Hostas Shade-lovers and Groundcovers

Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers

Welcome to the Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers Gallery.  As always, these shots are all from my garden.  I’m a huge believer in the use of hostas and groundcover plants to help achieve dimension and visual continuity in a garden.  They’re an invaluable component of my own garden’s overall design.  Since most hostas, and many groundcover plants, are shade lovers, I thought I’d add my garden’s shade-loving denizens right into this mix, too (some of these are neither hostas nor groundcover plants – they just like shade).  Please check out my articles right here in The Renaissance Garden Guy about growing these various plants, and using them in your own garden’s design.  “Green Up Your Garden with Hostas!” is all about growing hostas and how to use them in your garden to create great visual impact.  “Should You Underplant Your Featured Perennials?” gives you some great reasons why that’s a big “YES.”  “7 Super Perennial Groundcovers for Sun, Shade, and More” offers some excellent suggestions for groundcovers, and how to grow them.  They’re all informative reads with some practical advice and some pretty good photos of their own.  In the meantime, have a look at these shots right here (I’ll be adding more regularly, so please make sure to check back in).  I hope you like ’em.  Cheers, and Happy Gardening!

John G. Stamos

Publisher

Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
The flowers and foliage of Hosta 'Rainforest Sunrise' on 07-05-24.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
Do you like my 'Mini Skirt' miniature hostas? They stay tiny, have gorgeous dense foliage, bloom mightily and enormously, and can handle the sunshine. What's not to like? Here are a few of them on 07-01-24.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
Hosta 'Bedazzled' flowers on 06-27-24.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
My miniature Hosta 'Mini Skirt' colony blooms mightily and creates an amazing front border for its planting bed. 06-27-24.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
Hosta plants bloom beautifully in the shade. 'Blue Cadet' (planted as bare roots in 2021), 'Patriot', 'Rainforest Sunrise', and one unknown Hosta variety make great neighbors, and share this shady planting bed with lilyturf, primroses, hardy Cyclamen, Brunnera, toad lilies, astilbe, and, believe it or not, hardy Hibiscus.

API Pond Algaefix.  API Pond Algaefix is the product I use to control and eliminate unwanted algae growth in my gardens’ water features.  This product very effectively controls and/or eliminates green or green water algae (Chlorella), string or hair algae (Cladophora), and blanketweed (Oedogonium) in my two ornamental ponds.  The product comes with very exacting manufacturer’s directions, which in turn must be followed exactly.  When used according to these manufacturer’s directions, API Pond Algaefix is harmless to fish and aquatic amphibians and reptiles.  My large frog and toad populations have never been harmed by this product.  It keeps my ponds extremely clear and free of unsightly and unwanted algae growth, and is simple to administer.  I highly recommend this product.  I’ll stress again, however, that all manufacturer’s directions must be followed exactly.  To learn more about this excellent product, or to order it here, directly from Amazon, please click the #advertisement link.

API Pond Algaefix

Click here to learn more or to order

#advertisement

One of my own jugs of API Pond Algaefix. This product literally works miracles. It controls and, in the case of my own ponds, eliminates unwanted algae growth. When used according to the manufacturer's directions, this product is harmless to fish and aquatic amphibians and reptiles. It's critical that all manufacturer's directions are followed exactly.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
The flower buds of my tiniest hostas, my colony of Hosta 'Mini Skirt' miniature hostas, are surprisingly big for such tiny plants. 06-21-24.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
I think hosta flowers are just as awesome as hosta foliage. 06-20-24.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
My astilbes and hostas grow and glow together in the shade. 06-19-24.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
Stonecrop sedum on 06-16-24.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
06-16-24.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
Another stonecrop sedum variety on 06-16-24.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
Coral Bells blooming on 06-16-24.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
06-16-24.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
06-16-24.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
Blue Star Creeper and Dragon's Blood Sedum grow together and form a "carpeted floor" in my garden's "Lily Patch" planting feature. 06-02-24.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
Hostas, shade-lovers, and groundcovers can be really beautiful. Here are some of mine on 05-23-24.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
The first flower of 2024 from my colony of Biokovo hardy geraniums (Geranium x cantabrigiense 'Biokovo') on 05-19-24.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
Snow-in-summer (Cerastium tomentosum) on 05-06-24.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
05-05-24. Hosta 'First Frost'.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
05-05-24. Hosta 'Abiqua Drinking Gourd'.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
Hosta 'Rainforest Sunrise'. 05-05-24.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
05-05-24. Host 'Blue Cadet'.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
Hosta 'Guacamole' on 05-05-24.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
Hosta 'Blue Cadet' on 05-05-24.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
Hosta 'Morningstar' on 05-05-24.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
Hosta 'Elegans' on 05-05-24.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
Grace Ward Lithodora on 05-04-23.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
Chocolate chip Ajuga on 05-04-24.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
05-04-24. Lamiastrum. Archangel 'Herman's Pride'.

