Loving Shade-Friendly Companions for Your Hostas
Attractive Companions for Your Hostas: Top Plant Picks to Enhance Your Garden's Charm
Love some plants that play well with others? If you're all about that hosta life, we've got some stellar companions you'll dig. Let's kick back and explore the top picks for your dream hosta garden.
9 Rad Plants to Join the Hosta Party
Picture Credit: Backyard Garden Lover
Hostas are well-known for their love of dappled sunlight and their extravagant foliage. They're a standout perennials that can adjust to USDA hardiness zones 3-9 with ease! So, it's time to find some fabulous friends to add a little more pop to your garden. Here are nine amazing picks:
1. Bleeding Hearts (Lamprocapnos spectabilis)
Picture Credit: Depositphotos
Bleeding hearts are the epitome of shade-loving plants, blooming in the springtime. Some of these varieties will continue their springtime parade well into the warm season, given the ideal growing conditions – partial to full shade, moisture-rich, loamy soil, and thriving in USDA hardiness zones 2-9.
The delicate texture of bleeding hearts complements hostas' bold presence. Both share the same shade preferences and grow requirements, making them perfect garden buddies!
Learn more about growing bleeding hearts.
2. Astilbe (Astilbe spp.)
Picture Credit: YAY Images
Astilbes are a cinch to grow and a popular choice among gardening enthusiasts. This delightful perennial produces ornamental foliage and plume-like flowers in colors such as purple, pink, red, and white. These versatile plants flourish in partial shade, moist loamy soil, and thrive in USDA hardiness zones 3-8.
Astilbes will steal the show in your shade garden with their captivating flowers. The combination of hostas and astilbes is a winning pair, especially when astilbes are artfully positioned, allowing dwarf hostas to take center stage in front, and larger hostas to shine behind.
3. Japanese Forest Grass (Hakonechloa macra)
Picture Credit: Deposit Photos
Japanese forest grass is a stunning ornamental grass that thrives in partly shady conditions. It prefers partial sunlight, well-drained, moist soil, and is at home in USDA hardiness zones 4-9.
The plant's lance-shaped, arching green or variegated leaves cascade from a mounting clump. These leaves reach approximately 10 inches in length, and the plant tends to spread around 24 inches wide and 18 inches tall.
The shade-tolerant Japanese forest grass adds that special touch to any garden. The contrast between its angular foliage and the vibrant hosta leaves is a truly beautiful sight.
4. Hydrangea (Hydrangea spp.)
Picture Credit: Backyard Garden Lover
Hydrangeas are the queens of gardens with various blooming options to choose from. The plant flowers range from pale green to white, red, maroon, and shades of blue and pink, depending on the variety. Hydrangeas require full to partial sunlight, adapt to most soil types but prefer USDA hardiness zones 5-9.
Hydrangeas and hostas are a match made in gardening heaven. Their extravagant flowers offer delightful texture and color contrast to hostas, making a stunning display. Hydrangeas are easy to care for, ensuring your garden looks lovely without breaking a sweat.
Fancy hydrangeas? Here's more information about growing and caring for hydrangeas:
- How to prune hydrangeas
- Popular types of hydrangea flowers
5. Azalea (Rhododendron spp.)
Picture Credit: Depositphotos
Azaleas produce elliptical leaves and lovely bell-shaped or tubular flowers, depending on the variety. The color spectrum of the flowers is astonishing, ranging from pale pink to white, red, and purple. Azaleas are mini-shrubs that excel in partially shady spots with well-drained, light soil in USDA hardiness zones 3-9.
Azaleas and hostas make great garden partners, as their growth preferences overlap. The small stature of the azalea makes it an ideal choice for petite gardens, providing stunning pops of color in your garden when hostas are not in bloom.
6. Siberian Bugloss (Brunnera macrophylla)
Picture Credit: Backyard Garden Lover
Siberian bugloss is a beautiful perennial that produces a stunning ground cover from its heart-shaped, dark-green leaves. The lovely blue flowers with white centers bloom above the plant in the spring and last around four weeks. The plant thrives in complete to partial sunlight, full shade, well-drained, moisture-rich soils, and is at home in USDA hardiness zones 3-8.
Siberian bugloss is a favorite for those enchanting shade gardens as a ground cover. And given Siberian bugloss' similar growing preferences with hostas, the pair make for charming companions. The contrast between the lush leaves of the hosta and the delicately divine blue flowers of the Siberian bugloss result in a breathtaking garden scene.
