share your shade garden pics

I'll start, lets play!

This is my front yard shaded by two huge maple trees.

Here's my front yard. Under 2 Oak trees and still a work in progress. My hostas have some growing to do.

Anahi, I love your hostas. So well filled out.

BT, your garden is lovely.

:^)
Molly

Beautiful pictures! The hosta in this picture is called sunspot. Still a baby, but coming along.

These are some of my ferns and Japonica.
Cindy

Fatsia Japonica

Helleborus

Brugmansia alley is in the shady part of the garden.

More Brugs in the shade.

This is a long narrow stretch between our house (on the right) and the neighbors' house. It was full of ugly overgrown shrubs, thorny blackberries and weedy nandina. Horrible adobe clay soil sliding down the hill, creating a drainage problem as well as a slippery danger when wet.

Everything was cleared out, a French drain was installed, and our neighbors kindly let us use their sidewalk so I could have a bigger planting area. Altho it isn't visible at the end of the concrete, there are nice concrete blocks at a right-angle, installed by my husband to connect our backyard paths to their sidewalk, so we have a good dry path to walk on.

I am constantly adjusting the plant mix in my beds as they mature, but this is what it looked like one year after planting. The white arbors are for my neighbor's grapevine which was in leaf on the left hand side.

Very lovely jkom. It is nice when neighbors not only like and approve what you do, but help make it easier to do your projects.

LimeyLisa Kay

Very well put together! I like it.

Bev

Pansies in the shade.

This is the front edge of my shade garden-the mossy area.

Ahhhhh Doris, you look like you're living my dream....to be nestled back into the woods...some day, some day (sigh!) Very nice!

Ah Doris. I am ready to plant some pansies too and hope to find some when I'm in town today. There are 2 planters on either side of the porch, at the top of stairs, where I work (office in a cemetery) and I am going to plant them too. Later, probably with impatiens.

This message was edited Mar 1, 2004 8:51 AM

Since I have no "place in the sun" to garden, I am trying to make the best of the wooded area that I have. It has disadvantages- but lots of advantages too. Today, I'm waiting for it to warm up enough to get out there again and move some more of the "tons' of leaves that are covering everything. But, being able to work in the shade in the hot & humid N. Alabama summer is definitely an advantage for this gray haired lady! There are sprinkles of daffodil blooms now and the hosta will soon to start peeking through. The evergreen ferns have been wonderful this winter. I'm planning to add more this year!
My shade garden is definitely a bright spot for me-relaxation/exercise and therapy! Keep those pictures coming. I love to see what you all are doing! Doris

I just stumbled across this forum..

Your photos look like they should be in gardening magazines.

This is a photo of Brise D'Anjou Jacob's ladder. It is in with my hosta's under the apple trees.

Beautiful! Now I must put that on my hunt list!

Doris, I did buy some pansies Saturday and have put them in 2 different places. One is somewhat sunny but the other is in shade a lot of the time. I'm beginning to wonder just how much shade pansies can take and this will be a good experiment........

I still want some more, too. They will last on until it gets hot here. I really love the color.

It's a little cooler here and I can get mine to last into June. I planted two groupings and one pot over the weekend.

This message was edited Mar 3, 2004 8:00 PM

shade bed, spring 2003.

BEAUTIFUL!

I have a balcony garden that's largely in the shade, some morning and late afternoon sun. This is from late July 2003.

It's so heartening to see shade gardens. That's all I have!

Judith

And here's my Sweet Autumn clematis in September 2003.

Judith

revclaus....love your balcony garden! What is the name of the hosta?

blue cadet and another mini-hosta which slips my mind. summer 2003

old 'standards' that i got from swaps years ago - if anyone knows their real names, please let me know

last spring - hostas, astilbe, foxglove, a newly finished lasagna bed which was filled by fall; ferns [which were dug up in fall to start a new lasagna bed]

Beautiful! how do you make a lasagna bed? Is that a layering process?

yes - that's the layering process. the 'finished' bed that you see started with a few layers of newspaper, then weeds, then leaves, then compost, then topsoil [from another bed], then mulch. the new bed that i've started [in place of the ferns] begins with the leaves collected from last fall. i'll rake them out to the half the height of my new bed - i'm planning to add compost [after it thaws and dries out] - then we'll see.......

how long does it take to be able to plant in the new bed? do you wait for it to decompose?

revclaus & handhelpers,
Your plants are absolutely wonderful! Since I only have shade, I especially love to see what others do with theirs. Hurray for the balcony garden! We just must make the best use the space we have, don't we!
Doris

i planted right away in the first bed cuz the compost and topsoil were old - i'll probably do the same in the new one once it's done - the top layer will be about 4-6 inches so that shouldn't hurt my plants
in shade - my favorite is hosta - but astible, primrose, hellebore, foxglove do well - i cant wait till stuff starts blooming this year - cuz this year and next will be the 'test'

Anahi, my hosta is just plain ol' albo marginata. This year will be its 5th year in that container.

It's a beauty! 5 Years! do you ever have to divide it?

Caladium Rosebuds in the sweltering Texas heat in July 2003.

"eyes"

Hostas are just starting to come up good.

Oh that's pretty..you are ahead of me..here they are just starting to poke through the ground.
The daffs are in bloom..and the tulips are about to bloom...
Here are some pansies and primrose to brighten up my front step.