thanks for the reminder, Sandy:

Hepatica is 1st to bloom here, often b4 it even leafs out, and sometimes even with snow on the ground!

MN Paul - thanks 4 the flower pic of Rogersia ! Don't think ours ever has, waaaa. Bevie tried this all over in the garden to no avail. Finally she threw it over the fence onto a pile of pine straw and voila! So there it stays...

mctavish6 - do u know where we could git some o' that yeller bleeding heart, pleade?

HH, search Corydalis lutea for yellow bleeding heart.

Paul

HH, take a look as Tiarella Cordifolia (Heartleaf Foamflower) to compare with your noid. It's a spreader.

Paul

Lamiastrum Herman's Pride - nice yellow bloom in May/June. Slow spreading.

Paul

hostahillbilly, that heuchera looks like my "Palace Purple"

HH - Corydalis lutea is right. If you can't find it at a garden center let me know - myrlet@telus.net. I'm planning on being at my sisters in Washington sometime in the fall and I'll send you a hunk of hers.

It took me awhile, but I finally came up with one that no one's posted yet ( hope ) ...I have so many duplicates of companions already posted ...this is variegated Sea Holly w Lady's Mantle accompanying Plantaginea and U. AlboMarginata...

Some false Solomon's seal, mini geranium and a heather accompanying another U. AlboMarginata

Cimicifuga and Frances Williams...not much of F.W. but companion's foliage I just love!

Lastly, My personal favourite...peony, astilbe, iris with Krossa Regal and friends, along with variegated weigela on left and a huge honeysuckle shrub in corner on right. That's all for now, folks!( picture Porky Pig ) :-)
Jo.

For comic relief, I thought I'd add one more...Big Daddy being "dwarfed" by Dwarf Goat's Beard (aruncus). Rotfl!! The goat'sbeard is currentry being divided in two after tripling in size over the past 5years... a small BD came home from the cottage, where it wasn't growing at all...it's coming along nicely and the blue colour on BD is holding very well considering sun exposure till 2ish pm.

This was an exciting thread everyone!
Jo.

I am more a lurker on the Hosta forum, but noticed that no one has posted cast iron plants yet, so had to do so!

Dwarf goat's beard is one of my newest favorites. It only gets about 6" high but has the same fluffy flowers as the big ones.

Sandy

Hey, Funnthsun, I mentioned it and posted a picture of my aspidistra and liriope muscari giant on Aug 9th. But I sure do like your picture of the hosta with the aspidistra, and looks like the leaf of either a subtropical orchid or tropical ginger along with it? We have another NC gardener here, so make yourself to home.

If you like variegated aspidistra, you are close to Plant Delights Nursery which is where I got all of my white stripe leaf aspidistra. Pretty good stuff, glad to know it thrives in your zone.

They weren't intentional and they aren't really plants, but they were interesting while they lasted in the spring. We had several varieties of mushrooms/toadstools in the hosta beds that I'd never seen before. Here's one kind earlier in the season, freeloading under 'Spartacus' and 'Guardian Angel'. They must have loved all the yummy amendments I added to the beds. : )

Don B.

Don. Just wondering. By any chance was your mulch pine bark or fines with pieces of pine wood in it?

I've had all sorts of interesting fungi growing in my cypress mulch especially. And then where the roots of dead pines run, I'm having beaucoups fungi forming on the soil. It's been a fairly wet summer, so lots of humid warmth.

What do you think is the type you have? My references are all stored at this time.

Yup, exactly right, Mocc. Pine bark. Very fine pieces. Personally, it's the only type of mulch I really like the look of, when placed in the beds.

Don B.

EDIT: To add pic.

This post was edited by Don_in_Colorado on Tue, Aug 13, 13 at 0:26

Sweet Woodruff and Cathedral Windows tc.

Columbine Clementine Rose (and a ratty hosta on the right, due to workers stepping on the pips in spring).

Don't think I've seen any hair grasses yet?

Lemon Thyme in the middle.
Small spiky plant lower right is a recently finished blooming Blue Eyed Grass.

Nutmeg, I just LOVE Your Clementine Rose columbine! What a gorgeous colour....I remember the first time Nora Barlow came out, but this one is even more beautiful! My blue-eyed grass (slowwww grower) is slowly getting bigger...need more of them!

