First of all, thank you soooo much for commenting yesterday. It is wonderful to know that I'm not just writing this for my mom (although I'm happy to have her as a regular reader and commenter!) I am looking forward to visiting all your blogs and getting to know you better.
Between Earth Day today, and Arbor Day on Friday, I was inspired to plant a new tree this week. I decided that an addition to the shade garden was in order.
An addition to the shade garden
Originally uploaded by kerner
See that big magnolia tree on the other side of the fence? It's very pretty, and smells fantastic when it blooms, but… it almost completely blocks out the light in that corner of the yard. After the first summer of struggling to mow the few straggly strands of grass that even attempted to grow in the dark, my husband (aka the guy who was sick of mowing a dustbowl) and I decided to convert it to a shade garden. We researched Missouri native plants, planted lots of hostas and ferns, and covered the whole area in mulch.
After 2 more summers, it's looking great (and I predict this will be the year of the hosta explosion), but it's lacking a little… height.
Serviceberry Shrub
Originally uploaded by kerner
Enter the Serviceberry. (See it there with the white flowers?) Grow Native describes it as a "Tall shrub or small tree bearing clusters of fragrant white flowers in April. Flowers give rise to very flavorful, purple-black, berrylike fruits relished by both songbirds and people. This lovely tree has colorful fall foliage in a blend of orange, gold, red and green and is a Plants of Merit winner."
Sounds pretty good, right? I'm excited to see how it turns out. We've had really good with the native plants – they are perfect for low-maintenance gardeners like us. I just need to remember to water it a few times so it can get established, hopefully before it gets too hot.
I felt like I was representing happy hippies everywhere as I drove this native tree home from the nursery in my Honda, with the branches sticking out the back window! Happy Earth Day, everyone.
What a great addition to your shade garden! I’m enjoying reading about your garden adventures this year. My green space is limited (small city backyard) but I can’t wait to get going outside in a few weeks. My hostas will definitely need to be divided this fall.
Until I moved away my dad gave me full reign over his shady garden and Serviceberrys always did really well. A great book with lots of info is *Making the Most of Shade* it’s full of climbers, trees, grasses etc that really work in the dark. Happy belated Earth Day!