Shade Gardens/flowers

[Jennifer and Jack]

Hi,

Well where else to turn.... I am redoing my back yard and I am wanting to plant a hydrangea bush with a fence making it non accessible to dog or I would like to plant another low maintained flower bed ...the spot I want to plant it in gets almost no sun, very shady.....I know rare for SC it's so shady my centipede grass won't grow there.

I live in zone 7b for growing stuff and the soil is very sandy and clay like.

Has anyone had success growing a decent bush in the shade?

I am new to gardening and lawn stuff. I do amazing with knock out roses but that's because all they need is water, full sun light and to be pruned twice a year.....easy......

If anyone has any advice I would love to hear it!

[Jennifer and Jack]

Thanks. I will have to take pictures of the knock out roses.... The best thing I can do for them is just prune them ... They grow like weeds..already this season they need to be cut back.....

The more I read the more I see them saying hydrangea will not grow under an oak tree because of the roots from the oak tree and the total shade.. I keep seeing it says it needs morning sun and afternoon shade. I planted one hydrangea today in a partial sunny area.....I didn't put gravel down first and I am seeing the roots don't like to stay wet...with the clay I have as soil I don't know what will happen.....

I made a horrible mistake earlier I nthe season and caved and put weed and feed down in my back yard which while I was Away and just came home found the grass burned beyond recognition ...oops ..... So I am also re-sodding my entire back yard as well and that's why I decided to cut down some of the grass areas and plant flower areas.

My health requires me to be in the hospital or traveling up north every three months and I am gone for up to a month... I can't have high maintaince stuff ..

Ferns might be a good option... I was hoping for some color to catch the eye. ...the one really shady Area I may make a rock garden and put a hammock in there or swing.... Though I never would use it


Thanks for the ideas

[Jennifer and Jack]

Thanks Jack is about 17 pounds I have to check him, he has been with his Grammie while I was gone and always tends to put on weight... Jack isn't really an outside dog... He loves walks and he loves going places but he never is in the back yard alone .... He doesnt like it.... I usually sit on the screened in porch and watch him play and bark at the soccer field my yard overlooks..

I did pintrist a bit and I see Hosta in a lot of shady places ... If it isn't too terribly expensive I may plant some.


I will post pictures of my rose bushes tomorrow. My back yard is being re-sodded and is a mud pit at the moment minus where I got the sod.

Jack has never eaten anything he shouldn't minus tissues but I am scared for poisonous plants even with him not being outside alone.

Both your doodles are cute... Jack wants to be an only child and to be fair I can't properly afford two anyway... His health Insurance alone is insane!

Thanks again I will post pics when I can !

[F, Calla & Luca]

Here are some ideas. My dogs never eat plants e Celt for grAss. I think they avoid poisonous plants, as many animals do, because they don,t taste good. Host as and ferns love shade and require no maintenance and some host as are colorful.

[Jennifer and Jack]

Oh I didn't know Hostas came in color! Fern and Hostas it is for that area! Thanks! I will post pictures when I get it planted which I am hoping to do be done with back in two weeks!

Thanks!

[F, Calla & Luca]

Color is a bit of a slip n my part although some are bluish and some chartreuse. Many have interesting variegations a though. The also come in various sizes. Sorry for all the typos above.

[Jennifer and Jack]

Oh yes! I saw some of the more blue looking ones...... I wish Lowes was open now I want to go look. I will just be excited to have that area covered with good looking low maintaince stuff..... No worries my typos are the worst. .....

[Jennifer and Jack]

I did well shopping today, tomorrow we will finish sodding the yard, (we boated today) and start the shade garden.. I bought several different variations of Hosta plants....who knew such s plant existed .... I got mostly green and veragated ones and one blue one!

The shade garden is going to be a slow process as I can't just keep buying but I got a good start and I will see what I add, since it is not real bright colors in there I am thinking Of filling the area with white stone to give it a pop of color.

My mom said impatience flowers grow well in the shade, I may plant some too.

I took before pictures but an still in my iPad hopefully soon I will be able to post before and after !

[F, Calla & Luca]

If the host as are big you can divide them and they will become bigger again next year or so. Impatiens will grow in some shade but they require lots of water, which may be hard when you are away. Begonias also grow in shed nd they don't like too much water. Neither is hardy though. The host as come back bigger and better every year. The host as do flower but the flowers are not too great IMHO.

[Jennifer and Jack]

A large water requirement past Intial planting and rooting isn't at all ideal for me for the reason you stated plus it's hard in SC to keep anything properly hydrated in the summer.

I read that you can divide the Hostas . I did buy decent size plants .. I need to read up on properly dividing them......I agree with you about the flower not that awesome, however,,neither is dead grass. I am looking forward to seeing how this turns out!

Thanks for your input......I don't know about in Jersey because when I lived there I wasnt a home owner but here, at Lowes, you can return your plants or flowers if they die within the year of purchase which is awesome! Makes me feel a bit safer about trying out new things..

[F, Calla & Luca]

Places like Home Depot have some return policy but really you can' tog wrong with hostas. Ferns are great too but they do like some moisture. I would use organic mulch, I use leaves etc. but store bought mulch is good. White stones might just make the area hotter and will never improve the soil.

[Jennifer and Jack]

If I kill these Hostas you know I have a black thumb. :). I do great with the Rose bushes. I was reading about organic mulch. I don't have any here as my lawn guy takes most away... I will have to see what to do, perhaps I won't need to cover it ? I looked at ferns today .... I had no idea yet what else to get do after everything is planted I will play around and add more....

Thanks for all your help

[Jennifer and Jack]

I did it, It is small and needs to grow in, but thanks for all the great Ideas, I now have a shade garden of Hosta, I planted Hydrangia and also some Rhododendron.  I love the shade garden and it already had moss growing, I ditched the white rock idea.   I also had to resod a lot of my yard as it had died.    This is fresh so it needs to grow in,   I hope it grows well. It was a ton or work, I also planted more knock out roses and posted a pic of the ones I had already.   

Thanks again,