The biggest part of the 'job' is finished. The compost, mulch, river rock, and field stone are settled in. Already established in the main garden were hosta, lamium, fern, lilies, heuchera, azalea, hellebore, anemone, agastache, 'turtle head', buddleia, and Virginia bluebells. I divided lots of large hosta from the side yard and placed them in the new garden areas as well as fern and lamium. Hosta, fern and lamium all divide very easily for me.
Newer plants that I added this year in the spring were: pulmonaria, bleeding heart, and tiarella (all of which I was inspired to plant by Shady Gardener (Does Everything Grow Better in my Neighbor's Yard?) Then more recently I added some coleus, hydrangea, a lilac bush (shade tolerant), gaura, and cranesbill geranium (Rozanne).
In pots within the garden area, I planted hosta, fern and lamium (a very nice combination in a pot, which Melanie (Old Country Gardens) demonstrates quite well.) In other pots I placed a varied combo of lavender, buddleia (small specimens), salvia & petunia (both of which I grew from seed!), lantana, English daisy, and yarrow.
You might have noticed that there are sun-loving and shade-loving plants 'mixed together'--but I assure you that most of these can survive a variety of conditions! Patsi (Garden Endeavors) just did a wonderful post on how the labeling of "shade" conditions can be so diverse (ie: shade, part shade, part sun, dense shade, etc)!
In future posts I will try to 'zoom in' on how these shade/sun plants can actually live in harmony with each other in my own garden and climate, here in zone 7B, in northern virginia. I will post photos of these plants up close. *I'm currently on vacation, using my husband's computer with a 'cell card' to connect to the internet, thus I am unable to upload any photos from my own computer:-(
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BUT, this lake vacation sure is a lovely break for us!! The other night we were out on our boat and the sky was lit up with pinks and blues...and I captured some shots that I will share in my next post! Stay tuned...
--Today I am thankful for plants that thrive in shade, sun and sometimes both!
(Still limping, still achy & taking doxycyclene...) but I know things are looking up;-)
