hello everyone, i am making a new shade garden does anyone have any ideas its mainly all shaded, i need to go as cheap as possible, and try to keep weeds down without a hundred rolls of black paper,right now its just dirt and hosta, its just a cleared spot in front of the woods not real big. if anyone has ideas i would appreciate it. thank you margie
Ideas for weed prevention or plants for shade? Most of my beds have a layer of cardboard and newspapers, old plastic tablecloths, cheap tarps, shower curtains from the Dollar store under the mulch. If you have any thrift stores near you all of those will be very cheap and work a lot better than the black so called weed block fabric. Covered with mulch, Lowe's has some that is on sale at this time 5 bags for $10. As for as plants, keep an eye on the clearance table at garden centers. And when you do buy potted plants like ferns and others choose the pot with the most plants in them, that way you can separate them when you plant and have more plants. Ferns and Caladium plants always have more than one in a pot that you can tease apart to plant.
Here are a few shade loving plants you might want to consider Margie to add a bit of colour. Jerusalem Sage White Trillium Violets Lily of the Valley (you can get pink ones now) Foam Flower
Thank you all for the suggestions. I have a couple of old shower curtains. I never thought of that. I wll get some of those flowers too. Thank you. margie
If you have any neighbors who are gardeners, those folk tend to be friendly & helpful types. They may have some divisions they can pass along. I also like Toni's idea of buying 1 potted perennial & then dividing it. More bang for the buck. I have done that many times.
One plant group that you ought to consider is the Bosanemoon (Anemone nemorosa). Bluebells work well in a shade garden as well. The thing is that these two types are spring bloomers, so you will want to have some summer bloomers as well. Astilbe's and Campanula's are but two.
Bigroot Geraniums have pink or white flowers. Ajuga bloom blue flowers. Try Old-Fashioned Bleeding Heart.
