Please help a relocated girl from Chicago pick out some perennials for
her new Portland-area flower beds and rock gardens. Huge property,
much shade - some areas get *some* sunlight (a few hours per day).

Also, how do I permanently get rid of blackberries without resorting
to Tritox or some such horrible thing? They just laughed at the
Round-Up.

TIA for any help - I'm on a steep learning curve, and have been
weeding furiously. Any good book recs are also welcome.

-L.
(Loving the trillium all over my back yard...)

I've seen this site before -- it seemes like a good one for perennials in
the PNW area. Of course, microclimes and such may mean that you have
different requirements.

http://www.backyardgardener.com/perennials.html

I like the plant lists and the pictures -- especially how it looks in
different seasons.

-- pelirojaroja
"dangerous redhead"

"Lyn" wrote in message
om...
Please help a relocated girl from Chicago pick out some perennials for
her new Portland-area flower beds and rock gardens. Huge property,
much shade - some areas get *some* sunlight (a few hours per day).

Also, how do I permanently get rid of blackberries without resorting
to Tritox or some such horrible thing? They just laughed at the
Round-Up.

TIA for any help - I'm on a steep learning curve, and have been
weeding furiously. Any good book recs are also welcome.

-L.
(Loving the trillium all over my back yard...)

In article ,
(Lyn) wrote:

Please help a relocated girl from Chicago pick out some perennials for
her new Portland-area flower beds and rock gardens. Huge property,
much shade - some areas get *some* sunlight (a few hours per day).

Also, how do I permanently get rid of blackberries without resorting
to Tritox or some such horrible thing? They just laughed at the
Round-Up.

TIA for any help - I'm on a steep learning curve, and have been
weeding furiously. Any good book recs are also welcome.

-L.
(Loving the trillium all over my back yard...)

I have shade gardens on Puget Sound; your weather is a bit damper than
here but that just makes it even better for the majority of shade
perennials which like it damp. Everything I've grown successfully so could
you, & here's an index of links to a lot of my shade plants:
http://www.paghat.com/garden1.html
Ferns, monkshoods, hardy geraniums, & arums have their separate index
pages, & are also mainly shade plants, & shade shrubs are indexed with
other shrubs.

Of these, if I had to focus on a few great things-for-starters, I have
been extremely happy with:

1) Dicentra formosa, the western bleeding heart, short ferny foliage &
small bright magenta-pink heart-lockets. Everblooming spring thru autumn.

2) Dicentra spectabilis "Alba" -- old fashioned bleeding heart with huge
white lockets, slightly more restrained than big-sprawling pink one.
Everblooming spring thru autumn.

3) Asarum caudatum, wild American ginger. Beautifully leafy groundcover,
with amazingly cool flowers hidden under leaves. Evergreen.

4) Corydalys flexuosa. Ferny foliage with the brightest pure blue
fish-shaped tubular flowers "swimming" over the surface of the leaves.
Everblooming spring thru autumn, though in late summer most of its
cultivars die back or get momentarily scruffy in the heat then spring back
for an autumn rebloom.

5) Epimediums. Do nicely in a shady area that's too dry for most shade
perennials. Many varieties are evergreen in our climate, though pretty
beat looking at winter's end. One particularly fine one is E. grandiflorum
"Lilafree" because the flowers are more overt & colorful than on many
epimediums.

6) Hepatica (Liverleaf). Year-round interest, very low-growing clumps for
front of garden.

Among the Ferns, these range from truly stunning wonders to fantastical
amazing whoopdidoo stunning wonders. Some best-of-best in my gardens have
been:

7) Blechnum spicant, our native Deer Fern. Smallish fern, strongly evergreen.

8) Polystichum munitum, our native Western Sword Fern. Large, fountaining,
strongly evergreen. One of the greatest ferns anywhere in the world, yet
native of right here.

9) Polystichum polyblepharum, Japanese Tassel Fern. One of mine has stayed
under two-foot wide; the other in its fourth year suddenly got huge, three
feet high & four feet wide. Japan's answer to the Western Sword Fern, the
most strongly evergreen of any fern we have, very shiny green, young
fronds "tasseled."

