Oh, look -- Another forum for me to learn from!

I have a very shady backyard, but haven't really done anything with it until this year. It primarily belongs to the dogs, but the original owners had a raised section at the back. I put up a cheap border fence to keep the dogs away from the fence back there.

Original back yard:




This year, I realized the orignal landscape timbers were pretty much rotted through, so when I replaced them, I expanded it somewhat. It's about 40ft long, and the end closest to us in the picture is 11ft out from the fenceline. The lattice is to keep the dogs from going in there.




Am currently filling it with brush/debris, a la Dave's hugelkultur beds, and will eventually have enough in there to be able to plant in it. The original section had daffodils and vinca (minor, I hope). I've dug out all the daffs (yeah, it's not the right time, but oh well) and am going to try and smother the vinca under heavy clear plastic over the next several months.

Last month's Daylily society meeting had a guest speaker talking about shade gardens, and I'm excited about the possibilities for it. Eventually those giant pines will be cut -- not completely taken out, though. I'm going to leave them about 10-12 feet tall I think, and make an arbor out of them.

lillies of the valley will spread like mad if you want a cover.

I've got some of that already, left over from the original home owners. Is it poisonous to pets? My dogs have the run of the back yard, and some of it is in areas they have access to. Based on pics in the database here, I have the European version

It probably is poisonous to your dogs, Mary. Here's a link to a pretty good website about plants that are poisonous to dogs. Some affect the heart and some affect the gastro areas. It's best to know about them:

http://www.dog.com/dog-article...

I guess it depends on your dogs' plant eating habits, but I don't think I'd risk it.
Wisteria is on one of those lists, I think.

I thought I had read somewhere that it was, so I've been pretty consistently weed-whacking it when it shows up in the dogs' portion of the yard. Happily, about the only plants my dogs eat is grass, so as long as I don't spray herbicides/pesticides on it, they're pretty safe.

Mary, do you have any Hostas?

virginiarose said:Mary, do you have any Hostas?

Not yet, but I plan to start acquiring some come spring-time The last 9 months have been spent filling in the empty space in that new bed. In March, I hope to begin planting in it.

virginiarose said:

So...can you hook me up?

I got several Fire and Ice last year from a co-op and there are others that I have two or three of because I got them on sale or something. If you want good prices and don't mind small plants try Countryboygardens and Green Mountain Hosta.
GMH has about 8 of the hostas on my list for this year. I am purchasing some heat resistant Hostas. They have good prices and I started off with CBG, I ordered 40 the first year and made a raised nursery garden for them and I just took it up they are all big enough now to fin for their self. In the nursery I had two Great Expectations, two Stained Glass and doubles on other stuff I got from Yahoo co-ops. I can send you a few to get you started. Let me see what comes up in the spring.

thanks. I'm going to see what people bring to our daylily meetings as door prizes, and will check out the vendors you mentioned. I want more than hostas, of course. My big thing is to go as native as possible, but I'm not a purist.

I just remembered something that might help. If you are just starting out you might like some big Hostas to anchor your space. I would recommend the LA. Yes! There is a nice seller named Curve and he auctions clumps and also has some store auctions. $12.99 is good for clump. Night Before Christmas is good, also So Sweet, Paradigm, Whirlwind, GUACAMOLE, Wolverine and Guardian Angel. These are my favs, actually they are all good, he has some great cultivars!


http://www.daylily.com/cgi-bin...

thanks!

My shade garden is new. I started parts of it last summer, but just finished the terracing, and cardboard under mulching on the back half. We are still working out the paths, and have put down branches on the beds to keep the dogs from running through them until the plants get larger.
Here is how it looked about a month ago. We had a little added bonus of morels popping up in the first bed I created.
. We had a nice dinner of them, yum, and left the rest in hopes of spore getting into more of the beds.
Here is a photo looking toward the patio and house. Can't wait for the hostas to pop out of the ground and see the beds develop.

Wow, that is a great garden area.

Will be watching to see how it fills in as the season moves on.

hanks for sharing this. I have only shade but little ground, so my shade plating is in pots.

Things do not always survive that way, but I do what I can.

CDsSister said:Thanks for sharing this. I have only shade but little ground, so my shade plating is in pots.

My shade gardening is in this trough that is squeezed into an outdoor shower...

Love it Bev!

Beautiful Bev, what is the vine with the variegated leaves?

Really neat

Thanks, Susan, and if you are referring to what is hanging off the trough, I think it is Lamium maculatum...

Thanks much, Jewell and Marilyn!