I like your idea for the white flowers. I planted white impatiens and white begonias in a pot for my mom, and they look pretty together. You can also get white begonias with different colors of foliage.

Sue

Your plan sounds good to me, Kristen. Except I'm not sure why you want to put in a wall, do you mean a low stone border? I hope your son will help you to take out the weeds. Once I have an area opened up, I find it easier to decide what I want to do with it.

Lorna

Lorna - I guess I didn't mean an actual wall, more like a brick edge stacked two bricks high. Just something to really define the edge of the garden. I'm open to suggestions, maybe I wouldn't need an edge?

Hi Kristin,
I love white flowers in the woodland garden. They look so lovely and cool in the shade. Hostas and white bleeding heart are great choices. My 'Alba' bleeding heart blooms longer than the other pink and rose-colored ones. The astilbes will be wonderful too. I've had three of the white ones, 'White Gloria', 'Deutschland', and 'Bridal Veil'. Of the three, 'Bridal Veil' performed the best for me. I'm trying to remember if they bloom at different times . . . I had to give away most of them when I moved and the voles have pretty much wiped out the rest :-(
. . . but you could try planting some of each to see if you can extend the bloom time.

You have a large area, so I will recommend cimicifuga. This is a beautiful big plant. I have 'Brunette' which has wonderful foliage. Iris siberica 'Snow Queen' might do well for you too. I love the spikey-ness of the leaves, which stay green all season, unlike the bearded kind.

For a ground cover you can't beat Sweet Woodruff. Beautiful foliage all season and covered with sweet white flowers in the spring.

It isn't white and doesn't flower, but I will also suggest Japanese painted ferns. The ones in my shade garden have silvery lines in the fronds. An outstanding plant.

Best of luck!
Patti

Patti, I love japanese ferns. They have such lovely coloring. I also love autumn ferns. They have nice coppery new fronds that unfurl. Plus the added bonus is that they are evergreen.

-Sharon

I have an area that's remarkably similar - under some limbed up Spruce. It's the years of needle drop and assorted litter that have made the soil very "diggable" and easy to work with. In the spring I get drifts of Siberian Scilla, Puschkinia, Muscari, then forget-me-nots and Johnny Jump-Ups. Hostas, ferns, both pink and white bleeding hearts, astilbes flourish. So do the northern grown azaleas. I've even thrown in some phlox, Asiatic and true tiger lily bulbs to bloom above the ferns.

Best recommendation is to clear out the space first since it's much easier to visualize and plan with a clean slate. Chances are good anything you put in will be among tree roots, etc., but it works and can really have a nice look. And it's best not to add more soil in areas like this - the trees will respond by sending up more roots.

I don't think you need an edge - one more thing to grass whip around. A flat bottomed spade will put a sharp edge back without much effort.

In addition to the ideas already mentioned, I would suggest Caladiums. I think they would look great in your woodland garden.

Also, have you thought about adding a birdbath, bird feeder or a park bench to the area?

Marilyn

Wow! Thanks Patti and everyone else for the great suggestions. I'm going to start studying up on some of the plants I haven't heard of before.

Fammsimm - I was thinking of adding some type of ornamentation. One thought I had was to add garden urns planted with ferns at either end of the woodland garden.

Duluth - Do you think it would make sense to lay newspaper down and cover with dirt or some type of mulch to kill off the weeds? I started digging and pulling weeds, but would love an easier method of preparing the bed. I was thinking I could get it ready this fall and maybe start planting next spring/summer. I'm afraid of Roundup and the possible consequences to the trees and my other gardens, etc.

I'm trying the newspaper layers (6-8 pages thick) topped with a thick layer of the free wood chippings I get from our city compost site. This is a SW corner of my yard where arborists cleared some trash trees/shrubs out between the lilac hedge and a small grove of conifers. There was a leggy honeysuckle and even leggier spirea left in the gap both of which I hard pruned to hopefully rejuvenate them. And I'd like to eventually get a couple of other things in there to flesh it out.

I've always liked weeding - especially where the weeds are big and having them gone is really noticeable. I use a short handled spade, dig down and lever out the weeds. It is labor intensive, but once into it, you'd be suprised how much ground you can clear. Once I got out the major weeds in this corner, I scuffle hoed up the little weedlings and will see if the newspaper and wood chips suppress them for good. It looks nice anyway!

I would think for layering to be successful, you should at least cut down the big weeds as close to ground level as possible - good green additions to a compost pile.

I had an area that looked very similar. A few years ago I started to plant it with hosta and other shade plants. Here is how it looks now.

The woodchip path goes around the trees and comes out on the other side.

Hope this gives you some ideas on what can be done.

G

I have a similar area, too, that had to be cleared of almost solid buckthorn and other weeds. Here it is now...

A longer view of the area...

Thanks for posting pictures Gigi & Anita. I love what you've done.

I'm just about done pulling the weeds. They came up by the roots pretty easy without digging. There were also several saplings in there that I was not able to pull up, so I just pruned them at the base. I have a feeling they will return and I'll probably have to dig them up by the roots.

Here's what the area looks like now. I was thinking instead of an all white theme I might just do ferns, hosta and large masses of woodland phlox. Does anyone have experience with woodland phlox in this type of setting?

Hi Kirstin - I love your plan - white in a shady area - it will be so COOL!! lol. Also to your list you could add white violets, and white phlox subulata. Not sure about a bench - maybe 2 chairs with a small table, to sit on in the hot days of the summer. Not sure about wood phlox - google tells me that this is phlox paniculata. It does not do great in full shade for me - OK, but not great!!

The area is shaping up - no doubt, due to a lot of hard work. You are right about the tree saplings - they will come back, and the roots will get harder to get out!! At this point, I would lay the newspaper, or cardboard, covering with soil/compost. To appease your son the yard-keeper - instead of putting a little brick wall to define, which he will then have to take the weed whacker to, I propose putting the bricks in flush with the ground. One wheel of the lawn mower will go over them easily, no extra edging required. You may even be able to convince him to lay them himself!!!

Nancy. - ps, keep us posted with pics!!

I like what youve done and what everyones said.
But may I ask, what is the area like? Is it dry? Do you get out to this area to water/tend much? Hostas, ferns, Epimedium, and the normal shade plants are fantastic, but dont forget native plants! They are great because they can tolerate alot, are reliable, and dont require much care. One of my favs is Tellima grandiflora. Its related to Coral-bells but much easier to grow. They have little green fringed cups that fade to pink. Theres lots of other great natives of course.
Hope this helps you!
CMK

Oh my I said out loud, when I saw your area after you ripped out the weeds. That was some work, but you are going to be rewarded with a lovely garden area and I can hardly wait to see what you come up with. Have fun and don't stress. I like the idea of your little brick border also, just to give it an edge.

FlowerLady