Shady Garden
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Posted: Sep/23/2007 11:18 AM PST
Hi, While browsing the net I saw this website which looked interesting and informative. I am a new member and would like to exchange ideas and experiences about gardening which I am relatively new to. My garden has two shady areas which I am working on. One area is under a large maple tree and is on a rocky ground. I have pulled out the boston ivy growing there and added top soil and mulch. Any ideas on what plants might work best for me? Ferns are on my list to add as well as a bird bath and a bird house (any product ideas?) I look forward to hearing from you. Shirley, new member, New York |
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Posted: Sep/23/2007 12:22 PM PST
My gardening project right now is a shade garden. After clearing out all the unwanted growth (a major deal) the plants living there are ferns, hostas, toad lilies and sedum. Coral Bells will find their way there soon. Since I am in SC zone 8, about everything we grow needs some shade. So the guara plant (swirlling butterfly) has been moved there as well. Moving the plant may have done it in and if so, it will be replaced as I really like the look of this free flowing plant. I have a large Magnolia tree in my front yard and would like to place some Encore Azeleas underneath. Another gardening goal. The garden is never finished is it? Linda B from SC |
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Posted: Sep/23/2007 4:12 PM PST
Welcome to GG from WY Shirley! Where I'm at right now (apt. complex) is total sun. But when we get our house and have some shade I will have hostas, ferns, and then I'll go from there. |
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Posted: Sep/23/2007 7:33 PM PST
Thanks Linda. Hostas are on my list and I will look into the other plants you've used to see if they will work in zone 5. Shirley |
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Posted: Sep/23/2007 10:16 PM PST
Azalea would look nice. How about volcan rhododendron & Golden guinea japanese rose? I just looked them up, real pretty flowers & you can plant them in a zone 5. |
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Posted: Sep/23/2007 10:45 PM PST
for color I like the look of the different varieties of coral bells and impatients. The foliage on coral bells ranges from light to dark and in between. In addition to all the varieties of hosta as well. Welcome to GG Shirley! |
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Posted: Sep/24/2007 12:42 AM PST
Hello Shirley and welcome to GG from Lake Greenwood, SC, I have flower/shrub beds and one of them is a rock garden that meanders down a slope to the lake. It consists of, from top to bottom, caster plants, spider lilies, st. john's wort, yucca, umbrella, variegated grass, canna lilies, angel trumpet, hellebores niger, geranium, english ivy, pineapple lily, sago palm, a variety of ferns & hostas, persian palm, and a gorgeous shrub that my neighbor gave to me but don't know the name. Also in that area I have bird feeders, several bird houses, a hanging birth bath with whimsical chimes and sun catchers that I have made. I also have three hanging baskets on tree limbs in the rock garden which are filled with impatients, coleus, wave petunias, and boston ferns. From my yard to yours,  gimloet
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Posted: Sep/24/2007 6:17 AM PST
Hi everyone who has responded to my posting. Thank you for all your suggestions. I will post a picture of what it looks like right now, will use your tips and keep you updated. Thanks again. Shirley |
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Posted: Sep/24/2007 7:17 AM PST
Keep in mind that dry shade is different than moist shade. Most shade plants want moist soil. I have sweet woodruff, hardy cyclamen, epimediums, hellebores, and pulmonaria under birches and they seem to do well there. I also have some spring bulbs along the outer edge of the root zone. Add lots of compost to the soil and mulch your plants well next spring. Looking forward to seeing your picture! We have a shade garden forum further down the page too. |
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Posted: Sep/24/2007 7:44 AM PST
I have a lot of shade areas where I am doing woodland gardening in CT zone 5-6. There are many tall pines. It can be a little dry under the pines too. We have the bottom branches trimmed to look nicer. I have ferns and hosta of many different varieties. I know you already mentioned those. I especially love Japanese painted ferns and some of the slower growing ones that I nicknamed "waxy ferns." There is so much variety in hosta for color it is amazing! That means yellow, green and white though! They have huge ones too. One of my favorites is Green Bananas. Along the edges I have many flowering plants. The shasta daisies are doing very well! Campanula persicifolia alba and Kent Belle do quite well. The alba has such white flowers they really light up an area. Someone told me they can be invasive, but I have not had a problem with them yet. Although, the area is heavily mulched. Two huge plants are the plume poppy and golden glow. They are both invasive and grow taller than I am. The golden glow pushes nice yellow flowers up through the plume poppies here and there. They are both invasive plants, so be cautious. I had to move the golden glow out of my front, full sun garden because it expanded three feet in all directions in one year. That was pretty much my entire garden. I have a couple types of mint, columbine (that has terrible difficulties with leaf miners), candy tufts, bleeding hearts (pink and white), ginger, Jacob's ladder, coral bells. Millium effusum Aureum is a nice yellow grass. PANSIES last all season in the shade and will often seed over for the next year. I also find that petunias will do well along the edges. I like the red and white pinwheel kind to light up the space with some color. |
