Shade Garden

New house deserves some gardens. We waited a year to see if anything would grow on its own. My hope was that there was some hidden gem waiting to burst to life in the right season. When nothing did we decided we would create our own little pieces of beauty. 

The side of the house next to where we park would be a great place for a shade garden. I specifically did not say driveway because that denotes that it is in some way defined. Ours is not, it is a space we park that is in front of a 2 car garage. There is no pavement, no crushed rock, no oyster shell, nothing but weeds and grass. A future project for sure.

Mike measured out the space and we started by killing everything that was trying to grow. We then lugged cobblestones that were hidden in various areas of the back yard. Mike meticulously made a border with the cobbles that made the area pop. Later, I learned they were from the streets of Richmond from the Shockoe area. This area was named 'Shacahocan' by the Powhatan/Algonquian meaning a flat rock at the mouth of a creek. As the story was told to me by my next door neighbor the cobbles were removed in the late 70s and people took piles of them. The original owner to the house took numerous stones and they can be found on the property every time we clean up an area. They are also laid down to create a small patio area that needs to be redone soon. 

I spy with my little eye a dragonfly on my cobble patio! 💜

He then shoveled out a few inches and we let that sit for a few days to see if anything would grow back. We then added a weed block layer, new planting soil, and then plants.

Perfectly timed a neighbor had separated her Hosta plants and offered them to anyone in the neighborhood. I was very lucky to see them within minutes of her post and went over to pick them up. There were 10 bulbs which is exactly how many I needed. As a child we had them in our yard and I always loved the bell shaped purple flowers and the variegated leaves.

I also went to the store and bought Marigold's because it is a natural repellent for deer and bunnies which we have daily in the yard. I added some Lamium maculatum, Pink Nancy, which is also a perennial known for its heart shaped bright green leaves with a white stripe and delicate pink flowers. 

I also planted Aquilegia coerulea, Columbine with its fern like foliage and bicolored flowers of purple/blue and white spurlike flowers. I am partial to variegated leaves or bicolored flowers.  

Image credit: Colorado columbine (Aquilegia caerulea) 5Bydru-mcd 

Of course the day I added the mulch was also the day that the Maple tree decided to drop all of its samara, the wing like structure that you probably call a helicopter or whirlybirds or maple keys. Finally with numerous bags of mulch on top I had a shade garden that we see every time we head to the cars or to the road for our daily walk.

At the end of the garden there is an outdoor spigot that we attached a hose and hose reel cart to. Mike decided that needed an update as well so he built a paver platform for it. He, again, dug out the correct depth, graded it for run off, added weed block and laid the pavers. Then added polymeric sand to prevent weeds and other debris from getting between the pavers. It came out perfect! 💜

I decided that more flowers could be added for pops of color so in went some Petunias known for their colorful trumpet flowers. I selected purple, of course, for grace and mystery while Mike selected white, healing and new beginnings. When planted there was a white and purple next to each other but as you can see there became a dominate color in each grouping.

The small garden has attracted bees, hummingbird moths, butterflies, moths and planthoppers.

While planting the garden I learned nothing new, but while tending to the garden I have learned several things.

The first thing I learned is there is a contradiction to everything. 50% of the gardeners who post information are correct while 50% are not. Some say bunnies eat Marigolds and some say they don't. I guess it is the same in everything you can always find those who support your beliefs and those who don't. Trial and error works best!

I intentionally planted Marigolds to repel bunnies and deer. While no deer have eaten any, my bunny certainty did. 

That brownish yellow stick looking thing is the last of the Marigold stem. I planted 12 and over the course of a week the bunny ate 4. 

The 4 that were eaten over night would not have been noticeable to any but us because we planted them and knew they were there.  The leaves, stem and flower were simply gone over night.

The second thing I learned was when I went online to research what stops bunnies from eating Hosta I found that cayenne pepper, mint and pinecones would be a great deterrent. I was not about to sprinkle cayenne all over the garden nor was I going to plant mint that spreads and can never really be contained. Pinecones it is! Fortunately on the border of our property we have 100s of them. Off I went to harvest the cones and learned that you want to wear gloves because they have little spices that hurt. Hence bunnies do not like them either. I filled a 5 galloon bucket and went to line the 12 plants, I replanted the 4 that were consumed. One bucket circled 3 plants so back to the border I went until they were all ringed. I made a pretty star pattern and thought it looked great. The ants I learned can move them and they did rearranging them to this disorganized mess.

The third thing I learned was that pinecones will expand and contract with humidity and rain. After I arranged them in that beautiful star the rains came and I checked on my garden to find that the pinecones were no longer touching each other allowing for an intruder to sneak in. They shrank to have their size.

Back to the border I went for another 8 bucket loads of cones. I can say that it does indeed work and no Marigolds have gone to the bunnies belly since. 

Lastly, I water this garden every other day and while watering my plants I noticed there was white stuff on each of the stems of the Hostas. 

So of course I touched it to see if I could deduce what it was. It moved! Half a dozen little white spider looking things started to jump everywhere. My fingers came away sticky and honestly I was repulsed. Then I saw lots of bigger bugs hopping around as well. Once I started to look for them I could not stop seeing them. In this picture above there are 2 different stages, the white spider looking nymph and the brownish juvenile. I went inside to wash my hands and get my phone for some pictures. I attempted a few shots and was able to upload them to Google images to find out what they were. 

I have learned about a new bug the planthopper. I found two different kinds as well. Both are small less than 1/4 of an inch. They have wedge or triangular shaped front wings that they hold over their abdomens and the head is wider than tall.

This is the Anormenis chloris. It is commonly known as the flatid planthopper and is light green to white. They are very alert and move out of view if they sense danger. It was hard to get a picture. They are also very alert and hop at any possible disturbance. This photo was the best out of the 50 I tried to get. You can see the white adult and lower on the stem the nymph.

And this is the Metcalfa pruinosa also known as citrus flatid planthopper. It is typically grey or brown. Adults have 2 dark spots near the base of their wings. This one is at rest so you cannot see the wedge shape as well.

The juvenile, nymph, excrete a white waxy cotton like filament to protect themselves from predators; bees, spiders and of course humans. Ants are attracted to the honeydew secreted by the nymphs and they act as body guards against the bees and spiders. 

They do not damage the plants themselves but can spread disease among plants. Removal is as easy as spraying them with water. I took a wet paper towel and hand cleaned each stem. I did not want to spray the stems as I find them fragile and did not want to break them.

I am sure that I will continue to learn something new as summer has arrived and the plants will change. For now my shade garden is doing well and it brings me joy!