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Hello!

Hello, shadegardens,

Just a brief introduction. I live in Chapel Hill, NC, in Zone 7, amid a
thick stand of yellow pine, dogwood, oak, tulip poplars and sweet gum. We
have some full sun at the front of the yard where we are creating a
raised perennial border and an annual flower/ vegetable garden. Also in
the front, we have a small herb garden.

Oops, I said "we." My girlfriend and I are the gardeners in question.
It's her house, and I feel certain that if we can work out the
practically intractable problems of gardening in the shade, there'll be
no reason why we shouldn't be married. (Let me assure you that the garden
is not the only consideration!). Also, my father is the undisputed flower
champ of Montgomery County, MD, and he loves to lord it over me. He's
never had success in the shade, however. Thus, the shade garden is my
ticket to filial parity.

Enough of that. Anyway, I love the trees (except for the pines, which are
annoying and practically useless for wildlife), and so cutting some of
them down is not an option. The house is on approx. 1/2 acre, most of it
wooded. There is a cleared section directly in front of the house which
gets a little more sun (partial shade), but lies at the lowest part of
the yard. It doesn't drain very well after heavy storms, and so the grass
is pretty sickly. Besides, I hate grass, so I'm trying to come up with an
interesting design that incorporates a flowering groundcover with taller
perennials (lenten rose with bleeding heart? Any suggestions?). I'd like
to start ripping the turf up soon, and preparing the bed soon thereafter,
so I can put in ground cover by mid-October. Any suggestions about how to
go about this?

That's the one problem place in the front yard, the rest of it has
typical shade problems, but I think we've hit on a few solutions.

The back yard is heavily wooded and very large. The idea of cutting down
trees and preparing huge beds back there is, frankly, more than we can
handle. I'd like to work with the natural flora back there and create a
shaded wildflower and native shrub garden. It would be nice if the
backyard was a haven for wildlife, since we have a nice deck with a grand
visual sweep of that area of the yard. I _like_ gardens that look a
little overgrown. Any suggestions?

All right, there's the introduction.

Go forth and cultivate.

Duncan Murrell
Chapel Hill, NC, Zone 7
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