10) Dryopteris wallichiana, Wallich's Wood Fern. Evergreen, yellow-green
fronds with black stems when first emerging, hardening to deep green. Was
a two foot tall fern for two years; this year it is over three feet tall.
Quite upright so doesn't take up too much room despite its marvelous
height.

11) Athyrium otophorum var. okanum, Eared Lady Fern, one of the most
colorful ferns in the world, having through its changes bright shades of
purple, lime-green, blue-green, & green -- the stems remaining red or
burgandy even at maturity. Smallish; Deciduous.

12) Arachnoides simplicior "Variegata", Variegated Shield Fern. Evergreen
in our zone. A stand-out with the green fronds having a bright yellow
stripe down the center, upright or vase shaped.

Among arums:

13) Arisaema taiwanese. Formosan jack-in-the-pulpit. Hard to choose a
"best" among these, but if someone had little or no experience with
jack-in-the-pulpits, this is one that for the Northwest is both
exaggerated in strange beauty AND not apt to be demanding as to condition.
The cobra-hooded flower is itself long lasting, but when it is gone, the
single stem with set of umbrella-leaves lasts until autumn. I've not had
the berries yet on this one, but if they occur, bright orange summer &
fall.

14) Arisarum proboscideum, Mouse Plant. A beautiful groundcover of
arrowhead leaves. Part the leaves & there's a family of mice! The spathe
flower has a white belly, a maroon back & "tail" that can be three or four
times longer than the rest of the flower.

Off the Aconite & Geranium indexes:

15) Monkshoods. Can't choose a favorite, they're all equally good, but
start with something "standard" in being deepest blue. One easily obtained
variety is called "Arendsii" -- it is an old standard that blooms very
late in the year.

16) Crane's-bills, hardy geraniums. These I love, love, love, but like the
monkshoods, they have such a shared character it's difficult to pick out
one as better than the rest. A variety called "Patricia" has an extremely
long bloom time into autumn, "Samobar" has fascinating two-color leaves &
reflexed purple flowers, & "Plenum" has double flowers that look like
little lavender roses.

There's so much else. I just realized I left off trilliums. Our own
native Western Trillium is a tremendous garden plant. Dogtooth lilies can
be hard to get established, except a hybrid cultivar called "Pagoda" which
takes no special knack to succeed with. I left off hostas because they've
never been my personal favorites -- but many people obsess on them & there
are many leaf varieties (the blooms tend not to be as interesting & not at
all varied one variety to the next) & our climate is ideal for them.

For shade gardening the west-of-Cascades Pacific Northwest is hard to
beat, we just have the ideal conditions for so many great things. One
"problem" is how many of these are die-back leaving the garden a bit stark
in winter, but this can be worked around by including a few shade shrubs
(evergreens like lingonberry & wintergreen or deciduous like Kerria rose
with its upright bright lime-green branches of interest even in winter), &
with the more strongly evergreen ferns, & with Asarum gingers or
bunchberries.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

Lyn,
Fifteen years ago, I moved into my house and found a 10'x12' shed buried
under a mound of blackberries! I found the only "permanent" way to get rid
of the BBs was to cut them down, and burn or otherwise permanently dispose
of the canes. Note: they'll re-root easily, and I wouldn't recommend
composting unless your pile is real hot. Then dig up the roots. This
will keep them back for a year or so. What I've done is to mow or otherwise
trim back the grasses so I can see if they're coming back. A thrice yearly
mow will keep them tame for years.

Good luck!

skg

"Lyn" wrote in message
om...
Please help a relocated girl from Chicago pick out some perennials for
her new Portland-area flower beds and rock gardens. Huge property,
much shade - some areas get *some* sunlight (a few hours per day).

Also, how do I permanently get rid of blackberries without resorting
to Tritox or some such horrible thing? They just laughed at the
Round-Up.

