TOO MUCH SHADE? CREATE AN INEXPENSIVE "INSTANT WOODLAND GARDEN"

Monticello in Winter
Greetings from Charlottesville, Virginia!





Use large hosta 'Sum and Substance' at the center of your beds.













The Green Man enjoys landscaping challenges, and he knows many homeowners want to beautify their sites but feel constrained by heavy shade.

Many houses are surrounded by large, deciduous trees such as Norway maple, sugar maple, red oak, and sycamore...all of which can create dense shade issues below the canopy. If the trees are vigorous and in good condition, obviously, they are part of your landscaping equity. To digress for a moment, The Green Man stresses again and again: select young trees that will add value to your home equity rather than detract. However, let's say you do have a densely-shaded site. Here's what to do:

Fern bank

The Green Man likes the phrase "If you're given lemons, make lemonade." Let's do it. Let's create a gracious and elegant woodland garden in the public area or the "front yard" of your property. OK, let's say you have a cluster of large shade trees on both the right and left sides sited in soil or anemic turf.

First, plan to tie the trees together aesthetically with a lozenge or kidney bean shaped bed 6 to 8 feet wide that cuts right across the front sidewalk in the center to the trees on the otherside. Use a tree spade-type shovel (flat-edged) to determine the edges of this giant lozenge until the sides are even and smooth. Leave no "saw teeth" on the edges. Use the kidney bean analogy, and make the edges smoothly-rounded. Keep the lozenge under 6-8' wide at its maximum. Remove what ever remains of the turf or groundcover. Turn over the soil until the new bed is ready to be planted.



White bleeding hearts

Second, here's the fun part of the challenge: optimizing the use of your landscaping dollars! Use inexpensive plants, obviously, but also the ones that add equity! Here, The Green Man can assist you.

What prompted today's post was the arrival of a garden catalog from a budget nursery plant supplier, Interstate. So, the Green Man perused the booklet, and he selected the best plant values for your "instant woodland garden" as the creative challenge.

Consider using these plants to create a small woodland garden beneath several trees:

1 "Handful of Hostas" (8 plants) for $10.99
2 Hardy Japanese lily for $2.96
2 Hosta 'Regal Blue' for $3.50
2 Mixed Trillium for $1.96
4 Hardy Ferns for $5.99
3 White Bleeding Hearts for $10.99
2 Hosta 'Sum and Substance' for $7.75
2 Hosta Francee' for $5.79

The above basic "instant woodland garden" comes in at a grand total of 25 plants for $49.93, and that's optimzing your landscaping investment dollar!

Plant the largest hostas at the center of the bed, the smaller hostas and ferns in front and in between them, and save the bleeding hearts, trilliums, and Japanese lilies for the front in a step-down arrangement.

There you have it: an "instant woodland garden" for $50. Once installed, select a few items to accenuate. Remember less is more. To complete "The Green Man Woodland Garden Triad," you will need at least 1 Solomon's Seal.



Solomon's Seal
Use ONE in a focal point. Remember, in a woodland garden, "Less is more." Keep it simple.

For color, use the reblooming daylily 'Happy Returns," which will give you some color the entire season even in shade. Do not use 'Stella d'Oro' as the color is wrong.














REBLOOMING daylily 'Happy Returns' in primary yellow. Do not use 'Stella d'Oro.'
www.gilbertwild.com

So, by the time you've purchased everything, including a few bags of brown mulch, your equity enhancing "instant woodland garden" should cost you less than $100. Start planning!

www.interstatenurseries.com