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[SG] an introduction and question (long)

Hello, everyone.  I recently subscribed to this list and wanted to tell
you a little bit about my garden and ask for your advice on a problem that
I have been having with it.

I live in a rowhouse in Baltimore (in Charles Village, for any of you who
know the city.)  Although we have lived in this house for 5 years, I
neglected the established gardens pretty badly, mostly because I was away
for extended periods each spring and summer and did not have the time to
work on them or even to figure out what was growing in them.  Now that I
do not have to travel so much, I have learned to really enjoy gardening
and am trying to make the most of the two small, shady, city yards that I
have.

I suppose that you could say that my front yard looks like a jungle,
although I prefer to think of it as simply lush.  :) The yard gets a bit
of sun in the morning but is mostly shaded by a tree near the street in
front of our house and by a tree in the neighbor's front yard. The growing
space is only about 7' by 7' and is full of hosta, ivy, mint, a
rhodadendron, two azealias, a wisteria, and a clematis, all of which were
planted by the previous owner.  During my neglectful years, I  added
some daffadils, and I recently filled in a bare spot with some beautiful
caladium.  Also, I just built a small raised bed around a curbside tree
and filled it with hosta, daylillies, and lilly of the valley.

Most of my back yard is covered by a large deck; however, there is a
growing space approximately 10' by 10', which is heavily shaded by a large
elm tree in the middle of the yard and by an apartment building behind our
house.  The previous owner had made the back yard as lush as the front,
but only a few plants--including some lilly of the valley, a hosta, and
some sort of ornamental grass--survived having my large dog step on them
for 4 years.  As a result, I started with a pretty blank slate back there
and have concentrated most of my gardening energy into making it a
peaceful and pretty city garden.  I started by building an L-shaped raised
flower bed along two sides of the yard.  I planted a hydrangea in the
corner of the L and filled in the remainder with all sorts of shade-loving
plants that seem to be doing pretty well.  I also put a climbing hydrangea
in another corner so that it can grow up on to the deck.  My project for
today is to put in a border of hosta and lilly of the valley around the
climbing hydrangea and the elm tree.  Then I'm going to fill in the rest
of the yard with some unidentifiable ground cover that I got from my
mother, who is an avid gardener. (She got it from a friend who had had it
forever. It looks a bit like Beacon Silver and has purple flowers.)

Most of plants in my back yard seem to be doing well, although the garden
definitely looks "new."  The one problem that I've been having, though, is
with the 6 spiderworts that I planted in the raised flower beds.  The
leaves are turning yellow and the stalks are falling over into the dirt.
They really look awful.  I'm thinking of trying to stake them to keep them
out of the dirt, but I'm afraid that that would be treating one of the
symptoms but not the real problem.  I'm worried that they are not getting
enough sun.  I was under the impression that spiderworts could stand a
fairly heavy shade, but I've noticed that the few that are planted in
areas of the yard that get more sun are doing better than the ones that
are in the most shaded areas.  Is there anything that I can do to save the
spiderworts?  Would transplanting them to the slightly more sunny front
yard help?  Could they be missing some nutrients?  (I feed them with
Peter's 20-20-20 plant food once a week.)

Thank you for your suggestions and advice.

                Jennifer D'Urso
                Baltimore, Maryland
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