TIA for any help - I'm on a steep learning curve, and have been
weeding furiously. Any good book recs are also welcome.

-L.
(Loving the trillium all over my back yard...)

(paghat) wrote in message ...
In article ,
(Lyn) wrote:

Please help a relocated girl from Chicago pick out some perennials for
her new Portland-area flower beds and rock gardens. Huge property,
much shade - some areas get *some* sunlight (a few hours per day).

Also, how do I permanently get rid of blackberries without resorting
to Tritox or some such horrible thing? They just laughed at the
Round-Up.

TIA for any help - I'm on a steep learning curve, and have been
weeding furiously. Any good book recs are also welcome.

-L.
(Loving the trillium all over my back yard...)

I have shade gardens on Puget Sound; your weather is a bit damper than
here but that just makes it even better for the majority of shade
perennials which like it damp. Everything I've grown successfully so could
you, & here's an index of links to a lot of my shade plants:
http://www.paghat.com/garden1.html
Ferns, monkshoods, hardy geraniums, & arums have their separate index
pages, & are also mainly shade plants, & shade shrubs are indexed with
other shrubs.


snip

Thank you for all of the wonderful information! I haven't gone to
your site yet, but promise I will soon. The previous owners of this
prop. put in some spectacular perrenials that I haven't identified, so
I'm hoping some are on your page. I plan to clean up the yard and
enhance what they have already done. I really appreciate your help!

-L.

"pelirojaroja" wrote in message .. .
I've seen this site before -- it seemes like a good one for perennials in
the PNW area. Of course, microclimes and such may mean that you have
different requirements.

http://www.backyardgardener.com/perennials.html

I like the plant lists and the pictures -- especially how it looks in
different seasons.

-- pelirojaroja
"dangerous redhead"

Thanks for the great link! I will do some more research, and then
plan to get started. I will report back my progress...

-L.

"skg" wrote in message ...
Lyn,
Fifteen years ago, I moved into my house and found a 10'x12' shed buried
under a mound of blackberries!

Wow!

I found the only "permanent" way to get rid
of the BBs was to cut them down, and burn or otherwise permanently dispose
of the canes. Note: they'll re-root easily, and I wouldn't recommend
composting unless your pile is real hot. Then dig up the roots. This
will keep them back for a year or so. What I've done is to mow or otherwise
trim back the grasses so I can see if they're coming back. A thrice yearly
mow will keep them tame for years.

Good luck!

skg

Thanks! So far, they seem to be "little" ones coming up from buried
roots. I think we will have to be dilligent in digging them up.
Of course, they weren't there when we looked at the property!

-L.

Just a bit off topic but perhaps helpful. One of the best books, in my
opinion, for a PNW gardener is the Sunset Garden Book. I was given my first
as a house warming present about 35 years ago. I'm on my 3rd edition now
but have kept them all because I have lots of notes, almost like my garden
journal. Check it out the next time you are in a bookstore or garden center
that sells books. I'm sure you'll like what you see.

Val


"Lyn" wrote in message
om...
Please help a relocated girl from Chicago pick out some perennials for
her new Portland-area flower beds and rock gardens. Huge property,
much shade - some areas get *some* sunlight (a few hours per day).

Also, how do I permanently get rid of blackberries without resorting
to Tritox or some such horrible thing? They just laughed at the
Round-Up.

TIA for any help - I'm on a steep learning curve, and have been
weeding furiously. Any good book recs are also welcome.

-L.
(Loving the trillium all over my back yard...)

"Valkyrie" wrote in message news:1053055019.867864@yasure...
Just a bit off topic but perhaps helpful. One of the best books, in my
opinion, for a PNW gardener is the Sunset Garden Book. I was given my first
as a house warming present about 35 years ago. I'm on my 3rd edition now
but have kept them all because I have lots of notes, almost like my garden
journal. Check it out the next time you are in a bookstore or garden center
that sells books. I'm sure you'll like what you see.

Val

Thanks so much. I'll look for it next time I'm at the bookstores.

-L.