Show us how your shade garden is doing

I am partial to the dark leaved ones ( back) Black current"
front: Plum Pudding #2

I'll second the Naylor Creek suggestion.
I've had excellent luck with them. Nice big plants. Nice people.

I've never ordered from them. But they do get very good reviews from their customers. For mail order I mostly use Bluestone. Going on a "nursery crawl" tomorrow. The KY Department of Fish and Wildlife has a native plant sale tomorrow in Frankfort that we are going to then on to Wilson Nursery in Frankfort and Shooting Star Nursery in Georgetown. Shooting Star specializes in plants native to the Eastern US. Check out their website if you're looking for natives.
www.shootingstarnursery.com
Oh well I just went to their website and they are closed this weekend. Saved a few dollars there!!!

Doug

Doug, have you been to Yew Dell Gardens in Crestwood ? You may want to check it out. I've been wanting to go to Shooting Star forever. Never heard of Wilson Nursery but I love Frankfort. http://www.yewdellgardens.org
Kim

Kim, yes I went to Yew Dell for the first time back in March for the Hellebore Daze. Wilson's is off of 127. It is a HUGE place with a very nice display area. We stopped by there back in May or June for the first time and bought quite a few things. They have pretty good prices too.

Doug

Thanks for the info on Naylor Creek. I've never seen so many Epimediums in one place. And a lot of reasonably-priced varieties. I ordered 'Lilafee' and 'Fire Dragon' from Munchkin (Depauw, IN) this spring. They each had a few blooms when I received them but were really at the end of the bloom cycle. Can't wait to see what they look like next spring.
ge - Is that a vertical water feature or another piece of amazing sculpture that you collect?

Its a vertical water feature.
I bought it at Oriental Garden Supply here.Its a Basalt column thats been drilled out.
A love hate relationship because the pump filter is so small it clogs fast.
SIL was emptying it everyother day until I found "screen door" screen at HD.
I covered the deck under the stones and SIL surrounded the pump with it.
GS gave the water reservoire a good clean when he was home for 2 weeks.

It is gorgeous. Did you have run electric to it for the pump? Or do you have a solar hookup?

I live with my talanted SIL and DD.
SIL and DD dug a trench from the column to the house and SIL installed electric hook up. We turn it on in April and will turn it off end of October.
Its hard wired in a box nearby.
Just took this closeup
OOOOPS GEEZER moment.I'll sent the right pix

basalt column fountain.
BTW solar would be a good idea. If we ever do anything like this elsewhere I'll consider it

I like the different colors on the column. I have a big styrofoam (?) pot near the patio that we set up every spring. It's filled with rocks with a small pump and small fountain head. It gets dismantled in the fall and my portable cold frame takes it's place. I'd love to have a water feature elsewhere but the though of running electric through the back yard full of tree roots is not enticing. And although solar would be a great solution for (lazy) me, I don't think I have enough sun to generate much power.

The fountin is less then 12 feet away. Thats why the area was so promising when I wanted something watery.
It started out as a piece of grass thatb was too narrow for the rider mower
We just lazagnad the grass for a year and made a shade garden out of it.
before

after newspapers and mulch

now

Wow ge.... That is very lush! It will fill in nicly. I loved seeing the before during and after photos. Very nice. We did a lot of work in the yard this summer. We built a nice new deck and planted more hostas of course. What else is there right? LOL. Ronna

taken just now.

Wow, what a difference between the spring picture and the now! Very pretty. I love all the pots you have. Ronna

Wow! I second gardenlady's comment.
DH would love it if I lasagna'd the grass. That much less to mow. :)

The house is diagonally situated at the back of a square lot. Makes for a small back yard and oddly shaped lawn.
This was the best solution.

ge - We have a pie-shaped lot and the house sits parallel to one side and I have a small front yard but bigger back yard. A little less than half of the back yard was maintained - the rest was wild (and a convenient place to throw dead Christmas trees and turkey roasting pans by previous owner).

OMG How awful.
This is a snooooty neighborhood, no fences, clotheslines, stored RV's or boats, no window AC's.
Kids and I sold our houses to live together in this big place. My last house was on a 40x120 foot lot and the neighbow was a horder.There wasnt a fence high enoughto hide the junk.

This subdivision was built in the 70's and most of the fences are chain-link. I'm sure there were a lot of little kids running around here back then when the original owners moved in. Because the terrain could be dangerous to the young ones - wetlands, 10-ft drop off along the back due to fill brought in by developers, creek running through the woods - the fences were a good idea at the time. My neighbor collects vehicles (not vintage) and I usually have either a racing car trailer or an RV to look at through windows on the north side of my house.
From what I've seen of your gardens, they're an asset to your neighborhood.

I have no idea how I missed this thread!!! Lots of gorgeous photos and it's so nice to finally see them, especially now that the gardens are losing their lush colors of spring!

Doug, love the front beds and can't wait to see your progress on the woodland garden. How wonderful to have a nice neighbor with a pool! Great way to cool off after a long day in the gardens and the best part, you don't have to do the maintenance! LOL

I had hoped to comment on everyone's garden but there's so many great photos here it would take me forever! Wonderful gardens and plants and a few I might just have to add to my list :)

ge, I had to comment on your fountain though, I love it :)

Re: Epimediums, I've been looking at Naylor Creek's list, definitely a few I've added to my list :) Another source is Edelweiss Perennials http://edelweissperennials.com/default.asp. I ordered a few Epimediums last fall, their prices were very reasonable and I was really impressed with the quality of what I received!

rcn - Thanks for another great Epimedium source. I've bookmarked this one too.
And I agree with you about all of the inspirational photos. I have a long way to go on honing my design skills.

Please post your coleus pics ge. Your coleus are to die for and are perfect for this thread ^_^

OK

THESE WERE TAKEN LAST WEEK

deck garden

its my naptime

I'm doing this

just bfor

you guys

Thanks everso muchly ^_^

Oh my - those combinations really glow.

Nice . . .

collage from yesterday
Shade garden is top left

ge - I do like your collage. I wondered when you mentioned them in earlier posts what they'd look like.

ID for the top right corner please ge. Thanks.

Sedum Metrona,tall and soft purply green leaves

Thanks. What a beauty for part shade!