It’s All within the Firm They Preserve

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Article and images by Joan Butler

As any plant collector will let you know, when you’ve been bitten by the “collecting bug”, you purchase a sort of acquisitive insanity. You start to note refined particulars of the crops you need – particulars that in some way appear to go unnoticed by family and friends. You start to hunt out nurseries specializing in the crops you crave, and you might be prepared to drive nice distances to get there. And should you occur to have a buddy who's bitten by the identical bug – be careful! You'll develop into what I name “enablers” to one another and all of a sudden one can find your self with dozens (or a whole lot) of lovely specimens planted cheek-by-jowl in your backyard beds. However your assortment might not truly perform as a backyard.

Once I was bitten by the “Hosta Bug” a few years in the past, I adopted the trajectory I simply described. I nonetheless gather, however at a a lot slower tempo, and I've labored at making my assortment perform in my backyard by incorporating companion crops. Once I take into consideration pairing crops, I take into account coloration (complementary or contrasting), texture (often contrasting), in addition to kind, sample and measurement.

Hosta Maui Buttercup, Woman's Mantle, Sundrops

Pairing yellow hosta with yellow foliage or yellow flowers creates a “Wow” second within the backyard. Hosta ‘Maui Buttercups’ is a medium/giant yellow hosta, with beautiful corrugated, cupped leaves – a really lovely kind. The fuzzy chartreuse flowers of Woman’s Mantle (Alchemilla mollis) and the pops of vivid yellow provided by the Sundrops (Oenothera) actually name consideration to the hosta and to your entire backyard space.

I completely love our little native Crested Iris (Iris cristata), and use it extensively in my gardens. Right here it's paired with the unfurling foliage of Hosta ‘Allegan Fog’. Crested Iris provides spiky texture to the entrance of the border and contrasts successfully with the extra stable type of hostas. And its colourful spring flowers of purple, white or lavender add one other focal point.

One factor I notably love about pairing epimedium with hosta, is that the form of most epimedium leaves echoes the form of the hosta leaves, however on a extra delicate scale. I additionally respect the changeable colours of epimedium foliage, which permits them to affect neighboring crops in a different way relying on the season. Right here, the early spring foliage of Epimedium x versicolor “Cupreum” contrasts and enhances the sturdy blue Hosta ‘Aventurine’. The groundcover behind the 2 is our native bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis). Because the season progresses, the Epimedium leaves will develop into stable inexperienced, the bloodroot foliage will increase, and the hosta will produce flowers and its foliage will tackle greener tones. All working collectively to provide totally different backyard scenes.

The fine-textured foliage of ferns makes them good companions for hostas – that textural distinction elevates each! Hosta ‘Sagae’ is a big, upright, vase-shaped hosta that may be grown in solar or shade. When grown in shade, pair it with Maidenhair fern (Adiantum pedatum) for textural distinction and Japanese Painted fern (Atherium niponicum) for textural and coloration distinction. Add an Epimedium grandiflorum cultivar into the combination and you've got an attention grabbing quartet from spring till fall.

Woody crops with variegated or non-green foliage can deliver a distinct degree of curiosity to the hosta backyard. The leaves of some timber and shrubs have variegation just like many hostas (comparable to inexperienced leaves edged in white) and a few have mottled variegation that choose up on the colours of the hosta planted of their midst. The leaves of Viburnum lantana ‘Variegatum’ have splashes of blue that echo the blue of Hosta ‘Salute’ and different blue hosta planted close by. And its woody, open kind provides year-round curiosity to the backyard.

Hellebores additionally add year-round curiosity to the hosta backyard. Their palmate evergreen foliage provides textural distinction in the course of the hosta rising season and winter curiosity when the herbaceous crops have died again. Final 12 months I planted a beautiful hellebore with variegated foliage, together with pink venation, referred to as ‘Penny’s Pink’. Its dusky purple flowers had been a welcome sight this spring and its attractive foliage contributes to its companion hosta all through the rising season.

Hosta Ann Kulpa, Hosta Mabel-Maria Herweg, Heuchera

There are practically 300 totally different hosta cultivars rising in my gardens and I attempt to get them to work collectively. For instance, I pair blue hosta and yellow hosta for distinction and curiosity. And I would add a blue hosta with a yellow edge into the combination to tie all of it collectively. I additionally pair variegated hostas which have totally different patterns. Right here Hosta ‘Ann Kulpa’, inexperienced with a central yellow stripe, enhances Hosta ‘Mabel-Maria Herweg’, inexperienced with a yellow edge. I full the image by together with purple coral bells (Heuchera), a companion plant with a contrasting coloration.

Different ideas for nice hosta companion crops embody Yellow Corydalis (Corydalis lutea), Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum), Fringed Bleeding Coronary heart (Dicentra eximia), Foamflower (Tiarella), Columbine (Aquilegia), Astilbe and Japanese Fountain Grass Hakonechloa).

Gardening with a group is an journey: a collector’s backyard can comprise a rare variety of crops. Incorporating companion crops and utilizing design parts (coloration, texture, sample and kind) can remodel an obsession right into a backyard.

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