Hi - another newbie

Hi - I'd love to join your forum. I live in Ohio and its a dark day here. I live on a farm and have lots of garden - so much so that they get out of hand. Right now I'm weeding, going from one place to another and not really getting anything finished.

Most of my gardens don't get much sun because of full-grown trees in the yard. I'd love any ideas on shade plants - other than hostas - I'm already using lots of those.

It's nice to read about your gardens. I look forward to spending time with you.

Kayellen

Welcome Kayellen! How lucky you are to have a farm and lots of space to garden! I planted a row of ferns along the side of my house that gets no sun. I call it "fern alley". I have added Dog Tooth Lillies (I think that is what they are anyway) and Soloman's Seal underplanting everything with a bright yellow Creeping Jenny. I don't think the Jack-In-The-Pulpits made it through the winter. I also have hellaborus that seem to thrive in the shade. Violets sometimes volunteer themselves for the shade. Now I need a nice vine to trellis along the house wall - preferably something that bears fruit.

Peace and Plenty,
Mem,

Hi, Kayellen,
I just planted a bunch of things in the shade--I'll let you know how they're doing in a couple months (don't want to give bum advice!). Glad you joined the forum.

Welcome Kayellen!
Sounds like you have dry shade? (Tree roots are tough competition) If that's the case, I think its the toughest garnening and is slow to fill in. What I have found to work well under trees is hellebore, lamium. prunella pink lovliness (I planted last year & so far I love it) liriope, perennial forget-me nots. I spent a lot of money on shade plants that really needed more sun or needed moist soil.
Dave

There are a lot of spring flowering bulbs that will do just fine under large hardwood trees as the trees haven't leaved out yet. Plus if you leave the fallen leaves until spring they will insulate the ground there so you could also grow some spring flowering or shade loving plants that are out of your zone. I usually don't rake the leaves until I start to see new growth in the spring

Wow! What a great bunch of ideas!! I've written them all down and am going to look them up - then off to the greenhouse. My nearest greenhouse is a small one and they just aren't much help with ideas. They seem to specialize mostly in annuals. I bought three very small clematis there last week and already the rabbits have eaten most of the leaves. I bought deer repellant yesterday and sprayed them, hope it will help. I'm afraid they might not grown there anyway because they only get about 4 hours of partial sun. I've also spent quite a bit of money trying different plants that just didn't make it. Thank you all so much for the ideas. Dave 47 - oh, yes, it is dry shade - and pretty difficult to deal with.

Kayellen, whatever you do, don't build up over the tree roots or around the trunk of your trees with soil as that will kill the tree. Not right away but it will in time.

Kayellen, I used to think my shade garden needed less watering than those getting lots of sun. But I learned they need more water because of the trees. Good luck.
Dave

bensen and Dave47 - Good things to know - had not thought of either. Thank you!
Kayellen

My long perennial bed is under two large cottonwoods. Anything that grows in there has to fight the fine roots of the treees for every drop of water.

My biggest success story for a ground cover under them that delights is the pink flowered sapponaria occymoides - aka soapwort. also grape hyacinth. A few tulips and daffys make up the rest of the first spring flowering.

Also having good luck with candytuft and geranium sanguineum - the geranium has spread nicely, the candytuft just gets bigger in place. As for annuals, the physostegia seeds itself gleefully and provides upright accents later in the summer. The physostegia returns in both the pink and white and let me know when the strip needs water... they are my canaries.

There are also artemisias that do well in there, Powis castle dies back each winter and comes on lovely soft in the spring. Another is a lavender cotton wormwood artemesia... not too sure of its proper nomenclature. This one stays a lovely grey green almost whiteish accent in the garden all year.

Picture shows the soapwort - with grape hyacinth and right in front a few of the geranium blooms.

Kayellen, I wish I had all the plants I lost before I made my discovery!

Welcome Kayellen!

Beautiful blooms, Blooms.

Dave - I agree about the bigger trees needing and getting the water.

bensen - right on about not building up the soil over the tree roots.

I'd go for bulbs, hydrangeas for damp shade, caladium and other shade lovers in a nice potted collection. For probably the first time ever I'm impressed with Agway's trellises (hoping there's one near you) and the prices are good.

Maybe just as important as what to plant would be what NOT to plant: Oenthera, Lily of the Valley, Houttuyniea Cordata 'Chameleon', Aegopodium/Goutweed/Bishop's Weed, Lamium. All are much too invasive here.

BloomsWithaView and Pirl - Thank you for the ideas!! Love the look of the soa;wart. I bought a few things to start - Soloman's Seal, hellaborus, Blue Umbrellas hosta, and Ligularia "Othella". After I got home I looked the Ligularia up on DG and found that it likes wet, boggy, spaces; ended up planting it next to the house where I can water daily. I have so many empty spaces which I will fill gradually.

