Thanks Karin, unfortunately the area all to the left of the pines are full of azaleas mixed in between older pine and oak trees. There is no room to add any more trees. You cant really tell from the picture but in between the row of pine trees are also baby azaleas i planted this spring so I will have some evergreen shrub to help mix the area.

I want something to add a little pop during summer. I had suggested just hostas because the azaleas are behind it and i don't want to block them, even though they will bloom during the spring it is a pretty area and I want to keep it as simple as possible but your right i don't want them in a row either, i just don't know the best way to bring the long area to life.

If it were me, I would have to break it down into vignettes. Either the space between the trees would become a grouping or each tree would become the center of a grouping. In between groups plant your ferns etc. Depending on the size of the space and your choice of hosta, each grouping could be 3 or 5 hostas. Odd numbers tend to work better but if 4 is what fits - go with it. There are so many correct ways to do it but breaking it down this way make it lest daunting.

I like that beverly, I will try to get a better picture from the other point of view.
if I go that way, I think maybe the ferns would go in front of the trees so that I don't block the azaleas behind them. and then hosts in the wide open spaces between the trees ? each spacing won't be even but they will be consistent.

here is the view as you would drive past it. honestly I am fine with just having spring azaleas but I think adding something simple for the summer would make the area pop a little more for those driving by. I don't want to go wild and build it up too much but i think it is boring during the summer and think something should be done to help.
I think hostas would be the easy and simple way to add something? it seems like anything I add may look odd as it is sort of "out there" all alone. I had thought of hostas and ferns or hostas and Japanese grass.. or even since this area slopea down to tge road i could use some helleborus and hostas behind it? am I lookin at this space wrong ?

and here is a really blurry panoramic view, looking directly at it.

With these big trees I would plant some very big hosta as background. Blue Angel, Elegans, Komodo Dragon, Sum&Substance, Winter Snow just to name a few and then fill up with smaller ones in the front.

I like your big trees and looks like a pretty neighborhood.

If you know they will grow underneath the pine trees, I would do much like beverly suggested, little vignettes. I'd do a grouping of three medium to large hostas every so often or alternate with ferns if you want them interspersed. I'd plant in the row in front of the trees but grouping them in between the trees.

Brunneras would also do well in shade and you can plant some with brighter colored leaves to make a show. Jack Frost is a pretty one, but there are lots of different kinds.

If there's enough light I'd throw in a few groups of daffodils and squeeze in some crocus for early spring color. .....because I crave color as soon as possible when spring finally gets here.

Editing to say... I just noticed you're in z8b. Not sure if these recommendations will work. Do you see hostas in your neighborhood? I never saw them when I lived in z9 but wasn't on the coast.

oops, good catch 8b is tough for hosta, especially in the ground.

sort by mature size .... smaller up front .... medium in the middle ... giants further in.. with space to stay away from the shrubs ... [it can take 5 to 7 years for large or giant hosta to grow to size ... and that makes it hard to leave enough space for them]

dig hole, insert.. preferably roots down .... plant and water ...

move them when you find out.. you screwed up ..lol ...

old mature pines are hard to deal with.. with water hogs llike hosta ... what are the other trees there???

it would be preferable to broadcast water ... rather than water plants only.. else you will call tree roots to the plants themselves ...

ken