Show us how your shade garden is doing

my newest ligularia.... brit marie crawford.

roguchii (sp) clematis trellis. Just moved this one had three on a very small space and they are taking over already!!

more ligularias... sorry but i absolutley love my ligularias!!! So huge. I was very brave and divided one this spring. Still alive so I guess I did okay. Also broke my favorite shovel digging it up!

Just kidda "redid" this area. Had to move my sum and substance. Two years old and already getting tolarge for where I had it. Had to shore up the ledge somemore. We'll see if it works.

lots and lots of white sweet woodruff! Three halcyon (sp) hostas.

sitting area for coffee!

niagra falls hosta and w. s. w.....

little baby spilt milk and obsidian heuchera.... my batteries died so will have to finish later. Ronna

Ronna -

I lifted three mature Ligularias at my SILs in early spring. I used a Hori-Hori knife to splite them apart or ripped them apart, if I could. I unceremoniously stuck each baby into a gallon pot with a little dirt (there were probably 30 plants). A couple of clumps I left on the ground for a couple of weeks. They didn't skip a beat and even started sprouting leaves and growing while they were laying on the ground.

They are tough!!

Wow they are tough. But now I have more of them to love. I could not believe how heavy that plant was when I picked it up. Im not sure how long it had been in that space. Probably 8-9 years at least maybe longer???. I bet it was a sight to see you hacking up the plant! Wouldv'e been a site to see. ;) Ronna

Thank goodness for that knife. I also divided up a clump of native iris, and I'm sure that there's nothing else that would have allowed me to separate those rhizomes. It was labor intensive, for sure. But it's always excited to think of the little guys as stretching and yawning and being able to breathe after their separated. And to get so many plants to share with others is a real treat.

You bet I like sharing also. Just getting really expensive to send and share!

Yeah, I hear you. It seems like the mail is much more expensive than the plants.

Ronna, your yard looks great!
Now that you've got the hang of it, I'll let you come over to my place and divvy up my ligularias.
I keep putting it off another year... and another year... etc

Thanks weerobin! I love to be out there at all times and when I can, but darn work schedule keeps calling me!!! LOL. It is so relaxing even if your just pulling weeds. Of course we do have to move plants once and a while.. teehee. This looks better over here and... You know what i mean. I would come over and divvy but I hope you have a good shovel. LOL. If I can have a "start"!. Love thos eplants man my rocket ligularia is doing so great this year. So is my fantacies (sp). Ronna

My shade garden looks a lot better this yr but can't weed till this rain stops!!!

Looking the other way.

very nice dragonfly! But thank God for the rain huh? We got some last night and again today. Was happy. But MISQUITOS ugh! Ronna

It's such a joy to garden in the early spring before the mosquitos emerge.
Sadly, this past weekend clearly demonstrated they've rejuvenated for the new season in plenty.
I'm bitten from top to bottom. It's so aggravating!!! I guess I'm just too succulent... they can't resist!

They like me too. My gardens are like a jungle. Something bit me on the collar bone and is all swelled. There are monsters out there. BEV

weerobin, I've never thought of myself as "succulent" but I too have a bunch of bites from ticks, skeeters and everything else!!! Have to tell my wife that one!

Doug

Not as shady how that we've limbed up the trees

and looking the other direction

I really need to decide what to put in the bed on the right, and in the old wash tub.

The tub needs some kind of trailing/flowering vine.

Doug

I lived near a wetland, so the mosquitos will drive you in at dusk. I use OFF with DEET and it works well. I grew up using OFF (before DEET) in Alaska.

I was looking for the bug repellent wristbands and pins and came across this. It's DEET free: http://www.bugband.net/bugband-gardening.php. Someone out there also makes pins.

Someone suggested to me to use Flea and Tick collars around your sleeves and ankles while working outside. Don't know how it would work on skeeters though...

Doug

Hartz flea and tick collars (and many of their other products, it is widely claimed) are toxic for your animals, so don't use those!! Many of them are supposed to be recalled, but you still find them in the stores.

They act in various ways, but not as a repellent so much, I don't think. I think you want the mosquitos not to bite you in the first place.

http://www.hartzvictims.org/about-hartzvictimsorg/

Thought I'd jump in here with my work in progress. This is my hillside shade garden located between the house and the pond. All of the plants were started last year or new this year. I've been adding a lot of the plants that you guys have been posting to my "want list", so much to choose from!!! These shots are overall views, but I need to also start taking close-ups of individual plants... Terri

Close up. If you look close, you can see some polygonatum humile behind the bird bath - added to my plant selection want list courtesy of a weerobin post :-)

This message was edited Jun 1, 2009 10:11 AM

Same area, different angle.

Beautiful! When I see a garden like yours I wish I had more shade, then I think about not being able to grow roses, and change my mind!

That is a lovely garden aspenhill. The rocks are a great accent.

Kind of funny story. Those rocks were found underground when excavating the spot I had cleared for the house site. When the excavator first hit it, he thought it was a solid mass, and we were talking about calling in 'Cletus', the local dynamite guy. However, after many hits at it with his bucket, he started realizing that some of the rock was breaking apart, and some were individual pieces after all. I ended up having him push them just far enough into the woods to be away from the basement construction, and told him I'd eventually landscape around them. I think he thought I was kidding (but maybe not because I also asked him to save as much of the mountain laurel around the house site as he could), but I definitely saw the potential LOL.

Now I'm totally jealous! We have had to buy all of our rocks. Most of what we have on the property are some kind of sandstone (fake rock, we call them) that come apart when exposed to water. Very forward-thinking of you to have the rocks set aside.

Weerobin (if you're still hanging out) - where do you get your Epimediums from? I'm a big fan.

Here's a great source for epimediums, hostas, and other shade plants. Naylor creek:

http://www.naylorcreek.com/main/per4.html

Kathy

Wish Naylor Creek had visuals.
Just found this thread.
My Shade garden
before

Should have said that was last year july
This July

Heuchs sure are looking good!

Doug