Truly lovely. Your hosta are beautiful. Love how they are arranged on the slope, with rocks, ferns,. And they are all in pots! Why don't you plant them in the ground?

Very serene and beautiful. I love how you placed the rocks and how you made levels on the slope to hold the pots. My favourite picture is the one with the bird's eye view.
Vanessa

Beautiful! Your hostas are so healthy and not a slug hole in sight!

Well planned and executed beautifully. Obviously a lot of thought from a very artistic person went into your garden.

Lovely.

Jon

This is stunning. Will you add my name to your long waiting list of landscaping my garden? plantbug

Oh my goodness, I love all your hostas, the way you arranged them with the ferns and astilbes too. I just love it!! I am wondering also why you have them in pots and not in the ground. I notice your zone is 8b, and from Canada so you must be in the Vancouver area?? Coastal anyway. Gee I wish, I'm zone 3b and from Saskatchewan so we get pretty cold winters. There are a lot of plants I would like to grow, but I have to be careful at what I plant. Sure it looks good for the summer, but most are just annuals for me if I buy out of zone, they just die from the cold.
Some of your hostas are big, must be a few years old anyways right??

i like the idea they are all potted.. and with a little motivation.. you could change the show any time you wanted ...

or be lazy and declare it perfect ... and not do a thing...

stunning

ken

Wow! Your garden is amazing! Love how they look potted, so pristine! :)

Your slope seems to enhance the beauty of your hostas. Very visually appealing. Love the rockery and companion plants too.

What ever you are doing keep it up! It is absolutely perfect. Zone 8 must be the BC coast?

Faye

Oh , by the way Happy Birthday tomorrow!

First time I've seen this set up . This is a great example of how to display a collection of your favorite plants ,especially if space is a problem or not . Plus little or no weeding , what a savings in time.

Very inspiring to see your setup. This looks gorgeous! Thanks so much for sharing!
~Angie

Ingenious way of handling the slope and root control. The design really shows off your hosta. Thanks for sharing.

Beverly

Wonderful! Wonderful! I'm absolutely in awe of what you've created. I hope you have a good view from the house.

Absolutely gorgeous!

Don B.

Why did I click this link?

There needs to be a warning on threads like this that will make you question your OWN garden...

Some shots of it are HAUNTINGLY AMAZING.. I had a hard time getting an accurate compliment that hadn't been covered already !

Well done.

Thanks for all the complimentary comments!

When we first moved in approximately 15 years ago, we fashioned something out of nothing really, utilizing the time available during the kid's afternoon nap times. We didn't even realize that there was a set of steps - the area was quite overgrown with forest floor vegetation and a number of large seedlings growing up the slope.
Originally from Yorkshire, England, the notion of using the rocks appealed to me since they reminded me a bit of dry stone walls. Equally, it was quite a practical solution to the problem of the gradient. The stones were all harvested from the bottom of the ravine at the back of the house - loaded into a backpack and lugged back up - an inexpensive process, but one that my back wouldn't want to repeat today!!!

At first we tried to plant directly into the ground - not an easy task given the number of large roots and various boulders encountered below the surface. Over time, despite our efforts to improve the soil, we came to realize that planting in pots offered a viable, practical alternative and, gradually, I've reduced the number of hostas in the ground to one - Pacific Blue Edger, just visible at the top of the bird's eye photo. Each year, many of the hostas remain in the same location, but having them in containers has allowed for much greater flexibility, together with additional opportunities to mix and match!

Now that the kids are older, I have extra time to invest in researching and procuring more hostas. Here on Vancouver's North Shore, it's a great climate and environment for these plants to prosper - a little ironic, therefore, that the majority of my latest acquisitions have had to travel from Ontario (where a much larger variety is available -whine, whinge!!!). That said, as I have mentioned in previous posts, my space is limited. I have a self-imposed quota of 125 and I'm there already!

Anyways, thanks again for all of the positive feedback!
BC

I've always just bought what I could find around here or in Saskatoon. The variety isn't and wasn't that great. This year is the first year that I ordered hostas from Ontario, and yes they have a great selection. I once ordered mass amounts of tiny roots from Vesey's, that was when I started the garden under pines and could NOT afford to fill that massive area. The roots were soooo tiny, but they all grew. If I knew then what I know now, I don't know if I'd do that again. It's like having this really tiny seedling. It has taken years for them to be the size they are, and they are still juvenile in my opinion. The size you would normally buy in 1/2 gallon pots. And no names just whatever roots. Was good to fill in the area, but now I just want named hostas.

LOVE your garden, and I can understand the digging if there is too many rocks and roots.

Michelle

BC, your garden is an inspiration. I am excited to see how lovely a garden with pots can be. You solved your problem in a way that suits the location and satisfies your eye. No chore too big if you are inspired and time will get it the way you want.

I love the way your almost vertical shot uses the rocks naturally to conceal or minimize the awareness of a container. Even when they are seen, their presence is natural and low key.

One thing I notice and that is you very artistically took advantage of what you mentioned as not enough variety available locally.......but the looong use of 3 in a row in one picture was noteworthy. Sometimes a hosta used twice and it was always adding to the beauty of the arrangement.

I'm glad you found a nursery to get your variety fix. But what you did here is world class.

Did you post once before and mention steps going up and you found a roadway was at the top? Is that this same property? My dear, I would love to tour your garden. It has an old soul!

Thank you so much for posting these pics! Your hostas really are stunning.

You get an "A" for hosta growing. And an "A+" for landscaping.

Beautiful and very interesting.

Happy Birthday, BC! Have some bubbly in the garden tonight.
I cannot believe you did all of this with 125 limit on hosta!

The coastal weather is perfect for growing almost everything. Myrle's sister is on the Washington coast and they grow into mammoth plants in such a short time.. Love the whole lot