Alphabetical Plant Listing

Companion Plants for your Hostas


Primarily grown for their beautiful foliage, hostas are long-lived, shade-loving perennials highly esteemed by gardeners. Easy and adaptable garden plants, there are hundreds of cultivars to choose from, ranging from incredibly tiny plants to giants, with leaves in pretty shades of green, chartreuse, gold, dusky blue, or beautifully variegated.

There is an endless variety of flower bulbs, perennials, shrubs, and trees that are suitable for companion planting with your hostas.

Here are a few rules to follow to create successful plant combinations.

  • Hostas grow in USDA plant hardiness zones 3 through 9, and they perform best in part shade to full shade in fertile, moist, well-drained soil. Therefore, the best hosta companions are those that thrive under the same growing conditions.
  • Because most hostas have a broadly mounded habit, forming a dense mound of cascading leaves, they contrast nicely with carpeting or strongly upright plants.
  • The ravishing foliage of hostas is not only attractive to humans. Slugs and snails are the most troublesome pests to hostas. They feed on their leaves and leave conspicuous holes. They can kill young seedlings by completely eating them.
  • Use plant associations to deter slugs. Some herbaceous plants are less likely to be eaten by slugs and snails because they have a texture or chemical content that slugs and snails dislike. When hostas are mixed among these plants, the levels of damage can be significantly reduced.

Guide Information

Hardiness 3 - 9
Heat Zones 1 - 8
Climate Zones 1, 1A, 1B, 2, 2A, 2B, 3, 3A, 3B, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21
Plant Type Perennials
Plant Family Hosta - Plantain Lilies
Exposure Partial Sun, Shade
Season of Interest Spring (Mid,Late)
Summer (Early,Mid,Late)
Fall
Maintenance Low
Soil Drainage Moist but Well-Drained
Landscaping Ideas Patio and Containers, Small Gardens
Compare All Hosta - Plantain Lilies Great Plant Combination Ideas with Hosta - Plantain Lilies Guides with Hosta - Plantain Lilies

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While every effort has been made to describe these plants accurately, please keep in mind that height, bloom time, and color may differ in various climates. The description of these plants has been written based on numerous outside resources.

Guide Information

Hardiness 3 - 9
Heat Zones 1 - 8
Climate Zones 1, 1A, 1B, 2, 2A, 2B, 3, 3A, 3B, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21
Plant Type Perennials
Plant Family Hosta - Plantain Lilies
Exposure Partial Sun, Shade
Season of Interest Spring (Mid,Late)
Summer (Early,Mid,Late)
Fall
Maintenance Low
Soil Drainage Moist but Well-Drained
Landscaping Ideas Patio and Containers, Small Gardens
Compare All Hosta - Plantain Lilies Great Plant Combination Ideas with Hosta - Plantain Lilies Guides with Hosta - Plantain Lilies

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