share your shade garden pics

Is there a primrose that blooms beyond spring?

Not that I know of ..but they do seem to give about a good long month of bloom at least. The primrose in my garden in the shade are just starting to put on some buds now..
There are some beautiful bright clours of primrose..and also some doubles. I have a double called Miss Indigo I bought last year. It hasn't bloomed yet though. This is a photo from last year.

Hey Betty, look for violas instead of pansies next fall, they will reseed if conditions are right, and don't need any sun or much water.

Also wild geraniums will reseed nicely--a friend of mine had hillsides full of them. The color here is wrong, they are a nice soft pink. I'll see if I can find some babies for you and bring to the swap. And my early blooming Iris do great, bloom just after the daffodils, LMK if you want some.

Vi

Ahhh violabird, your geranium is very beautiful and good combination with hosta. Nice photo!
This NARROW bed between my house and next house is getting to be busy day by day.

This is an old picture of the shady bed next to my garage. You all are way ahead of me. Things are just starting to come up now.

Those forget-me-nots reseed all over the place!

poppysue, WOW! I love the way the hosta is nestled in the blue sea of the forget me nots! What the variety of the forget me nots? I've tried (unsucessfully) to grow forget me nots....whats the secret?

They are Myosotis sylvatica http://plantsdatabase.com/go/233/index.html

They grow as a biennial here. Plants that bloom usually don't come back the following year. If you let them re-seed they come up every where... to the point of being weedy!

Here's one right in front of my house shaded by 2 large japanese maples and an island above them...

And the other side of the walk...These pics were taken either last year or year before last...my digital was stolen in New Orleans this year...WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

My island my DH calls Elvis. When I first got my Mantis tiller, I dug this up cause it was terrible to cut the grass and DH wanted to know when the semi was coming. It is almost full now...even fuller than the pics - 2 more years of planting. LOL

My everyone has such nice gardens! It's good to get ideas for plant combos like this.

Brenda, yours looks so inviting, I can only imagine what it looks like now. Girl, you better just get out the old 35mm and get pics put on a disc! My plants would like to see their mommies :)

Here's the rest of the slope, (and don't look at the weeds!) still on ongoing problem--it's pretty darn steep!

plantnutz, the only thing missing on your first picture is the two of us sitting on the bench with a glass of iced tea! Very inviting!
Violabird, I meant to ask you, what is the name of the wild geranium in your previous post? i didn't know that geraniums would grow in the shade...how much sun does it get?

well, I may try to grow primroses again, then, if they bloom that long. Do they need deadheading?
As for the iris, I have the native Virginia iris (dark blue flags), and the yellow Louisiana iris, and some dutch iris. I am looking for some Japanese and Siberian iris and maybe some other colors of the Dutch. This one is called Gipsy Beauty; I do not know why it is spelled that way.

This message was edited Apr 26, 2004 6:22 PM

Here's my geranium http://plantsdatabase.com/go/2649/index.html

You know I think alot of the folks make the same mistake I did, I didn't think any 'sun' plants would grow in the shady garden, but forgot the all important spring sunshine before the trees leaf out. So when I planted my Iris and daylilies I was surprised they florished. They had enough growth by the time the trees made shade and do great.

The camera is pointing southeast, see the trees on the right, it's my eastern exposure, the west side is entirely shaded by my house. I get passing sunbeams late morning and late afternoon only.

anahi, vi, your gardens are lovely.

Betty, I have siberian iris - want me to bring you some. I have them in too many places...

Yes I would love some!!! Wish I had more plants to trade myself but this is my first year at a RU.
Vi my bearded irises are in my rock garden and just will not bloom much for me. The dutch, native Virginia blue flags and other types do fine, though. I can't figure it out.. I gave them a top dressing of Black Kow and lots of bone meal (we are very low in phosphorus in our soil here) but not much else because I was afraid I would get all growth and no bloom. But I'm still getting no bloom.......

Sorry to be hijacking this thread!

Betty is the heel exposed, no mulch, top of Rhizome bare?
I've had my same Iris for over 20 years now, lost a bunch to too much rain last year-but coming back nicely again.

that's what I generally try to do. Because it is a rock garden with little retaining walls, a lot of leaves and pine straw collected on them, but I took them off. Most of the rhizomes show above the soil.
There is a great article in Garden Gate this month about irises. I am saving it for my daughter who is building up an iris garden to sell irises commercially.......

We have no real shade...yet! The place we're moving to will have a good amount so in the meantime we're just potting up what we think will look good and plant them permanently in a couple of years.

