(paghat) wrote in message ...
In article ,
(Merle O'Broham) wrote:

First year plantings, fall upon us, but if you insist. It's really
kinda sparse looking still, but I'll snap a few and post tonight.
Looking forward to next spring.

http://www.jhcp.cps.k12.il.us/garden.htm

Hope springs eternal!

For something freshly planted it looks pretty nicely settled &
comfortabole, & will certainly age into increasing lushness. I'd want a
more decorative fence is all, I'm partial to weathered unpainted wood, but
even this wire & metal fence could have shade-tolerant vines here & there
using it for trellis. I'd recommend some kind of dwarf variegated ivy;
slow to establish but eventually very remarkable, has to be trained to a
fence or it will just creep around the ground but it responds easily to
the training. Clematis sometimes do quite well in moderate shade, & for
something swift-growing, akebia vine is an ideal rapid-cover shade vine, &
nothing aggressive about it. Virginia creeper does fine in shade but it
has to be watched lest it take over. Climbing hydrangea would rather climb
up a tree than a fence, but I see you have some lovely trees for that too,
& climbing hydrangea clings to bark without injuring the tree. Also, if
you haven't done so already, inserting some cyclamen seedlings up close to
the base of the trees insures something will be blooming even in autumn &
winter. Generally areas near evergreen rootcrowns won't support plants,
but cyclamens like just that sort of spot. I recommend seedlings because
planting a tubor or a well-grown pot of hardy cyclamen would require
digging too much with risk to the tree's roots, but seedlings can be
fitted in harmlessly, & the tubor is evolved to mature in just such
locations. My Cyclamen hederifoliums & the Cyprian cyclamens are in full
bloom right now & will continue through autumn, to be followed by C. coum
that'll bloom through winter. Gorgeous leaves linger into spring, then all
the cycalmens vanish until the following autumn, except tiny C.
intaminatum which persists year round.

-paghat the ratgirl

Cheryl and paghat, I appreciate your comments. Wish you could've seen
this patch a couple of years ago. I look forward to snapping some nice
pics next year when some more work is done in "my little sanctuary".
:-)