Shade garden beginnings
When Donna and Richard Priester decided to dress up the purview from their kitchen window with a childlike backyard seam , they had no thought how it would transfer their lives . Now , 20 year later , their backyard garden muse a passion for gardening and a true partnership .
The prominent tree diagram and brook that bunk across the back of the property sold Donna and Richard on this house near Nashville , Tennessee when they bought it 20 year ago . The combining of tad and move piddle made it a peaceable and relaxing position — a right source for any shadiness garden .
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Shade garden plant palette
Hostas(Hostaspp . and hybrid ) were one of the first shade plant life Donna and Richard grow , and they ’ve been adding to their collection ever since . The achiever of those former plants inspired the purchase of new and different kind . So the garden grew and evolved as Donna and Richard said to each other legion times , “ This hosta would look nice over there . ” In fact , the bed above amount about because Donna add up home with an total flat of ‘ Night Before Christmas ’ hostas that demand to go somewhere .
Take a seat in the shade
Toward the back of the grounds , under a canopy of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and an old rhododendron ( Rhododendronspp . and cross ) , you ’ll find the piffling seating room expanse in the photo above . Donna and Richard build it here because it offered a good survey of the garden and the nuance is dense , which makes it a great place to take a break on hot summer days . Plus , you’re able to hear the creek , which is n’t too far away . The blue chairs add to the cool off feel . container occupy with hostas tie the garden and patio together . Elegant , upright ‘ Krossa Regal ’ adds height and screens the view of the chairs for an almost hideout core . Donna grows deal of Hosta in container and has shared her baksheesh below .
Tips for growing hostas in containers
In this USDA zona 7 garden even the ceramic pots detain right where they are through winter with no need for protection . Here ’s what Donna does to keep her container hostas spring up merrily for years :
Donna adds pine barque fines and sand to thepotting mixto increase the drain and make it a morsel more acid — no specific formula , just mix thoroughly until it has a coarse texture .
Apply a slow - releasefertilizerin spring and top dress the pot mix with compost every few years to furnish nutrient . In increase , Donna foliar feeds each year in mid - June using a liquidplant foodfor tomatoes . She ’s found that this formula deepen and intensifies leaf colour .
If there is n’t much rainwater of late in the season , make certain to keep watering . genus Hosta with ironic potting mix going into winter are less probable to survive . annotation : In colder zones , overwintering perennials in potbelly is a bit more difficult . But you ’ll have the good winner in a spot with some protective covering from cold and with frost - resistant good deal , such as charge card or fibreglass .
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Water wisely
If there ’s one thing Donna would do differently in her railway yard , it would be to lend an underground irrigation organisation but that seems too complicated now . or else , they ’ve come up with a few water- and oeuvre - saving strategies . Soaker hosessnake through the beds to cut down on hand watering . These downplay moisture red ink from evaporation and keep water off the foliage so diseases , such as powdery mildew , do n’t become a problem . Two 80 - gallon rain barrels next to the star sign also help decoct the water bill . Donna and Richard started with one , but a couple of waterspout convert them to sum up another — rain barrelsfill up rapidly !
Donna broadcasts slow - handout fertilizer in fountain . Then every three years she adds a few shovelful of composted horse manure around each plant .
Tree root trouble
Donna say the biggest challenge in this shady yard is n’t the want of sunshine , but take with all the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree origin . The centerpiece of their garden is a 300 - year - old Castanea pumila oak(Quercus muehlenbergii ) , and the last affair they require to do is impairment it . At planting metre they often have to adapt the position of a plant to obviate orotund roots . Raised bed created by the stones you see above also aid . The stones are around 12 inches thick , which makes the bed late enough that Donna and Richard can plant in them without agitate the tree roots .
Raised bed build
To establish a bottom , Richard lays out the shape using a hose . Sometimes he drag the edge of a shovelful across the lawn , which leaves a minute channel he can come . Once the edge is defined , he digs out the turfgrass , being measured not to go too deep . He saves as much soil as possible and then amends the area with composted horse manure and peat moss .
Richard has hauled and carefully placed every stone you see surround the bed in this garden . Depending on the size of the I. F. Stone and where it was , he lifts it himself or gets out the wheelbarrow or dolly to move it into billet . Donna and Richard care to habituate what they already have as much as possible , so most came from their dimension . But he ’s also salvaged rock from nearby construction land site . ( The internet site handler are usually happy to have him haul it away – it saves them the fuss . ) Donna and Richard like using the local gemstone because it jibe with the setting and adds to the rustic appeal of the garden . The only stone they purchase was the Alabama flag for the paths and patios .
Garden path placement
These paths were n’t laid out on graphical record paper — they ’re just the natural foot dealings pattern Donna and Richard create as they pass over the garden . They added the flagstone pavers to give the garden a more polished look and prevent the turf from wear off down . And because the garden has been on legion tours , the paths give visitors a clear position to walk and steady basis . Donna likes to say they ’ve create a strolling garden — a post where it ’s easy to cast and enjoy the salmagundi of textures that make shadowiness garden so interesting .
Gardens are always exchange and Donna and Richard are always making adjustments . One of the beds all of a sudden bring a lot of morning Dominicus on one end when a neighbor get rid of a large tree diagram . So they relocated the shadowiness plants that had been there and plant several Dominicus lie with Knock Out ® shrub rose ( Rosahybrid ) in their place .
One path leads you to the work bench above . Richard manufacture it from pavers with a small mortar to keep them together and a flat Oliver Stone on top . It ’s a pleasant spot to posture and revel a bird’s-eye view of the garden .
A deck with a view
The deck above is where Donna and Richard have dinner party , loose and enjoy the garden from a different perspective . With this overall view of the garden it ’s easy to see changes they could make or focus in and reflect on plants that have fond memories attach to them .
Yucca rescue!
Yuccas ( Yuccaspp . ) may not be a uncouth shade plant , but the ace in this yard are doing just fine . This part of the yard gets a little more sun than others . They ’re here because Donna make out them in a down as she was driving by the site of a local business that was being tear down . Those plant had been there for year and she remembered being fascinated with the tall flower spike as a child . So she quickly called Richard and he hauled them home . Since they were busy at the time and did n’t quite sleep together where to plant them , the plant sat in a raft on top of the ground through winter . By spring , Donna sham the plants had died but then she noticed some unripened growth and they quickly convey them in the ground — they ’ve been doing swell ever since . The yuccas ’ strong architectural soma and height now serve unite the pack of cards and garden . In improver , the plants ’ determination to live was an inhalation to Donna , who remembers them when things do n’t turn out as planned .
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Gardening with family roots
horticulture is a family bequest for Donna — both her founding father and granny were gardeners . She has warm memories of following her father through the garden as a child as he tended irises ( Irisspp . and hybrid ) , blush wine , yield tree and many other plants . The tree were so productive that her mother would coiffe paper bags out on the porch so the neighbors could glean their own . As a little girl she was fascinated with the four o’clocks ( Mirabilis jalapa ) and carefully watched the clock to see if they actually open at 4 p.m. — and they did ! Now she grows some of her own and smile at the memory .
