Your woodland shade favorites

Thanks pirl - I love your Hydrangea. . . It's BEAUTIFUL!! What variety is it?

This is my very first ever Hydrangea bloom. I planted two very small "Cityline" Hydrangeas last Spring. This one is called 'Venice' and it grows between 1' - 3' tall. Right now it's only about 9" tall. I really like the color.

You can see that some of the leaves have a little yellowing. This is a small bed we created last Spring out of an area of the lawn that that was mostly clay & tends to retain a lot of water. We heavily ammended it with Cotton Burr compost, leaves, etc, but it will be a work-in-progress to get it right.

The other one is called 'Berlin' and I will probably have to move it since it sits where all the water collects and isn't growing as well.

This pic was taken during a time of day when it gets filtered sun.

Thank you. It's Harlequin and quite often there are several differently colored heads on it at the same time.

Yours is a lovely shade of pink. I was given Berlin and possibly Cityline but they arrived as we were packing for vacation so I just gave them to my physical therapist.

Now that I've actually had one bloom, I can hardly wait to try more varieties. Your Harlequin sounds wonderfully unique.

"Cityline" is a whole series of compact Hydrangea. They're German hybrids and have names like Berlin, Venice, Paris, Vienna, Rio and Mars (not sure where that last one came from).

They bloom when only nine inches tall? Ooo, another one to put on my list of must-haves!

I just saw Mars today (the hydrangea) and loved it. They were bred for short stature, which is good compared to the giants out there.

My hydrangeas have been pretty puny this year; I'm not sure why.
Those hydrangeas are really pretty.

Welcome to the 'dark side' (AKA the shady forum), Nuts.
I think you'll find lots of types of hydrangeas that have evolving colors as the blooms age. Its one of the features I like best about them.
Be sure to post pix of those blooms!

I really like the fine texture of that euphorbia, Pirl.
I've been leary of euphorbias in general, since I've had some try to outrun me in the past. But if this one is more polite, maybe I'll give him a try.

Very well behaved, Wee.

weerobin - How do you control your Carex s. 'Variegata'? Mine seemed to be quite the spreader and was tougher than others to pull up the unwanted sprouts.

Oops! I haven't controlled it at all. I thought it was spreading nicely only because of my outstanding gardening skills!! I didn't know it was an aggressive spreader. It's about 3-4 ft diameter presently. Is it enough of a nightmare for you that I should remove it? I've got plenty of other misbehaving plants; I don't need another problem child.

Could it be potted up to control it?

Come to think of it, I've had prior experience with a shade-tolerant grass which grew too rampantly. Imperata Red Baron looked really pretty the first couple years in one of my shady areas. But I have spent considerable time since then trying to rein it in. Here is a shot of it a few years ago when it was an innocent babe. (You'll notice of course the ubiquitous cages for varmint protection for a couple lovelies hidden from view).

Very pretty grass and that Brunnera is so lush and gorgeous.

I've resorted to potting a lot of plants to keep them contained.

Thought of you and the fortresses for your plants, Wee, as I passed Conca d'Or lilies...

Love your Brunnera! I agree with pirl, it is very lush.

Does your 'Imperata Red' spread by underground runners? I wonder if you could do something like is generally done with Mint . . .submerge a bottomless pot that's deep enough to prevent the roots from spreading?

I ended up pulling out my Carex and moving it to a more "wild" spot. I had it in a couple of different spots, initially loving the bold (for a grass) leaf texture and variegation. In my garden, the root mass would get pretty dense and tough and was really resistant to tugging the stray runners. Not as tough to remove as northern sea oats but definitely tougher than C. 'Ice Dance'. If it sneakily invades other plants, it becomes a real challenge. Additionally, the foliage looked pretty ratty by the end of the season. 'Ice Dance' runs but it's easier to control.
Pirl has a great suggestion about potting some of the thugs. Remember that grass called Phalaris arundinacea 'Variegata' offered years ago for shade? Terribly notorious for being invasive but silly me - I liked the variegation at a time when there was very little available for shade gardeners. Kept it in pots for years and the pots actually had the bottoms intact which I think is a little more critical when trying to control some of the aggressives. I do love the combo of the 'Red Baron' with the Brunnera.

I have kept a brethren of carex siderosticha variegata in a pot, where it looks nice.
This one is carex sid. Island Brocade. I think it's prettier, which is why I have it in a pot.
It also likes partial shade. Gets scorched in full sun, at least for me.
I have it in the yard also, where it hasn't been aggressive for me at all.
In fact, I wish it spread a little faster.
But who knows, it might be location, exposure, soil, etc, etc.

Very nice in the pot.
Heres what doing on my turfAstilbe Pumilla

astilbe liliput

late blooming might be astilbe purple lance

I have another area with Red Baron as backdrop to a japanese white pine.
I think it looks nice in the fall. Here's a picture from last fall.
In this picture, the hakonechloa to the left of the picture is looking pretty ragged,
but Red Baron still looks nice.