Stachys monnieri (Lamb's Ear) 'Hummelo' - not like the traditional white fuzzy leafed Lamb's Ear.

Paul

Mocassin,

I completely missed your post about cast iron plants, must have skipped over it somehow. Thanks for pointing it out, this is getting to be a very long thread!

You have a good eye! I think you are seeing the English ivy peeking back up on the right. That was a gift from a kind little bird that I am still pulling out. Easy to pull out in the front of the bed, hard to get rid of the closer to the tree and its roots it gets. Otherwise, there is variegated Solomons seal mixed in with the cast iron plants that is showing on the left, but that doesn't really look like ginger from afar like the ivy does.

Wood Poppy/Celandine Poppy - an eastern native wildflower that blooms in May and then reblooms sporadically thru the summer for me. Good fit for the woodland garden - dappled or full shade. Great leaf shape and how many yellow blooms do you see in the shade garden. You will get seedlings (this is 5th year for me and lots of seedling this year for the first time). Tall enough to fill between hosta and not be lost when mature (2' or so).
Early riser

and near end of first blooming period (seed pods are already forming)

Paul

Money plant (lunaria) with albo marginata. A favorite combination in the spring.

Sandy

Yellow Waxbells - grows to shrub size 3-4 feet tall and nearly as wide. It will wilt if in too much sun - dappled or bright shade seems to work well, grows smaller/slower in full shade. Just starting to bloom in MN - sorry don't have a flower pic (link below to flower).

Paul

Here is a link that might be useful: Yellow Waxbells flower

Hellebores, hydrangeas (Incrediballs, just budding) and persicaria painter's palette.

Campanula glomerata and daylilies.

Ruth......WOW!!!! BEAUTIFUL garden, beautiful pics!

This thread IS long, but with a subject so enticing, how could it be other?! Lol
Keep them going, I say...we can keep blaming the originator of this thread while at the same time, thanking him for starting it LOL....sooo much enjoyment derived here!

I hope IDIOTHE is enjoying this viewing while convalescing. :-)

Thanks, Josephine.

Another plant I really like with hostas is ligularia Osiris Fantaisie. It's larger and has more substance than a heuchera, but isn't a monster (so far) like Britt Marie or the Rocket.

RuthMi, geeee I wish I could walk through your garden. It must be so peaceful and serene.

Actually, I'd like to figure out how to capture this thread entirely in a pamphlet. Maybe it should go into the Hosta Forum FAQ list. Wonder who keeps it these days.

Keep 'em coming....

Turtlehead (this may be 'Hot Lips') - good clumping, 2-4 feet
tall (back of the garden), spreads by shallow roots, fall bloomer - nice color in September when everything else is winding down, sort of a snapdragon looking bloom (turtlehead).

Paul

Paul, I've got Hot Lips and the white one...grow like gangbusters! Nice and tall..Mine have buds but still too early here for open blooms...can't wait as Sagae sits in front of them...will be quite the show. Never thought of posting that pic but so glad you did!

Sandy...such an impact....your UAM shows beautifully....anyone that scoffs at this variety had better take a second look at yours...made me expand the pic on my iPad to get closer look..outstanding celadon coverage...simply WOW

Hibiscus with Plantaginea

I have also lamium 'Hermann's Pride', as Paul shows. It is a keeper, because it mainly stays in place. The other lamiums I weed out because they tend to cover up hostas, are really invasive.
Here is white trillium, lungswort, a fern, primula, tiarella. Bernd

Thought this deserved a bump, since we're all trying to plan our new beds...and what to buy!!! Ruth_MI, your pics are beyond gorgeous...got any more?

I am new to this thread but hooked already! In west Wisconsin and cannot find turtlehead. Any ideas where to find it? Oh, can Ruth M come live at my house-please!!! Here's one for 'ya-Where do old gardeners go when they die? Doesn't matter-we all end up in the dirt anyhow....{:

If you get to Milwaukee, let me know. I have clumps being given away all the time.

tj

Just found this in my favorites. Perfect timing for your first nursery trip! Enjoy!

• Than.k you, I have new house and garden,youhave helped me with my shopping lis

Epimedium

Hellebore Ivory Prince

Another Epimedium . This is Rubrum

Sedum

Another Epimedium. This is Sulphurium.

Another Hellebore of unknown variety