Subject: Need Advice/What Flowers?

From: "June L. Green" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 1995 09:27:42 -0500

Hello!  This will be my third summer in my current house (and my first 
ever posting).  Part of my backyard is terraced into four flower beds 
each about 20 ft long and 2-3 ft wide separated with railroad ties.  The 
top bed has mature azaleas (these are next to the patio).  The other 3 
beds have hostas planted close to the ties.  There is a large tree that 
keeps these beds in the shade.  Last year I planted geraniums in from of 
the hosta but the hosta ended up covering everything.  The year before I 
planted impatients, they did a little better.  In my minds eye, I see 
this area as a "riot of color".  How do I do it?  What should I plant?  
Should I dig up all the hosta?  What about perennials? What does well in 
Maryland?  

Thank you for helping me!  Sorry this is sooooo long! june

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From: [email-masked] (Sesbania Tripeti)
Date: Wed, 22 Mar 1995 09:29:18 +1000

>Thank you for helping me!  Sorry this is sooooo long! june

June,
   
           In general, deep shade and "riot of color" aren't very compatible.  
Impatiens are probably your best bet for long term flowering. If you need more 
room, you can dig up and divide the hostas (just take a shovel and cut them 
into halves or thirds). Hostas transplant very easily and if don't have 
space for the extras, you can probably find a friend who would love to have 
them.

        I would suggest you learn to live with what you have: a nice spot for a 
woodlands wild flower garden. You will have to appreciate more sublte and 
infrequent color, but there are a number of other attributes to plants that 
you can explore. For instance, the various textures of ferns, mosses and 
other shade-loving plants. 

  Sesbania Tripeti
  
  The Virtual Mirror Garden Patch - 
 <URL:http://mirror.wwa.com/mirror/garden/patch.htm>

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From: J. A. Stiller <[email-masked]>
Date: 22 Mar 1995 03:21:39 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>
June L. Green, [email-masked] writes:
>  In my minds eye, I see 

If the beds are in deep shade, not much will produce a "riot of color." 
The fact that the established hostas (which are perenniels, by the way)
are doing well indicates that it probably is pretty shady.  Your best bet
is to try for the riot in the springtime, before the trees and the hostas
leaf out.  You can plant lots of bulbs amongst the hostas, and the hosta
foliage will hide the curing bulb foliage.
 
One way to have less shade and be able to grow more flowers without
depriving yourself of trees is to have them pruned so as to thin out the
canopy a bit.  If you're considering this, ask the tree service if this
works on the type of tree you have (and maybe talk to a former customer
who has the same kind of tree).  Some trees seem to make dense shade
whatever you do to them.

Can you learn to love hostas?  They are really very interesting plants. 
If you decide to keep them, one perenniel that thrives in zone 7 but is
iffy in zone 6 (I imagine you're in one of the other of them, and if I
infer correctly from your email address that you're connected with the
University of Maryland, the chances are you're in zone 7) is Begonia
grandis, or hardy begonia.  It likes shade, and blooms -- pink and
delicate, not a riot at all, I'm afraid -- in August when not much else
is blooming.  

As for lots of color, if you keep the shade, impatiens and wax begonias
should work if you do decide to thin out the hostas to make room for them.

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From: [email-masked] (Sesbania Tripeti)
Date: Wed, 22 Mar 1995 09:29:18 +1000

June,

  Sesbania Tripeti

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From: J. A. Stiller <[email-masked]>
Date: 22 Mar 1995 03:21:39 GMT