Small shade garden design help!

[Andrewmach]

I am very new to gardening and have a small, skinny bed along the side of my house that receives very little sun. The bed is about 15 ft long and 2 ft wide.

Looking for some advice on where to position my tubers to get the most full and asthetically pleasing result.

I have a few blue hostas, John peed caladium and bleeding hearts. Because I am very new at this I have no idea what these will look like in the space once they come up, how tall, wide etc. Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Bleeding Hearts are the only plant I have experience with, and to my knowledge, they can grow to be different sizes. That possibly depends on the specie, cultivar, or hybrid. It can probably depend on other factors like soil and light, too. 've seen them as large as 4 ft tall and equally as wide, I've seen others grow to be much smaller.

 

[Beth_B]

Yes, for hosta and other plants much depends on the cultivar. Hostas can vary from little "mouse ear" varieties to giant ones over 5' tall in both width and height.

I have a lot of shade too. So, hostas of course. Two types of ferns. Bleeding hearts. Dahlias. Ajuga (ground cover.) And a few other things that come up every year but I cannot remember what they are lol.

The good news is that hostas are easy to divide or move; in fact over the years you may have to do that anyway because they will incrementally get larger. My bleeding hearts have stayed the same size for six years.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

depends on your blue hosta, and the type. as said above, there are blue at are wee babies such as baby bunting to the huge blue that the leaves can hold a baby in size. I love using hostas to soften the straight lines of a walkway.
Anyway have you looked at Hardy Geraniums? The hardy geraniums are also a good ground cover, their density will stop any weed under them. When planting a shade garden, the first thought should be how does the plant look when not in bloom. What that means is the leaf pattern, size, shape, etc. Coral Bells are also cute in places of shade, they come in wonderful "leaf" colors and sizes and when their sprigs of flowers do emerge it is sweet.

If I was doing your little area, I 'd go with the blue hosta you had, couple it will some purple leaf coral bells, and add yellow bleeding hearts, fill in with the hardy geraniums. Love to have color contrast .

 

[Andrewmach]

I agree, color contrast is exactly what I'm looking for. Thank you for the advice!