I'm a bit confused.......if the grass is deciduous, then there really won't be much of anything to look at when the hostas are dormant as well - deciduous grasses die back in winter just like the hostas do. The deciduous OG's that will retain a winter presence tend to be very tall growing ones that prefer sun. And they will look like dried straw in winter :-))

If you want a winter presence, then you need something evergreen. Various species of Carex would work - C. morrowii or oshimensis are very shade tolerant and enjoy the same conditions hostas do. A variety of cultivars to choose from. And while not really a grass, Liriope muscari looks and behaves much like an ornamental grass and is evergreen as well.

If you don't care if the grass dies back in winter, the Japanese forest grass, Hakonechloa macra, is a great choice! Also very shade tolerant and with a selection of various forms and colors and a graceful weeping habit. Sea oats, Chasmanthium latifolium, are also great in shade but may get taller than you wish. Another possibility is Deschampsia cespitosa 'Nothern LIghts', which has great coloring and should be semi-evergreen in your climate.

The Molinia referred to above is fully deciduous and also needs full sun. Would not be my first choice :-)

The Molinia I referred to performs equally well in sun or partial shade. I grow it in partial shade and find it to be quite lovely. I grow it in a sunnier spot as well and both have the same look and growth pattern.

I agree that Hakonechloa would be very good option. I wish I could grow others than the green here.

gardengal, i wasn't really going for a winter interest. I was more looking for something to look good in the summer, at the same time the hostas were up. I had considered running a border line about 50 feet long with my azaleas behind. I was planning on alternating between hostas and a grass type. I was saying deciduous because i felt like in the winter grass clumps would look odd with the hostas dormant. I don't want all grass because the other side of my yard has a garden bed with liriope bordering it all. I could do a 50ft border of hostas !! haha that might look neat, definitely different. i do like the Hakonechloa though! that may have to finda spot somewhere in the yard

As a landscape designer, I dislike alternating plant types - the hosta/grass/hosta/grass routine. It looks very artificial, amateurish and not well planned. Instead, consider planting both the hostas and grasses in drifts.......informal groupings of 3 or more of the same plant. And never in a row....always in a loose, triangular or zig-zag pattern. A row of plants is only suitable to a hedging application.

And because I also dislike bare ground in winter, I would probably opt for an evergreen grass or at least some evergreen plants to include in the mix - ferns, hellebores, lamium, Iris foetidissima, etc.

The area i have in mind is not a straight line, it is more of a wavy boarder to the azaleas behind it so yes i agree no straight line. The "border" in question is a border between my front yard grass and this dense area of azaleas though. Are you suggesting maybe 3 hakonechloa together and maybe offset three hostas a little in front, then go back to three hakonechloa ? Or how do you mean grouping in this case since it kind of is a border.

i am uploading a picture now.. one minute and you can see what i am referring to.

In the winter the deciduous trees all fall and there is light here, but come summer it is very dense shade. This was a pic from back when i bought the house. I haven't done much to this area though so it has stayed similar. I am going to add more azaleas to fill it out but i am wondering about making some informal border that will be in between the azaleas and the grass. I want a very simple, low laying southern style area here. I want the azaleas to be the focus.

I may also just leave this side alone and just do some type of interest in the front area that butts up against the road. This picture is from my front porch.

If you plant anything in a line......even a curved line......it reads as a row. And that is not a look you want to develop. A "border" or low edging plants between the lawn and taller growing shrubs does not have to be planted as a row or a line of plants.

Try clustering a few similar plants (i.e., the hostas, grasses and perhaps ferns) in groups with uneven numbers - 3, 5, 7, etc. in front of the azaleas. And not in a row or lined out but in a loose, informal cluster. And the clusters or drifts do not need to fill in the front of the bed fully. You can fill any gaps with some early blooming bulbs or summer annuals for a shot of color after the azaleas are done blooming.

And if in pretty heavy shade in summer, skip the Molinia - it will tolerate light or dappled shade but will not do well in heavy shade. Stick with a shade loving grass for that location.

I can't imagine a grass taht would do what you want. The shade issue just makes it about impossible (please note I do not claim to be a grass expert...I only impersonate one on occassion).

sorry to be clear, the middle of this azalea area gets dark shade, but the border line gets sun mixed sun in the mid to later day. You can see where the leaves are, that's the line to where this azalea area starts. The sun will come 1-2ft into the leaf area in the summer. Should i even consider doing anything here or just make the area more full with azaleas? I may be trying something i shouldn't even consider. I really don't want many plants in this area so more simple is better for me here.

gardengal, i am sorry but do you have a picture of a long area like mine that would have what you are describing. i am just having a hard time understanding.

Here's a few photos that illustrate the concept. Note the repetition of the same plants but not in a row nor dotted alternately.

garden web photos · More Info

garden web photos · More Info

garden web photos · More Info

Ok i see what you mean. I like the last picture but i do NOT have the talent to make that happen! haha And i feel like my issue is that my azaleas are right on that edge line between the grass and this woodsy area.

I will get a picture of the front area that borders the road. This is what people really see. If you don't mind helping me with that area I'd like to tackle that part first, it also has a lot more room to do some neat things like you've shown me. Ill get some picture up tonight.

There are some nice sedges that would do the shade and sun , like berkeley sedge.there are other long leafed sedges that would fill the bill. They won't the necessarily deciduous though.