Tom, have you thought abut lamiums? They seem to grow on my sorriest ground. I planted some where they had a white gravel mulch at one time and very little top soil. They are thriving. Now there are no tree roots to contend with.

If that is what you call ugly, I will not be showing mine!

I will show you my worst site tomorrow. I am on a dead run today, having just finished producing a powerpoint on Water Gardening for our speaker tonight! I am going to go into business doing this. I don't mind doing it, but not the same day of.....!This is the 4th one I have done in the last 2 years.

'you find those people with the spray paint?

Janie

Oh come on. It's not the worst part, but it's my most difficult area to deal with.

I'm considering sarcaccoa shrubs. They thrive in shade from what I have read. I'll do some research on your suggesting too.

Okay, you asked for it:

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FWIW .... I see Token's pic above as a great blank canvas. Since stuff doesn't seem to want to grow in the ground there, I'd (artfully) craft vertical trellises up each side of and horizonitaly beneath the window, maybe echoing the diamond pattern of the window grids (and no, I don't mean that plastic lattice stuff in home centers - be creative!).

Probably white trellis thingies, like the house trim. Doing so would soften the starkness of the brick and mask the green overspray left by the former owners. And you could wrap the trellis flow around the corner most gracefully by incorporating a rain barrel or two off that downspout, (you were planning that, weren't you?)

Then I'd spend some time and thought playing w/containers. As you know, container (or trough) plantings make it easier to control moisture and rotate pots if necessary to make them work - they work for me because I'm lazy and they're pretty easy. The shade in the area is a given, so deep shade plants would be in order. I'd look to establish a balance of medium height, bushy plants in the containers with a climber or two.

Sorry, I didn't mean to go on so .... Token's pics just wound me up ....I'm running out of groundspace here on my city-size lot and am starting to find ways to garden vertically and trip up my guests w/pots of stuff all over the place so, of course, I think everybody should!! :o(

Just a few random thoughts .....

LOL zigzag. I have been toying with the idea of building a wire trellis on each side of the window now for a couple years. Then growing some shade loving vine (are there any?) or espalier. I just can't decide what. I'm also working on some sort of shutter design, simple, cottage-y. Still not sure what color to paint them since the windows can't be painted. I really don't want to do white or black. I had considered painting the doors a deep dark purple to match the darkest bricks, but that white just keeps screaming at me. It's either white or black...and that bores me.

treelover, how did you get into my basement? :)

That would be the view of my neighbor's yard that connects to the back of mine. I have never seen such slobs. Their trash was always blowing into our yard. We finally resorted to installing a privacy fence.

Token,

To treat the moss growing on the bricks you will need to spray something to prevent regrowth. Moss will not thrive in areas that are alkaline - so go the garden store and get some moss preventive products. Also power washing doesn't help because you just gave it more moisture to thrive on.

My immediate first thoughts on design are, you need 2 large boxed containtered plants flanking the 2 sides of your front window. The containers I imagine are boxed and in gray coloured (or charcoal) with a criss cross design to ape your your window grids. The plants I think should be in the formal side, like using topiaries or vines climbing up a teepee style trellis.

I think your windows and doors are fine really. You need a light coloured shade to enhance the beautiful bricks - so perhaps if you want something other than white, look at grey shades. Doors can be a dark black or even red... I think you'll find great examples of exterior shades when poring through paint store brochures... There's lots of examples available of course.

If doing containers, I would mirror this effect by placing another container beneath the other front window.

Alternately in the front area you could plant a cornus kousa (flowering dogwood) there. Dogwoods tolerate shade and can withstand moist soil. You could underplant these with periwinkles. Or the Japanese woodland grass (hakonechloa spell?) It's not exactly cottage but more of a formal look to it. Because the cornus kousa produces white blooms it would stand out in a dark corner. Also periwinkles comes in white blooms and also have variegated light coloured leaves. The Japanese grass comes in a limey colour which also stands out. I would also add another favourite shrub of mine is the yews which can flank both sides of the steps. You could also plant in allium bulbs (white or purple) so in spring, these will come out. They do well in part shade conditions.

For the sides with the little dappled sun exposure. You can put in lots of hostas, foxgloves, veronicas, coral bells, coneflowers and heucheras. A good helping of good topsoil would probably help too. That tree is probably sucking out most of the moisture from that bed and so I would suggest you focus on perennials that can thrive in wet/dry conditiosn first and leave the annuals till later when these plants get established. I too have a northside backyard and have toyed with many combinations using these plants. I've even used sweetwoodruff because of its pretty little flowers but I have to say, it's an aggreesive spreader.

