Starting A Shade Garden
By Kathy Burns-Millyard, Fri Dec 9th
Starting a Shade Garden
The shade garden can be exploding with color and texture. Nomatter how much shade is in your landscape, the right flowers,plants, bushes and bulbs will grow in this area when given achance. As there are various types of shade, you will need tochoose the plants that are 'right' for the type of shade youhave: partial, dense, full, or filtered shade.
In starting a shade garden, one of the easiest shade gardenswill be the filtered shade garden. What you need to do first islook at the trees or bushes that are making this area a filteredshade garden. Pruning off the lower branches on taller bushesand on the tree will allow additional light into your garden.Because you are planning a filtered shade garden, you do wantsome amount of sunlight in that garden below the tree.
Thinning out the bottom saplings that are trying to grow fromthe tree is needed at this time to ensure they do not grow up inyour garden. Underbrush and thorny bushes should be cut down anddug up at this time before starting your shade garden.
Now you can work on the soil that is in the area that you wantto create that new garden. Adding organic materials, more soil,compost, manure or other types of nutrients to the soil willprepare the fine garden bed that will hold your shade plants.
When possible, do not disturb the roots of the tree that will bein or
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