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Re: [SG] an introduction and question (long)

My girlfriend said your description reminder her of our yard, at least the
part about being lush. Is Charles Village on Charles Street? We are coming
(again) to the Inner Harbor with a couple of friends this Saturday--is there
any place you would particularly recommend that we see or eat.
Thanks,
is there any
Preston Littleton
Seaford DE
zone 7
-----Original Message-----
From: Jennifer R. D'Urso <jrd2@MIDWAY.UCHICAGO.EDU>
To: shadegardens@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU <shadegardens@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU>
Date: Tuesday, June 02, 1998 4:16 PM
Subject: [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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