Today we’re visiting with Tracy Tallman in Southern Ontario.
We live on a very shaded country lot. This limits our plant choices considerably. Our repeat favorites include Hosta (Zones 3–9), hellebores (Helleborus hybrids, Zones 5–8), Heuchera (Zones 5–9), bleeding hearts (Dicentra sp.), Japanese ferns (Athyrium niponicum, Zones 3–8), grasses, and ground covers. Natural moss is growing in between the path stones. It’s a wonderfully calming oasis.
The tried-and-true shade lovers that Tracy gardens with make a wonderful lush garden. The backdrop is a hemlock tree (Tsuga canadensis, Zones 3–7). In front, a bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis, Zones 2–8) and hostas bringing foliage in a variety of colors, shapes, and textures.
Every corner of a garden offers a chance to add some beautiful plants. Native Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia, Zones 3–9) softens the chain-link fence with climbing greenery.
Hostas in every shade of green, from massive to tiny, line the fence.
Though the hellebores have long since finished flowering, their pest-resistant, evergreen foliage still contributes to the garden.
Climbing hydrangea (Hydrangea anomala subsp. petiolaris, Zones 4–8) covers this structure with lush green foliage and delicate sprays of white flowers. This vine can be slow-growing at first, but once it gets established it becomes a huge, beautiful part of the garden. It looks like the four-legged garden residents enjoy it as well.
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