(Hey! Who put that flag in the middle of my picture??)!!

Pirl, I just may have to put up fencing - I just love those lilies!
I still plant hostas, despite the deer, because they look nice for spring/early summer,
before the deer find them.
But I gave up on lilies, because they NEVER get to blooming height before being mowed down. But I'm not sure I have the energy to put up fencing...

nice colors

Hi, GE. It's nice having some astilbes still going strong.
Now that I see your astilbe pumila, looks a little like one I have.
A friend gave me what he simply called 'groundcover astilbe'.
It's blooming now. I wonder if it's pumila?
The foliage can't be seen well in this post, but it lays fairly flat to the ground.
The flowers are maybe 8-10".

That Carex in the pot does look good. Why is it the plants we wish would spread just remain content as they are while others run rampant? Your red tipped grass looks great in autumn!

My flags are pink!

Jo Ann - not Purple Lance but Pumila. Hey, it started with a P. Purple Lance is tall - as in about 3.5'.

Check out the escapees that the deer haven't found yet:

That is Pumila, Wee.

Here's both Pumila and Purple Lance.

Those lilies look pretty tasty to me!!

Wow, a very pretty cluster of astilbes, especially mid-July!
Very nice.

Thanks, Wee. Those astilbe are in shade. The ones that grow in sun are a nice toasty brown now.

Yup! mine are from Pirl

Astilbes still retain such pretty foliage once the brown flowers are removed. Phlox David is in bloom now but when it's deadheaded it's just not thrilling foliage.

Remember to water those astilbe in this heat or they'll go dormant in a flash, Jo Ann.

yup

Wee - re: fencing for your lilies - have you considered a temporary net fence? That's assuming your lilies are all in the same area. Once the metal posts are in the ground, it's easy enough to hang the netting. And you could put it up or take it down depending on the stage of your lilies. The black deer netting isn't so bad but I've opted for the green woven mesh "temporary" pet netting to keep them out of my garden. It stays up year round.
Liking the 'Island Brocade'. Kinda reminds me of young bamboo.

I'd love to see a photo of the fencing you mentioned, Cindy. Thanks.

Does any of you shade gardeners have any "Sister Theresa" Astilbe. I am thinking of ordering just to fill in my shady back garden. My sister name is Theresa and I tought it would be nice to have a few .

I don't. Where did you see it, Etelka?

I found it in few websites, American Medows, Santa Rosa gardens, but right now it is our of stock, hopefully in fall it will be back. It is a nice pale peachy pink and fluffy flowers. My garden yesterday was a crispy mess, I had to water it tree times around before it got to normal level. It is very hot and I can't skipp watering one day.

Gorgeous pics, everyone! I love Astilbes, especially. I think I need more!

I know I've said this over-and-over, but I swear by "Liquid Fence". We have deer year-'round, though we don't often see them during the Summer, because they usually just come at night. Starting in Autumn they also come during the day.

We love the deer as much as all the other critters & birds we see and wouldn't want them to stop coming, so it's a bit of a compromise. I don't want fences everywhere so I use Liquid Fence.

I used to buy it by the gallon, but this year I bought the quart-size concentrate which makes 4 gallons (shop around, though. Prices vary. I never buy from nurseries - way overpriced. In my area places like Farm & Fleet, Menards and Meijers have the best prices). The concentrate will probably last me at least through next Summer (I store it in the basement in a sealed plastic bag to keep it from freezing in winter).

You don't need to spray it constantly. They recommend once-a-week for three weeks to "train" the deer (or rabbits, chipmunks, or?) then once-a-month. I tend to spray additionally if we've had several really hard rains, or when there is a lot of new growth on their favorite plants. It is non-toxic . . .won't hurt the critters even if they decide to take a bite . . .smells for a day, then fades, but the critters will still smell it.

The only downside is it sometimes makes the leaves look a little "dull" for a while if you spray too heavily, but for me it's better than looking through fences or staring at plants that have had their blooms or leaves "chomped" off. For me it's a "Win-Win" situation.

There . . .I can get down off my soapbox now!

IT'S POURING HERE . . .YAY!!!!!!!!

We used Liquid Fence last year. When they were absent for the last six weeks we felt they went back to their own area - what a mistake. The very idea of spraying while the heat index was at 99 before 10 AM is just not possible. By the time we can spray the deer will still be in their learning phase and the daylilies will be gone in three weeks.

Well I'm downright jealous! I'd love a rainy day instead of this heat.

pirl - The rain might be headed your way (fingers crossed).

You know, after the very first time you spray Liquid Fence the deer won't touch the plants. You don't have to wait three weeks. If it cools down enough to be outside at night, it might be worth trying to spray a few areas.

I hope nobody minds me starting a new thread--this one has been so popular, it got really long.



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