What part of the world do you hail from?

hosta are shade TOLERANT ....and do surprising well in sun .... the further north you go ...

but you say deep shade ... that really doesnt tell us much.. can you give us hours of sun.. how bright the shade might be ... what is growing there now.. might help us define your shade ...

and a pic or two never hurts ...

ken

ps: i cant believe whitewater used the H word.. whats that all about ... lol ...

Haha...I'm sorry, I'm in the Twin Cities, so zone 4b. The spot that I am wanting to plant a medium-large size in the deeper shade is near our house, gets very little dappled sun, no direct sun, but I do have variegated pachysandra growing right next door, and it is looking very healthy and expanding, keeping nice color. I also have what I think might be a wide brim next door, and also looks healthy with nice color. However, the Liberty I bought last year looked awful, so perhaps not enough sun for a hosta like that? In the general area I have yews, lily of the valley, Japanese ferns, lungwort...

I don't want to keep buying something I like for color for that spot, only to find I need to move it elsewhere.

Karin, I like the color of that Ventricosa. I should have said I do have quite a few Golden Tiaras from my neighbor, and they ARE super vigorous and reliable. I've read that hostas from that family in general are good for that purpose? I actually really like the Albopicta Fortunei. I think my parents have some. It looks bright in pictures (it darkens through the season?), and seems to grow well. I guess there's a reason why the old ones have been around as long as they have been, and are found in so many yards. I'll have to look into that one for that shadiest spot. Like those lemon limes a lot as well. They look really thick and bright. I feel like I remember reading someone here mentioning that regals are good growers as well? Those have just the growth habit I'm looking for.

Haha, Ken...thankfully we have had no hail here this year, but had a lot last year!

Thank you for the wonderful recommendations so far. That gives me some great ideas for what I can do in those spots. Just don't want to spend more money on things that won't work out well.

I'd recommend Krossa Regal, and Regal Splendor for your 1st and 3rd situations. Any of the Tiaras for the 2nd. Emerald Tiara, Grand Tiara, or Platinum Tiara would be my top picks.

If we're talking about naught but shade essentially, under what trees are you proposing planting these hostas, there might be a concern with root competition to the hostas from the trees, surface roots from trees will choke any hosta....

Pieter

Thanks for the great recommendations as well, Steve. I think those are the things I'm going to go with.

Pieter, our yard is full of sugar maples, basswood, oak, ironwood, amongst others. I already have most of our yard entirely perennial beds, with lots of hostas, which have been there for years, so I'm kind of just filling in spots. I've read some threads here about maples being horrible for hostas. Although I think my hostas would be bigger without tree competition, they come up every year and look healthy, but do enlarge more slowly than average. Our trees are very old, probably decades, so I don't know if that helps other plants? I have no clue!