Martha Just Shared Her Stunning Hosta Garden—and It’s a Masterclass in Shade Gardening

Around this time of year, there's always something popping up in Martha's gardens on her Bedford farm. Right now, it's the bold green foliage of hostas.

In 2020, our founder planted hundreds of hosta plants behind her chicken coops under the dappled shade of the property's stately dawn redwoods. "I first got the plants as bare-root cuttings and nurtured them until they were big enough to transplant. There were more than 700 hostas in a variety of cultivars, including Wide Brim, Francee, Regal Splendor, Elegans, and Blue Angel," she recently shared in a blog post. "Over the years, I expanded the beds and added more plants. Now, the entire area looks better than ever."

Martha says that hostas thrive in partial shade, adding that the area of dawn redwoods is "perfect" for the plants. They were strategically positioned and spaced, paying attention to variety, color, and growth habit. On average, hostas mature to about two feet tall. But depending on the variety, they can range in size from six inches to four feet . Most varieties tend to have a spread between one and three feet.

This year, she planted a new variety known as Red Dragon; it's characterized by its shiny, bright green leaves that are held upright on strong red petioles. The plant features purple flowers that bloom in late summer.

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Just a few weeks ago, the garden beds were dotted with hundreds of young hostas emerging through the soil. "Now, they're all showing off their large, beautiful leaves," she says.

Interspersed among the green plants is Hyacinthoides hispanica, commonly called Spanish bluebell or wood hyacinth. Each of their bulbs produces a clump of two to six leaves from which a rigid flower stem grows, typically boasting up to 12 to 15 hanging, bell-shaped, bluish-lavender flowers.

Dicentra, more commonly known as bleeding heart because of its heart-shaped blossoms that dangle from slender, arching stems, is another elegant, easy-to-care-for perennial for shady gardens. Martha says that it makes a great companion for other shade-loving perennials such as hostas.

If you have an area that gets no direct sunlight, consider experimenting with shade-loving plants, she suggests. "Hostas, with their different colors, textures, and sizes, have tremendous landscape value and offer great interest to any garden," she adds.