Here's a pot combination from the stuff we picked up last October when it all was ragged out and 75% off :) Hope we can find someplace in the yard to keep it from burning this summer :(

woodland phlox and bleeding hearts, a happy couple.

The more brighter hostas are finding their way into my garden. I think this one is sun spot.

I love this thread, just found it with my morning coffee. These are blue veronica, pink soapwort, and closest is fuschia purple geraniums. They love living under my cottonwoods and move in on my stepping stones and each other.

Oh, Blooms, I love your view! lol I wonder if Blue Veronica and Pink Soapwort would like it here in Georgia? I have plenty of the geranium and have lots of shade. How beautiful!

blooms, how beautiful! I'd like to try that in my shade bed...how much sun does this bed get? Morning sun? That is fabulous! Glad you decided to join us with your morning coffee!:)

It gets early morning and late evening sun with moving shafts of light thru the leaves all day - this shade allows me plants that mightn't take the heat otherwise. The pink soapwort [sapponaria ocymoides] could be referred to as invasive if I didn't love it everywhere it turns up. In other parts of the garden, by the cellar door - you get it. Still easily removed.
My guess is the veronica and soapwort would both live in either Iowa or Georgia.

Thanks blooms! That picture was so pretty I've just got to try it...In my shady area I have wild black cherry trees and hackberry, which both leaf out late...I'm thinking since these plants bloom early in the season that they will have enough light. I'll keep you posted! (C: Bev

They do honor spring as the tree is just starting to leaf out and if I get around to giving them a haircut trimming they'll rebound for fall's lower light that gets under a bit. The blue veronica doesn't seem to respond the same. And it gets floppy so sometimes I whack it a bit too. Love hackberry.

They've basically eaten the space that was the iris - gotta get the moved. Here's another shot. Love the compliments. Sometimes I look out my door and think 'I did that' Then I look where they are and remember I didn't plant them where some of them are, just let 'em go.

When something is that pretty it's nice that they can just take over an area....Mother natures great isn't she? Especially with alittle help from her gardening friends!

lovely photos! Does that pink soapwort handle dry shade? I think it is absolutely lovely!

lily - yeah, it's dry shade. The two cottonwoods this border is under have their fibrous thirsty hair-like feeder roots so matted underneath my plantings that when I dig a new hole I have to crumble them out of the dirt. Anything I plant there has to be strong enough to fight for its life.
Most books seem to assume that tree shade is damp. Not in this case. Of course this land is dry anyway. It is desert.

Blooms

Oh I'm so happy to hear that! My shade garden is under the neighbors 3 black maples and they pretty much keep the soil dry and I know what you mean about the mat of feeder roots! Looks like I'm going to go find me some soapwort. Yea!!!

I wonder if it wouldn't be easier to just sprinkle some seed around the base of the trees? I'm assuming that the soapwart reseeds...so wouldn't this be the time to put out some seed? Just wondering and trying to figure out an easier way to do it than to fight the tree roots....LOL guess I'm a lazy gardener!:))))) Bev

I don't blame ya there Bev, I'm a lazy seed sower too. Almost all the seeds I planted out in flats, died or didn't germinate. I look forward to seeds that say self sowing, means I can throw em out and let em grow. Only problem with that is, I forget what they are. hehehe

:^)
Molly

forget WHAT they are and WHERE you planted them!!!LOL thats happened to me too! :))))

The soapwort's obviously a self seeder as it has appeared here and there in the border it's planted in and across the patio space to the garden on the other side.
I admit to enouraging nearly everyone of them. They are not prolific self-seeders but if you had seed that would be perfect. Put in a scattered six pack, a pack of seeds and water.

Each plant covers a nice foot circle the first year and a 2ft one the next. If I get around to really giving them haircuts I'll post a pic to show how much one covers with it's long flowering stems.

This is a shot of the back side of my shade garden. I call it my "river bed".

DEA~ Notice the Astilbe in the background!

Ahhhhh, don't cha just love the coolness of the shade!

Working in the shade is a pleasure too! I don't think I could stand the hot sun after working in 72 degrees all day!
Here's my mole/vole hunter with some old Antioch Hosta.

newly extended shade bed....worked on it for what seems like forever and i'm still working on it! whew!

Doris, I wish I had your mole/vole catcher! I wonder if she could catch striped chickmonks! LOL! Thats the pest I have in the garden...They are cute but also distructive! ( : Bev : )