7. Japanese Painted Fern (Athyrium niponicum)
Image Credit: YayImages
The Japanese painted fern is one of the most striking varieties of ferns. The fern leaves are silvery-triangular with a hint of gray-green, with purplish midribs. These slow-growing perennials prefer partial to full shade, well-drained, moisture-rich soils, and flourish in USDA hardiness zones 3-8.
The lacy leaves of this fern distinguish themselves from hosta leaves. Moreover, the color tones add texture and a tropical vibe to a garden setting. The two plants share similar growing requirements, making them wonderful cohabitants.
8. Coral Bells (Heuchera spp.)
Picture Credit: Backyard Garden Lover
Coral bells offer a variety of choices. The plant's hairy, lobed, semi-evergreen leaves come in a spectrum of vibrant colors, including gold, lime green, rose, purple, and more. Coral bells attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds with their nectar-rich flowers. They do well in full to partial sunlight, moisture-rich, well-draining, and rich soils, and survive in USDA hardiness zones 4a–9a.
Coral bells and hostas share similar growing conditions preferences. The small coral bell flowers really shine when paired with hostas, adding eye-catching color in your shade garden. The contrast between coral bell leaves and hosta leaves enhances the garden scene in terms of texture and color.
9. Impatiens (Impatiens spp.)
Picture Credit: Depositphotos
Impatiens are popular additions to gardens due to their brightly colored flowers. In most regions, these plants can be grown as annuals, but in USDA hardiness zones 10-11, they can be grown as perennials. Impatiens produce flowers in attractive shades like pink, white, red, coral, lavender, and violet. These plants thrive in rich, well-draining soils in settings with full to partial shade.
Interspersing impatiens among hostas adds splashes of dazzling colors in springtime. And the lovely hosta leaves will cover the dying impatiens foliage once the flowers have faded.
More Shade-Loving Plants to Team-up with Hostas
The plants mentioned above are simply a glimpse of the myriad possibilities to create a stunning hosta garden. Here are a few more options to get you started:
- Begonias
- Periwinkle
- Sweet woodruff
- Alliums
- Clematis
- Grape hyacinth
- Alyssum
- Pansies and/or Johnny jump up
- Coleus
- Tulips
- Chives, and more
Hostas are a fantastic choice for any shade garden, thanks to their magnificent foliage and diverse array of colors. And when planning your hosta shade garden, choose plants that share similar growing preferences to create an aesthetically pleasing and harmonious garden composition.
Author
Adriana Copaceanu
Adriana Copaceanu is a nature-loving soul living on her dream property where she cultivates vegetables, lavender, and wildflowers, sharing the abundance with the wildlife that visits. When she isn't out in the garden, Adriana enjoys spending quality time with her beloved chickens and scheming her next nature project. Check out her books below:
- How to Grow Lavender for Fun and Profit: Lessons Learned from Planting Three Hundred Lavender Plants
- How to Raise Chickens for Eggs: A Guide to Raising Happy, Healthy Chickens for Nutritious, Organic Eggs at Home
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Tiarella, Ferns, Impatiens, Begonias, Hellebores, Violas, and Blue-eyed Grass are additional excellent shade-loving garden companions that complement hostas well.
- The bold presence of hostas can be enhanced by the delicate texture of Tiarella, a perennial that thrives in partial to full shade, well-drained, rich soil, and USDA hardiness zones 3-8.
- Ferns, such as the Japanese painted fern or maidenhair fern, are great companions for hostas due to their similar growing preferences in partial to full shade, well-drained, moisture-rich soils, and USDA hardiness zones 3-8.
- Impatiens, a popular shade plants, will add splashes of dazzling colors in springtime and can be interspersed among hostas in settings with full to partial shade, rich, well-draining soils.
- Begonias, with their showy flowers and foliage, are another excellent choice for shady areas, preferring USDA hardiness zones 9-11 but can be grown as annuals elsewhere.
- Hellebores, with their winter-blooming flowers, provide a lovely contrast to hostas, thriving in partial shade, well-drained, loamy soil, and USDA hardiness zones 4-9.
- Violas, members of the violet family, offer a variety of colors and bloom continuously from spring to fall, doing well in full to partial shade, well-drained soil, and USDA hardiness zones 3-10.
- Blue-eyed grass, a delicate spring bloomer, complements hostas with its light blue flowers and grass-like foliage, preferring partial shade, well-drained soil, and USDA hardiness zones 4-8.
