Plant these Beds

A friend of mine forwarded these pics, for planting suggestions. Mostly shady, clay, upper Georgia climate (occ snow and hot).

As I'm a bit tied up at the moment, I thought maybe y'all would solve this problem for me, lol!

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

Well gee, y'all, now what do I tell her?
I was bragging about how great the DG folks were...
how she'd have suggestions within an hour...
Pretty please?

We're just great when someone else is doing the work. Lol I was watching thios thread last night to see when you would staart posting about us being lazy. LOL

Well????? You KNOW what I'm doing, lol!

vi, what kind of light do these get? does she want only perennials? willing to do annual/tropical beds?

Pretty shady except for #4 Island bed and along drive. She really wants that area to pop! (those are 3 brugs!

Tired of impatients, tired of the same stuff for too many years. Yes very open to new ideas. Shady is not my forte!
Personally, I think it's fine, but I know what she means!

I'd put elephant ears in a couple of those beds, with some smaller things around them for color. coleus?
she could use a lot of sun coleus, nothing better for color and ease to me, with one EE in the middle of number 4 bed.
but if she's wanting perennials, not my area.

There are harddy fuscias that would add wonderful color and also attract hummers. Also Rhododendrons and Azaleas. Also there are shade tolerant roses. Ferns, Hostas, Bleeding Hearts, pacific iris, trillium, jack in the pulpits and begonias do well in shady gardens. Areas that get more sun can open up many more possibilities .

Zany, do you know of any shade tolerant roses that can also take heat and humidity?

Not familiar with pacific Iris.

Hmmm, that is a tough one! You might try the rose forum and see what thy suggest.

http://www.pacificcoastiris.org/

This site will tell you about the Pacific coast Iris

I'm in z 8a, not too different from GA. But not quite as much cold. I've spent the AM ripping out elephant ears (Black Taro). Stuff sends runners and grows fast, taking over. Jen

JenniferG, send that black taro to me! I'll take good care of it!

Zanymuse, I'll have more before too long, I'm sure. Send a message if you really want it! Jen

First thing I would do is soften the layout,the scattered beds lack flow..Connect all or some of the areas with gently sweeping curves,mulch and then plant what you want.This would be easiest instead of removing all and starting from scratch.
shirley >^,,^< SB

This message was edited Oct 1, 2003 10:21 PM

I would scatter spring-blooming bulbs through the area to add cohesiveness. Things like hardy cyclamen, crocus (a lot of which bloom in autumn and winter as well as early spring). Bluebells, wood squill, glory-of-the-snow. They thrive in areas that most people don't consider, and give a sense of unity during the off-seasons.

Use ground-covers for the same thing in summer. That way the accent plants (shrubs, perennials, annuals) can assume the main focus in each area, but the effect will not be a scattered appearance. Choose one groundcover, that is available with several variations, such as vinca minor or pachysandra, and it will give diversity, as well as bringing it together. Other groundcovers can be added as well, just to give individuality to each bed.

A few of the shade-loving perennials that should thrive in your zone:

hostas
astilbes
brunnera
pulmonaria
heuchera
heucherella
tiarella
woodland phlox
daylilies (ducking from all the Hemerocallis lovers wrath)
Ferns -- many
rodgersia
ligularia
bloodroot
solomon's seal
jacob's ladder
false solomon's seal

There are a few rose classes that will tolerate shade, but need at least 4 hours of direct sun to flourish: Hybrid Alba, Hybrid Rugosa and large-flowered climbers are the main ones. Flowering will be reduced, but not too badly. In less than 4 hours of sun, almost no roses will bloom. (yep, lots of personal experience with this)

Add a few understory trees or shrubs to the shady areas: camellias, azaleas, flowering dogwood, clethra, buckeye bottlebrush bush (whew -- try saying that 3 times fast), elderberry, wintergreen, bearberry.

As your friend can experiment more, her garden will become 3-dimensional, rather than just a few things on the bottom layer and a tree above. Shade gardens are outstanding places in the heat of summer. But foliage has to take the center stage, rather than lots of colorful blossoms.

(Vi, what are you busy with? -- just curious)

Lupy! http://davesgarden.com/t/388972/
@$%^*!)(#^$@&!!!!!!!!!!

(thanks, dear!)

Vi, bless your dear heart!!!!! I didn't know you were organizing the GA RU!

If y'all have even 1% of the good time that we did in KY, you are going to have the thrill of your lives! Wish I were there. Just picture me peeking around from behind Bobbie's chair :)