Ten Feet To The Right

Even on an overcast and rainy day I could tell there was more sun, or more accurately less dense shade, where I had originally thought of planting the new Aralia cordata 'Sun King'. I'm not quite sure what happened to make me change my mind when I got down there to plant it. So this morning I moved it ten feet to the right.

Now grow, bloom and make berries so I can have more of you.

The False Solomon's Seal, Maianthemum racemosum, is looking to have a very good berry crop this year. Sometimes the deer eat the flowers or they get froze and there are no berries. I tossed seeds of this on the shady slope below the scenic byway a couple of years ago and have successfully introduced them there. I'll toss this year's crop of berries on the same slope. More is better.

Good strong foliage is important in the shade garden. If you can get showy blooms and berries all the better

On the sunnier end of this same slope below the scenic byway, the rooted stem cuttings of Oak Leaf Hydrangea are reaching full on shrub size. They are even going to bloom this year. The evergreen, clumping and cold hardy Fargesia rufa bamboo grows bigger and fatter and faster each year. I'd still like it to be taller, but this bamboo is only ten foot max at maturity. I should have gotten a taller Fargesia specie.

Two new clumps of Rodgersia were planted in the shade garden in the last month. More bold foliage with blooms for the shade. This start came from the wild cultivated gardens next door where it has always been hidden in the Lush. I think this is Rodgersia sambucifolia.

There are now two clumps of this Rodgersia. I have been calling it R. pinnata, but it is more likely Rodgersia aesculifolia. Whatever. I have two kinds.

Yes there are flowers in the garden becoming, plenty of flowers. In the shaded forest of summer they will be fewer and plant foliage becomes more important to the garden.

Over there in the sun of the utility easement, in the tall flower meadow of exuberant chaos, floral abundance will rule the garden. Closer to the byway in the shade of the forest, a different kind of garden will grow.