Plans for Shade Garden Chapter 1

Category: Starting and Maintaining the Garden | Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 11:33 pm

The warm, sunny weather brought on the feeling of spring. The yard is in its winter doldrums with fallen leaves and perennial flower stems falling across beds and paths in a haphazard manner. Very untidy. The last of the leaves are almost all off the filbert trees and scattered on the barked and paver paths. I keep raking, but gosh it will be January tomorrow and still not all the leaves are down and some are already composted in the beds.

New gardening area in June ( photo / image / picture from Jewell's Garden )

The new woodland garden area is a 30 foot by 70 foot area of vacated alley. Slowly I have been pulling up the lamb's ears, a favorite of native bees, that spread out over the patio areas. I have been then laying the uprooted plants onto the ground in the new woodland area. These plants do as well in shade as they do in the sunny spots. We'll see if they root in this mild winter we are having. My bets are on their self-preservation complimented with the rainforest habitat. If not I may have pity on them and toss a little dirt over their roots.

Woodland area 2012 on south side of lot being developed ( photo / image / picture from Jewell's Garden )

I moved my garden work benches behind the shed. With most of the grass now smothered with cardboard I have been moving plants into slowly developed beds. In many places the cardboard has already decomposed and had a thin layer of bark tossed over it (new beds and paths). Some cardboard has been covered in fir needles and small branches that have been wind blown down from the neighbor's fir trees. The rest is the new cardboard waiting for spring laid bark and time to smother weeds, decompose and let nature help me out.

grasses, small plants, bare ground and hopes for the future??? ( photo / image / picture from Jewell's Garden )

This new area has a lot of bare/barked/card boarded ground. Some of the plants are a couple of shade grasses, two small Pieris japonica evergreen plants for future structure. With primarily hostas in this area I am not happy with the winter look so far. I have also moved a few ajuga, sweet woodruff, mother-of-thousands into the area for ground cover. Some of the smaller evergreen ferns also got transplanted into the area that sprouted in my vegie/perennial garden.

It will need several years to have winter lines that make the area feel "right". A few paths are delinated with small fencing to keep the dogs from running through beds. Not pretty, but the plans are semi laid.

Last edited: Sun Feb 17, 2013 3:20 am

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gfreiherr wrote on Tue Jan 01, 2013 1:58 pm:

Looks like you have lots of space for expansion. I love shade gardens but don't have much in my yard. Look forward to seeing your progress.

Sjoerd wrote on Tue Jan 01, 2013 3:59 pm:

Hiya Jewell,

I have a question for you: "What is the Latin name of Lamb's Ear", where you live?

Here it can mean two things--Limonium vulgare, or Stachys byzintina.

Or, does it refer to yet a different plant?

Y'know Jewell--I really like this posting. I like it for several reasons, but perhaps the most important ones are the style that you used to present the subject and simply what the posting was about. The pics that you used to illustrate the area of development.

Its a pity that I can't give seeds or patches, because I think that this blog entry was such a good one. Good for me, but also good for anyone who may have plans of developing or changing a plot of their own.

Thanks, Jewell.

Jewell wrote on Tue Jan 01, 2013 9:34 pm:

Thanks Sjoerd for the nice reply. The lamb's ears is Stachys byzantina. I always have to look up the latin names since I'm too lazy to memorize them... lol

gfreiherr, I always love looking at your flower garden :)

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