Espoma Organic Plant-tone.  I am a huge fan of Espoma’s line of organic fertilizers.  Plant-tone is the one I use for the majority of the plants in my garden.  It’s got an N-P-K ratio of 5-3-3 and is a great all-purpose organic fertilizer.  It works perfectly for an incredibly wide variety of ornamental plants.  Again, Espoma Organic Plant-tone is the food that a huge number of my plants get.  They love it, and it shows.  You can order this product here, directly from Amazon, by clicking the #advertisement link.

Espoma Organic Plant-tone

Click here to learn more or to order

#advertisement

One of my own bags of Espoma Organic Plant-tone. I can't think of any plant that grows in my garden that wouldn't benefit from this amazing food. If I had to go with only one fertilizer for all of my plants, this would be it.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
05-02-24.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
Creeping phlox (top left), Snow-in-summer (bottom right), and Voodo sedum on 05-02-24.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
04-30-24. Clockwise from top left: Grace Ward Lithodora, woodland phlox, pulmonaria.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
04-30-24.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
04-30-24. Coral bells make great planting bed partners for hostas.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
04-30-24.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
04-30-24.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
Forget-me-nots (left), and 'Emerald Blue' creeping phlox (Phlox subulata) are two beautifully performing groundcovers in my garden. 04-17-24.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
Invaders from the center of the Earth! (Ok, they're only hostas.) 04-15-24.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
10-10-23.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
Pulmonaria (lungwort), thriving in the shade on 09-07-23.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
August 25, 2023.
Unbelievable Speed 2023
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
This image, and the next 3, are from 08-10-23.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
This image, and the next 3, are dated August 6, 2023.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
This image, and the next 15, are from the summer of 2023.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
06-26-23.
Hostas Shade-lovers and Groundcovers
This image, and the next three, are from 06-01-23 - 06-10-23.
This image and the next: 05-31-23 and 05-28-23, respectively.
This image, and the next, are dated 05-21-23.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
05-12-23.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
This image, and the next two, are from 05-10-23.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
This photo, and the next four, were taken between 05-04-23 and 05-07-23.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
Hostas, photographed 04-21-23. From left: Hosta 'Bedazzled,' a small hosta; Hosta 'Mini Skirt,' a miniature hosta; Hosta 'Guacamole,' a medium large hosta.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
Voodoo Stonecrop Sedum (Sedum spurium 'Voodoo') covers the ground in my rose garden planting feature. This photo, and the next one of my Woodland forget-me-nots (Myosotis sylvatica), were taken on 04-18-23.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
Emerging hostas and growing shade-lovers and groundcovers on 04-15-23, in this image, and in the following five.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
Woodland forget-me-nots (Myosotis sylvatica) make a fabulous, naturalized groundcover. Photographed 04-13-23.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
3 varieties of stonecrop sedum. They're all groundcovers. This collage, and the next one, feature photos taken on 04-12-23.
Clockwise from top left: Forget-me-nots, snow-in-summer, Biokovo hardy geranium, and creeping phlox.
Hostas, Shade-lovers, and Groundcovers
This photo collage, and the following 37, feature pics taken in the spring and summer of 2022. No more words from me for the next 37 images. The plants will do all the talking for themselves.

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