Looking For Shade*

There is not a lot of shade here in the Fairegarden. Other than the tall pines at the edge of the property and a multi trunk young silver maple, what little shade there is comes from trees we planted. The oldest trees are a row of Hemlocks, Tsuga canadensis that were planted along the fence line at the top of the slope, behind the knot garden. When they were planted by the semi adult offspring, there was no knot garden. There was a tangled thicket of wild things, including rotting apple trees full of wasp nests. That space had been cleared momentarily for the building of the fencing to surround the main house, the only house at that time. Those conifers have grown to over twenty feet in height and have been spared by the insect damage from Adelges tsugae (Woolly Adelgid) that has taken down these trees in the wild. So far, anyway. I love the colors of the baby cones, a good reminder of the beauty of greens and blues together in the garden or out.Planted on the same day are a row of Pyracantha coccineas along the eastern border behind the shed. Click here to read their story. On the shed is a giant windchime purchased in Texas. Finding the right spot for this behemoth has been a problem after Ferngully died. Those tall strong branches were the perfect home for this massive musical marvel. The last hemlock of the line can be seen in the corner. This is a shady retreat but a little hidden from the rest of the garden. Structures have been built to seek respite from the blazing sun. Kitty decided to enter into the camera shot with a quick leap up the six by six ten foot tall posts. What an athlete. The rising sun in the background gives a preview of the rays to come. By the way, the giant windchime has been moved to this arbor, built last summer by offspring Gardoctor. You can read that story by clicking here if you wish.These two adirondack chairs, plastic from the grocer’s last year, were to be situated under the arbor for comfortable seating with a good view of the garden. A couple of problems were discovered for that idea. First the ground slants quite dramatically under there. It is in the process of being built up to level with leavings from the garden that are not good for the compost bin such as twigs, weeds and larger woody perennial stalks. We could get a load of soil, but that would be too easy. The second issue is the lack of shade. Even the cross beams allow too much sun during hot summer days for our comfort. Many vines have been planted along the posts and someday will provide that needed shade.For now these Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Boulevard’ shrubs are allowing this exact placement of the chairs to be a cool relief for a quick sit down break between gardening chores or strolls.There are many plants growing here that would appreciate some more shade, like this unknown Thalictrum dug from a friend’s mountain property years ago. Maybe there will be an ID from this nearly blooming photo.There are several woodland plants that are managing without a lot of shade, like the Epimediums. This one is most likely E. sulphureum. They have been divided and spread about without keeping track of their true identities.This woodland lover, Erythronium ‘Pagoda’ has bloomed poorly the last several years and would love to be moved to the back woodland garden corner. Maybe division would help the blooming pick up a bit?We adore the heuchera family, especially H. villosa hybrids like this H. villosa ‘Miracle’ given us by two offspring, Brokenbeat and Chickenpoet. More shade would let them reach their full potential foliage-wise.A new addition to this corner by the slowly composting ferngully mass is Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Lemon Daddy’. A birthday gift from offspring Semi, now all four of the offspring have been mentioned in this post, strictly by coincidence. The yellow leaves are already brightening a somewhat dull spot. Blooms will be a bonus.The term somewhat dull rather than pure D dull was used to descibe this area, because there is still a shot of color here before summer begins. One of the last to bloom deciduous azaleas, R. ‘Cannon’s Double’ is showing off amid the self sown seedlings of dark blue and purple columbines, Aquilegia ssp. This one sits a little off from the hedgerow of azaleas and cannot be presented in the group shots of those beauties. One more creature looking for shade to wrap up this offering to the Gardening Gone Wild monthly Garden Bloggers Design Workshop topic of Made For Shade…It is Kitty again, this time hiding out in the green and growing taller Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’ grass.

Frances

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(All photos is this post were taken with the Canon Powershot A720 IS.)

*Idea from the song title Lookin’ For Love (In All The Wrong Places) by Johnny Lee.