remove some of it and work in humus, fine pine bark, peat moss and that sort of thing so it holds water and is easy for roots to penetrate.

I would think that a Japanese maple in zone 3 would be a real crap shoot.

You could try the Hostas back in front of the hedge in the area that is already in the shade by 1:00 pm. I don't know a ground cover for your zone but that is what I suggest for the rest of the area.

All, thanks for the feedback and suggestions.

The Japanese Maple is definitely a crap shoot. :) There are some in the neighborhood that are growing fine after 5+ years, and others that have been removed. This is our second. I've debated about putting in an Eastern Redbud, but really love the all-year red color of the maple. If it makes it over 3 years, it's worth it.

Yardvaark, I truly don't have a lust for gardening. :) I'd rather be engineering the wall/fence structure in our backyard, but first things first. I just want to try and get this right for once. I'm definitely going to add a few bags of peat moss before I plant anything. Our soil has a fair amount of clay in it.

I confirmed that my particular hostas "should" do OK in part sun, better than most. But I'm still tempted to instead put them into the full-shade area in our backyard. I'm also considering putting upright boxwoods where I thought I might put junipers (see attached pic). I'm definitely not going to do more than a flowering groundcover and the hostas (if I do them at all.) I agree that I don't
want too busy, and most pics I have found with hostas are decidedly
busy. I'm going to go phlox shopping this weekend. Should be fun.

Thanks!

Eastern redbud in zone 3 is a crap shoot too.

This is not a criticism about you mark, but a great door and pillars like you have for your entrance demands a better and wider approach than that skinny, plain strip of concrete. If I enjoyed re-engineering things I would re-engineer that walk way before I planted anything. If you step back and take some overlapping photos of the entire front of your house and yard so we can see the big picture you could get some great advice here about making your walkway match your entrance.

Kentc, you took the words right out of my mouth ... 100%

Even if you cannot change the walk right away I still suggest that you not plant those Junipers. They will crowd the entrance in a few years.