To keep a long story short, I'm trying to have a garden on the south end of my lawn. Problem is, the south end is constantly in shade due to my neighbor's fence. I built a garden in this spot because his lawn is a good 2-3 feet higher than mine, and he doesn't have a lawn. The idiot has rocks in his yard. Not decorative rocks, but the kind you put down underneath concrete. Theses always end up spilling into my yard, along with his garbage that doesn't make it into his garbage can. Hence I dumped alot of dirt into this area, walled it off and tried a garden. Anyway...I can put annuals in this area each year and they do OK, but that gets expensive year after year. I put in some lillies, but this year there's no sign of them yet. Only some kind of moss-fungus crapola.

So what I'm asking, does anyone have any idea's for what I can grow there? Im somewhere between 43-47 degrees North lattitude, so I don't have a long growing season. I also prefer "odd" plants. I don't keep up with the Jones's. I like having unique stuff....any advice? Thanks!!

Irish or Scottish moss is pretty cool, it will return each year and will flower in later summer. So if you had taller flowers with this moss around it, it would look rather nice, and the moss will keep down the amount of weeding you would have to do.

Edit: depending on what kind of fence it is, there are climbing roses that are quite beautiful, too.

This might not be for you, but you can get seeds off most annuals - when an annual flower dies, such as French Marigolds, pick the flower off, pull out all he dead petals and the seeds will be underneath. Stick the seeds in an envelope and put away until the following year.

This year I have approximately 300 pots containing seedlings, I will be able to put them in in a few weeks.

I agree, annuals can end up expensive, but if you grow your own (I usually sow them around March time) it definitely keeps the costs down and you can end up with loads and loads of colour in your garden.

Actually I did do that with marigolds last year...i started them indoors...too early though...it was cold in my basement and they all died before i could get them outside...the problem though is the moisture in this particular area, and lack of sunlight. I'm looking for stuff that grows in that kind of environement.

Too much moisture, or not enough?

way too much....there's some kind of moss or fungus or mold growing there....and then, at a right angle to that along the next fence I get NO moisture...the ground in THAT area looks like the Gobi Desert, parched and cracked dirt...

The Scottish moss or Irish moss would take care of that, it would really grow in the damp area, then as it spread it would keep the moisture in the ground in the dry area, you could put rocks around other plants so that the moss didn't crowd them. It would look nice, and very little weeding, which is what I like.

I'll be sure to give that a try!! thanks!

No prob, I'm going to be doing it myself, nice and green and no mess!

Artificial grass.. best thing I ever did to my garden was use artificial grass... this is a section of my garden and my putting green... both were baron and I had major problems with moles.

One annoying thing is that my local nurseries have insanely crappy websites. I've seen so many interesting plants available from online sources, and I can't find out if the local nursery has them because their websites suck!. I can't see myself buying plants through websites. I'm going to go to one tomorrow to see what they've got. Thanks again for the input.

XSAS- I tried for YEARS to get my father to put in artificial grass on his lawn..lol!!

i can't wait to bu a house, i miss having a garden, i used to love it.

Ironically - I don't really care about the garden's etc, but I put the garden in to make it easier to cut the lawn - see original post - and now I'm stuck with it...lol...

I ordered some of the Irish moss seeds online....we'll see how that works. I'm going to have to put up somekind of fence to keep my dogs out of it evidently. Over the winter they seem to have decided that it's their new "spot"....

Can I suggest ferns? they do well in low light and have many varieties...

Shade garden? (perk!) My whole back yard is in shade and I'm a mega-gardener.

I would recommend: hosta, flag iris (for the wet parts), spiderwort, astilbe (great in deep shade), ajuga (which is a ground cover), ferns. All of those are perenial, which means they will come back year after year.

Good annuals for shade include impatiens, begonia, aslyssum, lobelia, celeus, and nicotiana.

I'm so fortunate that my best friend is a Horticulturist. I don't have a green thumb at all. My first plant was a Wandering Jew, and I heard those are fairly easy to grow. It later died. But now my horticulturist friend has helped me to grow a geranium(now flowering), a fully grown rosemary bush, and a small succulent.

So between my friend's expert advice and all the great gardeners here, I'll be able to flourish as a plant grower.

It's been awhile since I've been here...but I tried out some Irish moss seeds. They're pretty tiny and I planted them late. I'm starting to see some growth now. It'll take awhile.

Someone in RL suggested ferns also....which fit in with my idea of what I want my garden to look like. Annuals are no problem. My lillies aren't doing well there, this is their 3rd year.

Other parts of my garden are doing nicely. Hopefully I'll get some lilly pics posted in the next few days.

I love gardening. It's so relaxing to me.

There's a flowering succulent leaf grown cover I've used at home in the bahamas. I can't think of the name now but I'll try to locate it for you. I thrives n the most unbearable conditions: sand, dirt, no water...

It's funny someone brought up Wandering Jews. I planted them in our sea wall to secure the boulders during hurricane season. Worked like a charm. They're a pretty purple/pink flower too.

hehehe.....bahamas!! My goal is to make my back yard look like Tahitti, so I go for orange, red, or yellow flowers, hopefully on a tropical-looking plant. Unfortunately I live in Buffalo NY, hardly a tropical paradise! The asiatic lillies do the most for me so far. I've got some nice ones...