I was a little surprised with the plants I bought - they were terribly rootbound. They were all in gallon pots - and it took forever to loosen the roots just a little. Is there any easy way to do this? I ended up soaking a lot of the soil away.

You have all been so helpful. Thank you so much.

You can cut it with a knife if its too rootbound. Make about 4 cuts fom the bottom.
Dave

Dave is right. You can buy good, sharp knives at any thrift shop and just use them for the garden. They generally have huge vases, too, for a dollar or two. Good for zinnias, roses, dahlias, hydrangeas, etc. Last week I bought the clothes for my scarecrow at our thrift shop!

Wow you guys are so neat and tidy about it, I grab hold of the bottom of the roots and give it a good yank in opposite directions then turn one quarter and do it again and then plant it. The roots go out quick in the soil and all I have to do from there is water.

Dena

Oh, my!! I was afraid of hurting the plants if I broke too many roots.....although they sure had plenty. Can't tell you how long I took trying to carefully unwind those things! I was ready to go back to the greenhouse and accuse them of abuse. Next time, I'll not be so careful. There is a part of me that wants to dig them up just to see if the roots are spreading. Thanks!!!

Here is a thread I started where you can share freely what sounds to me like some form or another of Gardeners OCD... you'll feel better sharing when you read what we all have been up to...
BTW, welcome! : )


http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/582669/

GRENTHUMBS: OCD and gardening go hand in hand. If we all dared to reveal our deepest and darkest OCD thoughts and actions it would either be hilarious or very scary. :-) Fun to think about.

Dena, You would find the more macho way to do it!

Hey! Welcome to our little home away from home! I love the look of Bleeding hearts and Toad Lily..both like shade/part sun

I had Dog Tooth Lillies bloom this year - what the squirrels didn't eat anyway. They are very sweet and like lots of shade. I have them planted in shallow soil over bedrock - so I would think that they would tolerate dry shade.

I love those Ginsu knives for gardening. They are really, really sharp and cheap. They really stay sharp for a long time. I think that I bought mine at a Dollar Store.

Thanks for the information on lilies. I found blackberry lilies yesterday (need sun, tho'). Couldn't find Toad or Dog Tooth. This morning I tried a small nursery and found Toad Lilies - she had them in a speckled color and in white - I bought them in white, now am tempted to go back and buy some speckled ones since they look more toadish. Love the way the flower blooms among the leaves - not that these are in bloom yet. She asked if the Dog Tooth are known by another name - I didn't know. Looked it up and they are also called Trout lily and Dog Tooth Violet. Guess I'll go back and see if they have them by that name.

I've tried Bleeding Hearts and ferns before with no luck. Perhaps I'll try again.

Many thanks. Kayellen

What about Astilbe - almost forgot about that one. Forget-me-not's seem to grow just about anywhere. Annuals include impatients and coleus. I also found this article http://www.renovatorsplace.com/dsp_articles.cfm?l_article_id=119&l_cat_id=41&catid=41

Kayellen, Trout lilies are native & grow wild in my area. I believe they are ephemerals (?). They are very cute, very little yellow flowers that bloom early in spring. Then the trout colored leave disappears too. I don't think they would fit your need. If you want them and can find out how to transplant before the leaves disappear, I would try to send you some. (there are literally 100s, if not thousands, on and around my property. Don't get me wrong, they are wonderful. Just very small & briefly in bloom.
Dave

I got the name of the Dog Tooth plant wrong. They are Dog Tooth Violets. They bloom only briefly but they have hanging yellow flowers. They are only about 6" tall. I've seen Trout Lillies growing "wild" and they are tiny - nothing flashy. Something about the name - either named for the speckled fish that their leaves resemble or the fact that they seem to bloom on the day trout season opens - or so I was told on a guided walk in the 90 Acre Forrest in Bridgeport. I think that Hellebours will grow in heavy shade - at least mine do. It takes a couple years of settling in before they bloom however - you have to be patient.

Anita - Thank you for the link to shade plants - I never realized that peonies did well in the shade, even tho' I do have some that are definately doing well there.

Yankee Cat and Dave - After reading your description of the Dog Tooth, I'm pretty sure that I already have some. We have a group of shag bark hickories in a corner of the yard, they're old and pretty large. Grass doesn't grow very well there and every spring we have these sweet little plants with the yellow flower. We don't do any mowing there until they're gone. I've asked several people if they could identify them and nobody ever could. I'm really excited about this. Dave, it was so nice of you to offer to send some - I truly appreciate the fact that you would take the time to do this.

Kayellen

Anytime.

I found it interesting too.