5-23-2011 Here is a more recent picture of the shade garden - full of ephemerals! Virginia Bluebells, Snow Trillium, and others. The Shade Garden is the name we are giving to a triangular area set off by stones in the backyard. Bordering it on all sides (and some grow within it) are tall Pin Oaks. The shade there is intense in the summer, and when we moved in last August, almost nothing was growing there - just mud. Now it is early Spring, and of course the leaves are not yet appearing on the Pin Oaks, so the area is getting lots of sun. Appearing there now are a few Hellebores , a number of pretty ground covers, and some plants I have not yet identified. I was planning to plant Bleeding Hearts and Astilbe there, but we'll need to watch and wait a bit to see if anything else comes up - I don't want to crowd the current residents.
