Chapter 11

Designing the Bed

A hosta bed gets its visual punch from contrast — in leaf size, leaf color, and leaf texture. Three principles solve most layout problems.

Principle 1: layer by height

Plant in three rows: giants at the back, mediums in the middle, miniatures at the front edge. This is obvious from a sketch but easy to forget at the nursery where every plant in a pot is the same height. Trust the tag, not the pot.

Principle 2: alternate dark and light

Blue, dark green, and chartreuse hostas all read as different shades in shade. A bed of all-one-color hostas looks flat from across the yard; a bed that alternates blue with chartreuse with variegated looks alive. Avoid placing two variegated cultivars side by side — the white edges blur into each other.

Principle 3: leaf size for rhythm

A bed of all medium-sized leaves has no rhythm. Punctuating a long row of medium foliage with the occasional giant (huge round 'Sum and Substance' leaves) or the occasional miniature ('Mouse Ears' tight little mounds) gives the eye places to land.

Reading sun across the bed

Most shade beds in Ohio are not uniformly shady. The end nearer the lawn gets more sun; the end against the house or the tree trunk gets less. Place plants according to where they actually want to be:

What goes where, by light

Companion plants for an Ohio shade bed

Hostas look better with neighbors. A handful of companions that thrive in the same conditions and don't compete aggressively:

• Ferns — Japanese painted fern, ostrich fern (giant clumps; give it room), Christmas fern (evergreen, useful winter interest). The fine texture is a foil to the broad hosta leaf.
• Heuchera (coral bells) — low mounds of burgundy, lime, or caramel foliage that pop against blue hostas.
• Astilbe — feathery pink, white, or red flower plumes in early summer when hostas are still mostly green.
• Brunnera ('Jack Frost' is the standout) — silver-marked heart-shaped leaves and tiny blue forget-me-not flowers in spring.
• Solomon's seal (Polygonatum) — arching stems with dangling white bells; gives vertical line in a horizontal bed.
• Lungwort (Pulmonaria) — silver-spotted leaves and pink-to-blue spring flowers.
• Spring bulbs — daffodils, snowdrops, and squill bloom and finish before hostas leaf out, then disappear under the hosta canopy. Free seasonal interest at the same square footage.

What not to plant near hostas

• Aggressive groundcovers — lily-of-the-valley, vinca, English ivy. They look innocent year one and own the bed by year three.
• Bee balm and other mints — same story.
• Annual impatiens are fine as gap-fillers in years 1–2 while hostas are sizing up. Avoid in year 3+; they get crowded out anyway.

Edging and pathways

If the bed is deeper than 5 feet front-to-back, plan a stepping-stone or mulch path through it. You'll need to weed, divide, and admire — and trampling between hostas compacts soil over their fleshy roots. A path costs three plant slots but saves the rest of the bed.