Outdoor Updates and Shade Garden Favorites

Linking with Oregon Cottage for other great garden ideas

Hello Friends! Wow, have we had an exciting beginning to our 2012 Garden season! Would you believe that we had almost 6" of snow here in Salem,OR in late March? Well believe it because we did! I had spent the previous week planting my "spring" garden a bit too early but I wanted to see what would happen if I planted in mid-March vs. early-April.  

 

I decided to leave town and head north to visit family in Seattle,WA for my kids' spring break. We visited my brother and sister in law's fabulous home- check out the little kids having a great time in their woodland garden.

This past week, upon returning to Oregon, we had rain, rain, rain. Then, a few days ago, the clouds disappeared and it was a sunny day, low and behold.  It was in the low 60's and for us here in Western Oregon it was glorious. When it gets warm and sunny here in Western Oregon, you drop everything and head outside. My little kids stripped down (well the boy did), donned their rain boots, and they played while I worked.

The little kids had a great time playing in a planter that had filled to the brim with water. yes, it kind of bothered me that they were playing in dirty water, but I figured that it was a fun childhood experience so I let it go and embraced the moment :-)

A beautiful day in the March garden with my two little kids playing in water. It is times like this photograph when I want to stop time and soak up the beauty in it.

The salad garden. A mesclun mix.

The raised beds that are in full sun are still in dormancy with black plastic over them. These beds will house tomatoes and peppers in the summer.

Another view of the tomato beds. I'm using black plastic to cook out the weeds and raise the soil temperature.

Blueberry buds.

Another blueberry plant  leafing out - different variety

 Now let me introduce you to some of my favorite shade plants! In my own yard, I have many micro climates - meaning I have different areas that I need to plan for different planting conditions. I have a South-facing backyard which would typically indicate a hot, sun filled yard. However, next to the fence, there is about 5 feet of shade-filled space. When we installed the raised edible beds, we also installed a border along the fence that I fill with shade-loving plants. Here are some of my favorites:

Hosta plants emerging in the shade garden.

Fern plants. Can you see the new growth curling up?

New fern plant curling out

Astilbe plants coming up

Heuchera plants. They are very easy plants to divide in the spring - in the photo you can see three separate plants that can be sliced apart and replanted in different areas.

Bleeding Hearts - dicentria - emerging!

Another view of the Bleeding Hearts plant - this plant is very easy to divide and I have found that it blooms pretty much all summer even though it is typically a spring blooming plant.

The best for last - my most favorite shade plant - the Hellebore plant or otherwise known as the Lenten Rose.

Lungwort. I picked this speckled gem up from a best friend up in Washington state. It is very easy to divide - SO EASY to divide and I used it to border most of my shade border. In the spring, it has a cute little purple flower. The best border plant!