You have a combination of these options, a shady yard, a sunny yard, a dry yard a wet yard. So as a general rule of thumb (there are many exceptions but this is for Tartan Village residents), if you house faces south or east (faces telegraph and Cedar knolls), you will get sun in the morning and throughout the day. If your house faces north or west (faces Kingstowne and Van Dorn st.) then you will get sun in the afternoon so that means you will get shade throughout most of the day.
If you own a sunny yard consider yourself lucky. Generally sunny yards mean more flowers and that means more bang for your buck. Most of us around here have dry shady yards, so that's what we're going to focus on this post. Your yard might not necessarily be dry but you also don't want to be watering it everyday, so you might want options that are drought tolerant. So for our basic square yards, there are several options. Most people like sod, most of us have a planting bed, edged with landscape timbers in front of the window, and sod, and that's about it. Its cool, easy maintenance, it always looks clean.
Let's start with the edging... It's a good idea to look around at what your neighbors have done with their yards maybe get some ideas, using similar materials is good because it enhances a sense of cohesion in the community. Some of the houses around this neighborhood have stone as edging particularly slate. This is a good look it complements the architecture of the houses around Tartan, In this house it was the neighbors cool landscape that inspired the homeowner to change his. Here is what the yard looks like now...
Much better now :) minus the dead grass, there was a burst pipe in spring and it destroyed the sod (more on that another time). See how natural the stone looks? and it looks great with the brick. Thanks neighbors for the good ideas! These stones weren't all that expensive they are broken fragments of slate from a discard pile at a gardening center. They sell them for 7.99 a cubic foot, there are 4 cubic feet here, so roughly it cost 32 dollars for this edging. Campbell and Ferrara on Route 1 sells these. Also you don't have to limit yourself to stone, you can use bricks for edging, Affordable plastic edging, and landscape timbers.'
Here's another example of reclaimed materials for edging...
Here these are reclaimed bricks from a salvage yard and the back is slate however these are slate roof shingles, 10 cents a piece. Bargains!
Now on to the plantings, So Shade loving plants... unfortunately when it comes to shade the colors aren't as vibrant as with the sun lovers, you get more subtle coloring and mostly with the foliage not the actual flowers. Here's a very short list of shade loving perennials:
- Hostas
- Baptisias
- Columbines
- Ferns
- Galanthus
- Geraniums
- Vinca
- Hydrangeas
For a more thorough list visit https://mgnv.org/, the master gardeners have the best lists!
All the plants chosen for this particular yard were chosen because they are very shade tolerant and don't require as much watering as other plants. Also perennials were chosen because they come back every year so they are less maintenance than annuals which need to be replaced yearly. However it is all personal choice if you enjoy digging and yard work maybe an annual garden is for you (also some annuals start self seeding which is always nice).
Now a little on structure, so when planting on a bed you want tall plants in the back (like in this case the tall lilies in the center, there are also tall ferns in the back but they're still growing, later in the summer they will reach 5 feet tall. In the middle you want medium height plants, in this case the hostas, and short ones to the front in this case small hostas, daylilies and annual coleus, that way you see everything! Another option would be columbines in the back, hostas, and vinca in the front. But you don't have to limit yourself to perennials there are evergreen shrubs and a whole ton of plants that can tolerate shade.
In this yard a tall planter planted with a tall grass, double begonias, dusty miller and sweet potato vine also acts as a focal point. However some yards have trees in the center which act as the focal point or they're the reason the'res shade there in the first place. Take advantage and plant around the tree so that it is the focal point everyone loves trees. It is always a good idea to consult the master gardeners website and the people at nurseries when buying plants, if you describe what you want and where you want to put it they can suggest lots of options for planting that will do well in our micro-climate. We'll talk about sunny yards soon. Now forth and garden! and feel free to ask questions in the comments section.
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