Shade bed on north side of house, finally complete....almost

In 2009 after pulling up years of overgrown ivy that covered the ground and the north wall of our house, I put an edging around the area that was to become a shade garden.
Then during that year every time I had a pot of dirt that wasn't needed for a plant I dumped it in that area. Bags of autumn leaves I had saved from the previous year, more dirt has I started digging up and planting the bed on the north side of the driveway. It was amazing how many pots of old dirt I cleaned out of the backyard that year.

The first year planting was all in containers, it wasn't until last spring that I finally found that enough compost had been created in there to actually put plants in the ground.

This spring all of my Hosta's have come back, I got the three large ferns at the grocery store, the plants on the white ladder were house plants last winter that really outgrew their small pots and needed to be outside. I didn't realize how many plants I had been unknowingly collecting and keeping in shade just to be transplanted there this year. Coral Bells, Variegated Flax Lily, the Ferns from Cheryl, some Creeping Jenny, I divided the Spiderwort out back and planted some Caladiums in those three long planters.

So other than having about a dozen Cast Iron plants to move from a no longer shade spot out back, potting up the rooted cuttings of Begonia I have inside and finding a vine of some sort that will grow in little morning sun/lots of shade the rest of the day...it is complete. I got the decorative fencing up this morning.

Ignore the looks of the wall, this house was painted what we lovingly refer to as Smurf Blue when we moved in and that wall with all the ivy remnants will finally be covered with siding this fall....I hope!

Shade bed being created 2009 ( photo / image / picture from toni's Garden )


View 1 ( photo / image / picture from toni's Garden )


View 2 ( photo / image / picture from toni's Garden )


View 3 ( photo / image / picture from toni's Garden )

 

Thanks you all. I went out to look at it this morning and realized that I really need to get some Impatiens out there for some color splashes. Gee, I guess I will just have to go plant shopping in a little while.

Cheryl, I like Smurf Blue on the Smurfs but on the house it was a bit much! Anytime you find yourself in the area come on by.

Blissful, I had not thought about the climbing Hydrangea but it sounds perfect. Everything I found requires a lot more sun than it can get in that spot, the sun only shines there for a couple of hours on high summer mornings. I looked it up and Monrovia grows them I will have to find a retailer that carries it.

Netty, thanks so much. I just went outside and stood staring at it, I am so pleased.

Cayuga, it is looking almost exactly the way I had envisioned it years ago. I would have more colors of Hosta but the nurseries around here only carry 3-4 varieties Yep that plant is a chunk of the Tradescantia occidentalis (Prairie Spiderwort) I have in the backyard. I need to take another chunk for the south area of the front yard.

Thanks Jerry. That side yard was always a problem, the south side is worse by far but that will have to wait for another time to be worked on.

Terry, I make way too many trips to our favorite thrift store and collect way too much stuff that becomes garden decor. I still have a few things to include out there.