designing with hellebore, hosta, and ferns

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hokster
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designing with hellebore, hosta, and ferns

Post by hokster » June 10th, 2015, 9:51 am

I've been clearing out a small-to-medium area adjacent to the lawn that was overrun with weeds. I've decided to put some Hellebore, Hosta, and lady ferns (Athyrium filix-femina 'Lady in Red'). The Hosta will be transplanted from our back garden, as the big blue Hosta back there have been having lots of sex and some of the offspring are in non-ideal locations. We also have two Hellebore plants (Hellebore x ballardiae 'Pink Frost') to move. I don't think I'll be transplanting until September, but I'm trying to plan how many Hosta can be moved into that patch (we inherited the plants from the previous homeowner, but I believe they are offspring of Hosta 'Big Blue'...some are slightly smaller hybrids, but that's the color and rough size I'm dealing with). I'm far from skilled at laying out plants in drifts so that they look relatively natural, so I was wondering if any of you had ideas or experience on how to work with the textures of these three plants.

My instinct is to place the Hosta in a relatively spiral-ish pattern, with the Hellebore roughly central (as they'll have their period of main interest while the Hosta and ferns are still waking up) and use the ferns to blend. Then when the Hosta and ferns are more interesting, the Hellebore will serve as another foliage plant. Over time, the Hellebore should produce babies to round the whole area out. However, would that Hosta arrangement look a little forced? How do you like to arrange drifts of similar-looking Hosta among other plant types?

The area in question is pretty rectangular, but can be easily expanded on three sides to create space (there is a lot of pachysandra surrounding this area that I would be more than happy to remove).

virginiagal

Re: designing with hellebore, hosta, and ferns

Post by virginiagal » June 15th, 2015, 11:32 am

That arrangement sounds good. Will this be viewed from all sides? If so, the tallest plants can go in the middle. If not, then put the tallest plants at the back. Will your hosta or hellebore be taller than the other? General advice is to group similar plants together instead of scattering them here and there and to plant in odd numbers: 1, 3, 5, etc. After 10 I don't think it matters much about the odd/even thing. I did a new shade garden this spring with Solomon's Seal, hosta, ferns, merrybells, and epimediums. I put the Solomon's Seal at the back and the hostas in the middle. The ferns are scattered between the hostas and Solomon's Seal. The other plants are grouped together along the front on three sides. I added some basil right beside the epimediums to help shade the epimediums more (I found that a gap between the trees allows an patch of afternoon sun to move through and I had a bunch of basil growing elsewhere). Next year I'm hoping as things mature, it will look more filled in. The saying is the first year it sleeps, the second year it creeps, the third year it leaps.

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hokster
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Re: designing with hellebore, hosta, and ferns

Post by hokster » June 16th, 2015, 8:57 am

Oh wow --- I completely forgot about the odd-numbered rule of thumb! I might just let it ride --- in my experience, Hellebore have lots of sex. The area in question is sandwiched between the lawn and a bunch of trees (there's a chance it could be viewed from the road, but I'll keep your advice in mind for incorporating that angle). Once fully mature, the ferns will be the tallest, and the Hellebore will be the shortest. These Hosta get huge when they're fully mature, but the ferns are just a lot more upright in habit.

That shade garden sounds very nice. We have a bunch of native Solomon's Seal around the property, and we've been added variegated specimens as accents. If we need more variety in the shapes in that area, I may add in some Solomon's Seal as it would give that diversity nicely.

I can't convince my wife to enjoy Epimedium, though I would love to add them into the mix in the property.

virginiagal

Re: designing with hellebore, hosta, and ferns

Post by virginiagal » June 16th, 2015, 11:05 am

Since the hellebore are smaller, what do you think about doing the hostas in sort of a comma shape, with a mass on one side curving in a tail over to the other side with the hellebore in front? The ferns could fill in wherever. They may be taller but they are airy and don't hide what's in back of them. That way the hellebore would be together in a group in front of the hostas where they could spread out as the babies arrive.

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Tony alony
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Re: designing with hellebore, hosta, and ferns

Post by Tony alony » June 16th, 2015, 8:27 pm

I wish either of you, virginiagal or hoskster, would post some pics so an eager learner would know what you're talking about.


virginiagal

Re: designing with hellebore, hosta, and ferns

Post by virginiagal » June 16th, 2015, 10:23 pm

Tony, we're talking about a future garden, so it's just ideas right now. There's nothing to take a picture of. My new garden isn't photo worthy yet and it's not what hokster is looking for anyway. My comma idea probably isn't very clear. Think of a comma turned 90 degrees to the left. There's a circle on the left and a line continuing across the back in a curve. That would put a mass of hostas in one spot and let them flow through the garden, while allowing space for the hellebore inside the curve. Hokster suggested a spiral with the hellebore in the center as they would be in bloom early, before the hostas and ferns emerge. If the hellebore are smaller than the hostas, they would be hidden by the surrounding hostas once the hostas come up. I like the spiral idea and the comma is just a variation on a spiral.

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