Shade Garden

[Zylah]

Some dreams of mine have come true lately (good ones), among them being that I have my own 'secret garden' of sorts. It's hidden by an old rock wall on the east & northeast, a grove of hemlocks on the west, and flanked by white pine and locust on the north. The south is open to view from the house, though it's far enough away that details are rather vague when you look out the window toward it.

It was completely overgrown with weeds and had been used a bit as a dump for some trash. Its main feature is a mulberry tree in the southwest corner, of which I'm quite fond. I have a giant amount of enthusiasm and a great feeling about the place, as well as a healthy dollop of inspiration. I plan to create a labyrinth (inspired by Jingle's ) which will be in the shape of a triskele (I saw this in a dream once, and loved the idea). I think I'd like a copper firebowl in the center, but am not completely sure about that.

I also have several ideas about shade loving perennials, including monkshood and toad lilies. My question to you all is, can you give me any input about shade gardens? I would like a more druidic perspective than Better Homes And Gardens is likely to give me.

I did take a few "before" pics, but my only working camera at the moment is on my phone, and the shots all come out more or less blurry. I may still try to post them, if anyone is interested.

I've now gotten rid of the trash, cleared out most of the weeds, gotten two wheelbarrow-loads of horse manure (just a small start), and today planted caladium at the base of the mulberry. I also took care with the indigenous moss, and replanted whatever I displaced.

Apart from that, I'm a bit overwhelmed (in a GOOD way of course!) and would like to hear ideas or experiences any of you might have to share to get some further inspiration for this beautiful shady nook.

[John T. Folden]

I rather like the look of Monkshood but the toxicity of this plant gives me pause given even just having the sap on your skin can cause cardiac symptoms in some people.

[Jingle]

oooh how exciting!
The very first thing to do is to go to this website and start planning.
http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/wi ... ative.aspx

Select and plan using native plants, and you'll do really well. From an environmental standpoint, I believe planting with natives outweights "ogham" or "herbology", but you may want to read up on those as well. As you know, our grove is ogham based, but we substituted Mountain Ash for Ash, which turned out that our Mountain Ash is Rowan. So you can substitute some native plants for plants that would be more "druidic" in another country.

Don't try to put it in all at once. It should grow with you. You've seen the evolution of ours over the last couple of years, and hopefully you'll be able to see the butterfly garden part that we added this year soon.

Oh, and let us know when we can come up to visit or help!

[blodyn]

I heartily second jingle about using native plants. When we bought our house in 2003, I started going through and changing all the "gardens" to natural spaces using native plants. My mother is a native plant enthusiast and she really got me inspired! She also keeps up to date on information and resources.

I would start searching first at your very local level for native plant groups, preservationists, etc. Then expand outward to include county, state, region. my mother and I live in different counties and what is native for her is not native for me - so we are careful about exchanging plants.

My favorite spot is the "shadow garden," named for being in the shadow of my Triad of Awesomeness (Yes, it IS a corny name!LOL) There are 3 trees growing very close together. Each is over 75 feet tall and they make a little circle in the center that is about 3 feet across. There is a western red cedar, a douglas fir, and a western hemlock. I love my three big friends! I am just amazed that they are all right together as normally one or the other would have triumphed, but they are all about the same age and size. In their shadow, I have planted woodland violets, wild trillium, sword ferns, and some others. And I have allowed the star flower to take over as it pleases. The health of the area has really improved over the years.

Good luck and how exciting for you!!

Star flower ...http://www.wnps.org/plants/trientalis_latifolia.html

[Zylah]

Thank you for your replies

John: ! A) I should have known that, and B) why didn't the websites I looked at mention this small fact?! Thanks for telling me, good grief.

Jingle: shoulda known I could count on you - that is a great resource, and I will use it in my planning. You're right about letting it evolve, too, of course. That's difficult with us Instamatic-Society-raised brats, lol. Of course I want it to be gorgeous YESTERDAY, and of course it's not gonna work that way. I would really like to pattern the garden according to Ogham, as you have with beautiful results, but I'll try to work with both aspects. I do love my mulberry tree.

In other news: I really plan to be there for Lughnasadh, which I believe will come before I start the fall semester of total insanity - and I would LOVE to see the butterfly garden!

Blodyn: thanks so much for your input; your shadow garden really DOES sound awesome, and therefore deserves a part in the Triad of Awesomeness, LOL. Perhaps you might share photos at some point?

[John T. Folden]

John: ! A) I should have known that, and B) why didn't the websites I looked at mention this small fact?! Thanks for telling me, good grief.

Glad I could help! I was hoping I wasn't just passing on info you already knew but it would be quite a surprise to be out in the garden and find yourself with tingling hands and feeling like you might faint. Some people simply tend to it with gloves on but aside from that I still worry about what it might do to animals that come across it - it's nicknamed "wolfsbane" for a reason.

I have a very shady back yard myself and so am always looking for good perennials that can withstand life with little light. I think the toad lilies are a great idea, too, particularly because of their typical blooming time.

[Zylah]

Yes, I'm glad you said what you did, John. There are so many options, and I'd rather it was safe for animals since there's no real fence.

As a general thought, if anyone has planted Hellebore (aka Christmas or Lenten Rose) in their own garden, I wondered what your experiences have been. I plan to get some of those, in the hope that they'll bloom for spring equinox, if not for Imbolc. I've heard they bloom in some places even in January, but I doubt they will in this area.