Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
ostrich0001

Are hostas and irises good companion plants?

ostrich
10 years ago

Hi everyone,

I am trying to decide what to do with the area under my Showy Mountain Ash. It is a large open area now, with quite a bit of sun as the SMA is still quite young and not providing much shade at all.

Anyway, I have this idea of combining irises (I have got to have some of them lovelies! LOL!) and some sun-tolerant hostas (yes, I have GOT to have some of these gorgeous things too!!!) in this area. However, the photos that I have found online so far have NOT convinced me that that is a good combination.

What are your thoughts? Any real life photo examples to share please?

Thank you!

Comments (9)

  • northspruce
    10 years ago

    I have hostas and irises growing together in two spots. They don't seem to bother each other at all. One is a shade bed, where I have a historic yellow and brown iris that isn't picky and blooms anyway. The other is what I thought was about half and half sun and shade but it's actually pretty sunny. Last summer during a hot dry spell one of my hostas (out of about 30 in that bed) scorched a little bit on the leaves, but otherwise the hostas seem to like it. I don't see a problem except maybe if you plant too closely the irises don't like having their roots smothered.

    It's not much of a picture because the irises are out of bloom, but here's the shade one.

  • CLBlakey
    10 years ago

    A friend in Kamloops had tulips and hostas mixed it looked great tulips would come first and as they died back the hostas grew up and hid the die back. I can't get tulips to last here (ne facing)

  • beegood_gw
    10 years ago

    So glad to see this thread. I have a lot of Hostas and now am getting irises and was wondering if I cud mix them. Sun and shade in all my flower beds so now I feel I can do this.

  • northspruce
    10 years ago

    Beegood, my only caution would be that the irises go in areas where hostas are getting pretty much maximum sun. The only reason these do well for me in the shade (NE side of the house) is because I only have that brown and yellow historic iris there. I think most modern/desirable irises would have trouble blooming in that much shade.

    Ostrich, keep in mind that as the mountain ash grows it will become more shady. Luckily it's really easy to move irises, in fact it's necessary to divide them after a few years. Then you could replace them with something shadier like monkshood, ligularia, primulas, aruncus (large) or coral bells.

  • beegood_gw
    10 years ago

    Actually my Hostas get more sun than shade. Morning sun then some shade and then back to sun.I don't have much choice so hope it works.

  • ostrich
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks everyone! This is very helpful - I decided to go with this combination and just planted some irises tonight:

    1. Blue King (Siberian)
    2. Ocean Mist (Japanese)
    3. Butter and Sugar (Siberian)
    4. Fireplace Embers (dwarf) - who made up this name!? LOL

    I think I need one more very tall, Siberian one for the area right at the back! What should I get? Hmm....

    I will probably need about 3 big hostas. I am thinking of Regal Splendor as the focal point. What else that is sun tolerant would look good with it?

    Thank you again!

  • ostrich
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Hey Northspruce, is that a ligularia next to your hosta? Is that by any chance Britt Marie Crawford?!

    Whatever it is the foliage is GORGEOUS!

  • northspruce
    10 years ago

    Yes, it is BMC! And thanks, I'm quite fond of it myself. It's in a perfect spot, at the north corner of the house near the rain barrel overflow, so it's always moist and shady and never wilts.

    I used to have Butter & Sugar at my old house, it's cute and wasn't stingy with the blooms.

    I have Regal Splendor and it's nice. It's one of the faster growers for the large hostas. A couple of my favourite smaller hostas are Invincible and Halcyon.

  • valleyrimgirl
    10 years ago

    Any hosta with yellow or green foliage would look great. Any of the Sum and Substance family (example - Mountain Snow, Winter Snow, Sum it Up, Sum Cup O Joe, Sum of all) or ones that have fragrant flowers will do just fine in sun. Something like Fragrant Bouquet apparently needs sun for its fragrance. Honeybells is another one that comes to mind. Also Sunpower, Titanic, Fat Cat, Liberty, Majesty, montana Aureomarginata, Leading Lady, Xanadu, Green Piecrust, Stardust, Jimmy Crack Corn, Golden Sunburst, Brother Stephan, and Blaze of Glory are other large to extra large hostas that I grow here that might work. Sugar and Cream I saw growing in a lot of sun when I was in Minneapolis last weekend.

    I have some hostas in a lot of sun mixed with daylilies, irises, peonies, etc etc. Hostas and daylilies will want more water than bearded irises. But, the beardless irises, like the siberian, don't mind extra water.

    Brenda

Sponsored
SURROUNDS Landscape Architecture + Construction
Average rating: 5 out of 5 stars10 Reviews
DC Area's High-End Custom Landscape Design/Build Firm 9x Best of Houzz