The shade garden that was

The back yard of my rented townhouse is overhung by a mature white ash. It was in bad need of pruning, and the landlords finally had it done. And boy was it done! The bed in almost total shade will now have total sun all morning until the shadow of the roof starts to creep over it at about 1:00.

Hmmm, I think I'm going to have to make some revisions. New branches will fill in over the next few years, so the hours of sunlight will gradually decrease, but I think I'll change my planned annuals for the next year or two. Poppies here we come. Cross impatiens off the list of next year's bedding plants. The ones I bring inside for the winter should be plenty.

Things to get OUT OF THERE NOW,..astilbes & cardinal lobelia,..unless you plan to water a lot more frequently. You'll be surprised how much DRIER your bed is now that it isn't shaded. Neither of these 2 shade plants can survive dryness. I'd move my astilbes & cardinal flower to a shadier spot until the branches fill back in. Lots of other things will like that 'partly shady' new home! Try some dark-colored daylilies in rich deep reds & violets in that setting.

Don't have astilbes yet, although they were high on my wish list. I'm a little concerned about a young monkshood I've got in there. I actually stuck a potted plant in front of it to shield it this year, so it seems to have pulled through OK. The other perennials I have in there should be alright.

This year has been quite a battle, with painter, pruners and patio installers all disrupting things, multitudes of cats and squirrels with their own ideas of what a flower bed is for, some kind of blight that knocked out a number of plants... I am pleased I've got anything blooming or flourishing at all! Wild asters going strong and fibrous begonias still untouched by frost. Oenothera and ferns - ostrich and sensitive - promising to put on a good show next year. I've also put in daffodils, muscari, fritillaria meleagris and some erythroniums so I've already got a bad case of "I can hardly wait till spring!" Going to pop clear soft drink bottles over the erythroniums as soon as they're out of the ground to keep the squirrels from chewing the life out of them - they're supposed to be fond of the young shoots.

Janet
I'm going to have the same sitution next spring.
We have a green ash that started dropping seeds this summer MILLION OF THEM what a mess.
I'm going to have it taken down this winter.

My shade garden will be full sun next year. I think I will redesign the whole thing.

Paul

This message was edited Sunday, Apr 7th 12:34 PM

This message was edited Sunday, Apr 7th 12:34 PM