Confessions Of A Plant Geek: October 2013

This is actually where my summer project started: the north side of my house. This is a difficult area to photograph, as it's very narrow and long. Basically this garden is a foundation planting, I have only about 8' from my house to the end of my property. While it does get some late western sun, it is very shady. Which makes it about perfect since shade is my favorite place to garden!

A lot of the plants in this garden I've had for a few years, but for various reasons they've been in pots since day 1. Only a few hostas were moved from another garden or potted last year. The Rhododendrons were sad looking work rescues planted last year and are recovering beautifully. And the Polygonatum humile was the last remnant of the garden that was here up until last spring. Despite how narrow this area is, it's long which has allowed a plant selection equally as diverse and numerous as my larger front sunny garden. Lots of Hostas of course, but a diverse selection of others as well:

Aquilegia mix

Aralia cordata 'Sun King'

Aster (Eurybia) divaricatus 'Eastern Star'

Aster macrophylla 'Alba'

Athyrium 'Ghost'

Atractylodes japonica

Atractylodes ovata

Chelonopsis yagiharana

Clematis virginiana

Dirca palustris

Eleuthrococcus sieboldianus 'Variegatus'

Enkianthus campanulatus

Fagus sylvatica 'Aurea Pendula'

Geranium maculataum

Geranium 'Perfect Storm'

Hosta 'Awakening Angel'

Hosta 'Blue Mouse Ears'

Hosta 'Bridal Falls'

Hosta 'Cutting Edge'

Hosta 'Dixie Cups'

Hosta 'Dragon's Eye'

Hosta 'Earth Angel'

Hosta 'El Nino'

Hosta 'Fallen Angel'

Hosta 'Foxfire Irish Moon'

Hosta 'Gemstone'

Hosta 'Irish Luck'

Hosta 'Key West'

Hosta 'Lime Smoothie'

Hosta 'Paradise Tritone'

Hosta 'Potomac Pride' sport

Hosta 'Queen of the Seas'

Hosta 'Remember Me'

Hosta 'Ringtail'

Hosta 'Sea Gulf Stream'

Hosta 'Stir It Up'

Hosta ventricosa 'Aureomarginata'

Hydrangea anomala var. petiolaris 'Early Light'

Hydrangea arborescens 'Bella Anna'

Hydrangea arborescens 'Invincibelle Spirit'

Hydrangea macrophylla 'Forever Together'

Hydrangea macrophylla 'Wedding Ring'

Hydrangea quercifolia 'Little Honey'

Hydrangea serrata 'Tuff Stuff'

Kirengeshoma palmata 'Magic Touch'

Lamium orvala 'Alba'

Leucosceptrum japonicum 'Gold Angel'

Leucosceptrum japonicum 'Mountain Madness'

Leucosceptrum japonicum 'Silver Angel'

Lonicera 'Harlequin'

Lonicera oblongifolia

Lonicera villosa

Oxalis crassipes

Polygonatum humile

Polygonatum odoratum 'Variegatum'

Polygonatum 'Prince Charming'

Pulmonaria 'Pink Twilight'

Rhododendron 'Roseum Elegans'

Salvia koyamae

Solidago flexicaulis 'Variegata'

Taxus baccatta 'Amersfoort'

Thalictrum 'Black Stockings'

Tiarella 'Oregon Trail'

Tiarella 'Spring Symphony'

Tricyrtis 'Golden Gleam'

Tricyrtis 'Golden Glory'

66 varieties of plants, 22 of which are Hosta varieties. You'll notice some other repetitions in Genus names here too, This garden is home to some of my other "collections" of plants. Hydrangea, Leucosceptrum, Lonicera, and Polygonatum are all top notch shade plants and I'll be adding more to the gardens. With the exception of Hydrangea, all of those deserve more use. Tiarella also deserves more popularity (at least around here) and I have room for more of those in this garden and will add more varieties in time.

I do still have room for a few smaller plants in this garden, and definitely have room for some groundcovers. Also, this garden will wrap around to the East side of the house next year which has more space and already has some shrubs in place. That area would be planted as well, except it's full of potted plants that SHOULD be at the nursery location. More on that in part 3.