Treelover --

That door looks fantastic - very rustic. What do you mean by ugly? Just paint the inside white or light green or blue and you got yourself a good looking shed with potential of being redesigned as a tea house. Put in a day bed, beautiful shabby chic textiles, add a window, add a chandelier --- Just a thought...... Forgive me, but my designer mojo has been...

Shade loving/tolerant climber that pops into my mind is climbing hydrangea (maybe 'cuz I have one?). Mine was slow to establish - re-wrote the mantra to read 'sleeps x 2yrs, creeps x 2yrs and now in it's second year of leap, it is hitting its' stride big time. And maybe if I hadn't ignored it those first few years, it would have hit its' stride faster.

Now it is gorgeous and was worth the wait. It does climb by little sucker things, fine on my timber retaining wall, but may be detrimental to brick - check that out. But, if it's going to take half a century to become a problem, I say go for it!

Also star jasmine - mine,in deep shade w/not a second of direct sun year round, is thriving. This one needed some guidance up the trellis to get started (no sucker thingies) and now I'm guiding it onto fishing line strung over the garage door and farmers porch. Another vote for the jasmine is that it's evergreen so no bare wall syndrome like with the hydrangea (tho the bare stems are artful in their own right and the spring re-birth is stunning).

Treelover's barren door just needs a couple of offset 'wall hangings' on the top half - like maybe native twiggy wreaths w/seasonal add-ons? And that garage/basement pic looks like a room at the Westin compared to my garage! :o(

I'll take a photo of an ugly area today. You showed us yours, (although it's more blank than ugly) so it's only fair. Which one will I choose...

Treelover, I wish I had a shed that looked as "bad" as that!

Token, someone was once kind enough to spray graffiti on my van. The nice people at the auto paint store gave me "enamel reducer" to take it off. That and a stiff brush (and total face protection and organic mist respirator) may get the overspray off your brick. Or, there is a spray "graffiti remover" that may be the same stuff, but aerosolized.

A couple of shade vine ideas: Hardy kiwi, and climbing hydrangea. There is also Akebia, but I think it's invasive in the south.

Your wet-dry soil may be good for rain-garden type plants, if there are any for shade. Or, frankly, for "thugs." They can handle stuff like that. Planted within a pot, they probably won't wander. Obedient plant and Lysimachia Firecracker are two. Hostas are really adaptable, I bet they could take those soil conditions,

I just planted the evergreen climbing hydrangea on the other side of the house. I'll take some cuttings in a few weeks once it's more established. I've got time. :)

The star jasmine took a beating this year but is coming back nicely. I worry it won't get enough sun to bloom over there.

I'll check out some poss and algae products when I head back to work. As well as the graffiti remover. I do plan to build shutters soon. Just waiting for the guy to cull me some lumber. I do everything I can at half price. ;)

No, I don't have a problem with that shed door---just the mess that's behind it--in the second photo.

I'll have to tell my dh that you think it should be a tea house, Ianna. He'll laugh for a week. Unfortunately it's so humid here that any fabric used outdoors will mildew in no time at all. I do like the chandelier idea, though. I have a tree that I'd like to hang one from.

Come on, y'all...show us some more ugly!

Evergreen (!) climbing hydrangea? Who woudda thunk?

My star jasmine is just finishing up a gorgeous bloom and it truly doesn't get any direct sun. It's up against my North facing house, under a roof overhang so it doesn't even get rain (unless it's a real windy one) much less sun.

I'd love to post 'ugly' (the before pics of my yard are horrifying!), but I've never mastered the photobucket/picassa thing so the pics are stuck in a drawer and, in truth, better left there!

Oops. hydrangea

My mistake. One of the links I went to before I bought it said it was evergreen in zone 7. But the tag and the link above says deciduous. Dagnabit!

treelover, If I had a shed like yours, I'd definitely turn in into a mini cottage and use it as a hideaway

Token -- I have a climbing hydrangea which I adore but do be careful -- it's tendrils can do a havoc on bricks in no time. Also when this plant gets established it can get very agressive. Pretty and sculptural but definitely can cause damages on any wall it clings to. For this reason I have mine on a fence rather than my house.

Ianna

But...where would I put all my gardening junk? Our bikes? Tools? Wood scraps?

DH made noises like he was going to build me a tool/potting shed when he retired, but after I drew up the plans & elevations and staked out the location, he told me I also had to be the one to go get the building permit. Then I realized he would need constant help, supervision & direction in getting the thing constructed. I just don't have the time right now. Still working 40hrs a week.

It's fun to dream about what things might be, though.