I have a vegetable garden

Have to say my potatoes have gone a bit rampant ... they are taking over the whole veggie patch!

Me too, and a first time gardener.
I used to buy dieng plants which is cheap then i will take care of it.
All my plants are growing.
I have plans of putting synthetic grass too.

here is a site that could help you out - http://www.thegardenhelper.com/shade.html

hosta's grow in shade and require virtually no care. great ground cover instead of weeds.

you may want to take pics or video of the rocks that come from your neighbors yard ( which can be a hazard for lawn mowing , some dogs tend to chew and swallow rocks ) as well as the garbage on your property because you may not see what he might be throwing away that isn't great for the ground and in some cases poisonous or illegal. In a small claims court you could at least address these issues to keep your yard safe and healthy and have him build a better barrier.

Me and my Gran have green thumbs - we could probably grow olive trees in Alaska lol. Plants die just being around my mom.

Here a few more pics of my garden... It has matured a lot since these were taken last summer and I will be getting some up to date images (as soon as the rain stops being silly). edited to add: the first image is before I started the project.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b111/XSAS44/Jul0902.jpg

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b111/XSA...pict00265bv.jpg

http://img102.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pict00306lx.jpg

http://img53.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pict00292ic.jpg

http://img70.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pict00280ct.jpg

http://img385.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pict00271kn.jpg

http://img385.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pict00265bv.jpg

http://img63.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pict00148ez.jpg

http://img70.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pict00238fp.jpg

http://img70.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pict00227gp.jpg

http://img105.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pict00135id.jpg

http://img105.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pict00135id.jpg

Its looking really good XSAS

Here's my lillies

I spent today at Callaway gardens in Pine mountain, Ga. It is food for the soul. They have so many different gardens. shade,sun,dry,wet,just green or just color. If you ever get the chance you should go.

I would do a mixture of different strains of ferns, an angel trumpet, and maybe a princess tree. If the soil has mold or is just plain crap soil, rent a rotatiller and til in some soil conditioner with an anti fungicide.

If you get mold on your plants, make a mixture of one part non fat skim milk with three parts water. Spray it on the leaves, or wherever it is.

Legalize

Does anyone knows how Camelia would flowers?

I dug up four of my potato plants today (there are 20)

It was really exciting..

(sad aren't I )

WOW XSAS I enjoyed each and every shot. I feel like I've been in your yard now . I loved the putting area. The Fan palm and purple petunias look great...you take those insed when it gets cold, tight? I loved the random rock placement to; I assume that to anchor the pots in case of wind and whatnot?

I also LOVE your waterfall and pond area, you have any koi in there? I used to but I have koi in mine but the racoons here where I live and they come at night and eat them .

The water plants are doing nicely - mine always died.

The seating area is so nice too with the kettle-type fire hole (can u roast marshmellows and hotdogs in there or is it just for warmth? It's Nice!!

I also liked the rataan (?) separation you used. Keeps nicely with the colorful tropical flare.

I bet that's a hideaway for you. So wonderful. Thanks for sharing Jody

GORGEOUS LILLIES!!!!! I love them. Would day lillies work there too? They usually are yellow and smaller. Also, how about Iris? The Purple Iris I have I totally LOVE...may blend nicely. Just a thought Jody

Edit to add: day lillies leaves are more like a spider plant; long and thin leaves.

Camellia's

Angel Trumpet Nice LK!!

Princess Tree ANOTHER NICE ONE LK!!!!!! Looks like it could handle the conditions very well.

Okay LT Ripley-- I LOVE all varieties of Hosta's and have many. Going to your link...Be back in an hour or so...lmao... Thanks for the link HUN!!!!!

YUMMY....scrub, stab, wrap em in foil...pass the butter and salt PLEASE!!! YUM!!! I love em any way they're cooked!

My cancun lilly


Just opened this morning

I've got some yellow lillies - but I'm not too fond of them. I like the orange and reds the best.

Potatos!! I tried radishes the first year, but I didn't know when they were "done" and dug them up too early. Now my yard is infested with radish weeds I guess you'd call them. I never them grow till maturity. I just keep "weeding" them...

I WANT THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lol....that's what I said when I..... um.... saw it on the net!! yeah... i planted millions of cancun bulbs just a few weeks ago. They probably wont get large enough to flower this year, but next year I out to have tons of them.

Incidently...the orange ones are about 2 feet high....the dark red are 3 feet plus, and the cancun is only about 1 foot high....

I'm impressed Mule...
I'm what can be called a lazy weeder
but I have been known to feed the snails to the chickens

ty themis! The first "weeding" of the year is the worst, but after that it's kinda relaxing. No one comes near me when I do yardwork...too afraid I'll put them to work!

I had a crop of about 450-600 blackberries. Many of them bigger than a big man's thumb. And extremely yummy. That's about it.

I remember collecting those as a kid....and eating most of them!

3 more of the dark reds and another cancun blossomed today!