Deanna, welcome back! I absolutely remember your house with the beautiful yellow custom-made shutters! I'm happy for you that you were able to sell the home and get a good price. From what I understand it is hard to sell a home right now. Gee you should have taken the shutters with you for use on your new house! I would have!

Congratulations on your new home with the ocean view. I'm envious! Would love to see some pictures of your new gardening areas...

Deanna, Welcome back and congratulations on your new home! I'm sure in time you'll love Boothbay Harbor. What side of the harbor are you on? Boothbay is my DH's #1 favorite place "to retire to" is, as he likes to say --- though we're both already retired & still enjoying our home near the CT coast.

I think a place becomes a home as the owners put more & more of their taste and love into it--- inside as well as out in the yard. Perhaps you'll even come to appreciate some shade as a change of pace in the gardens. Defnitely post pictures next spring as you get out into that new yard.

Molie

I also remember your yellow shutters! lol Nice to see you back here. So you are in Maine now? I'm totally jealous, having always wanted to live there, since spending time there in the summer as a kid. You're right near the Maine Botanical Garden and Arcadia National Park, too, right? Two places I've yet to get to. And didn't I read that William Cullina who used to head up the NEWFS and has written so many books on Native plants, is now the director of the Maine Botanical Garden? Quite an expert on native shade plants, which may come in handy.

Congratulations and look forward to garden photos in the spring. :-)

A daily visitor but infrequent poster on this forum but remember well the beautiful photos of your NH home. I'll echo/ditto previous posters' envy of your harbor/water view... feel free to share a few snapshots with us landlocked folks when the opportunity presents itself.

I've quite a bit of shade where I am and research has revealed quite a number of perennials I might have overlooked in the past--toad lily, black snakeroot, Virginia bluebells, among others. Chances are, if there's a shady spot on the planet, Mother Nature created a perennial that'll grow there.

Best of luck to you in your new digs.

Welcome back Deanna! Good to see you again!

Congrats on the new place. I think you will come to love your shade! While sometimes I wish I had more sun to grow a few more roses and expand the veggie garden, I really love my shade gardens, and they are so much easier to work in on those hot summer days. Although, maybe way up north where you are the heat won't be such an issue, lol!

Looking forward to some pictures of the new place - and new garden. Do you have shutters on your new house? ;)

Dee

Nice to hear from you again, Deanna. I am glad that the selling of the old and buying of the new home worked out so well for you. Moving twice in one year, or having to live only partly unpacked is tough, so I am sure that you must be thrilled to be in your own home.

I'd love to see some before photos of the new place so we can see what you have to work with. It seems like just about any garden has challenges: too much sun or shade, soil too sandy or clayey, ledge, neglected beds or problem plants that need removal (my particular challenges when we moved here were the last two.) So you'll having fun finding plants that fit your new conditions. You may find some good local orchards for your fruit needs, and I hope that either you can create or find some sunny spots for herbs and veggies. Coastal Maine has fewer temperature extremes than inland NH, so perhaps you can grow some plants that aren't happy where you were before.

Hello Deanna! What a beautiful area to be in even if there's too much shade. I agree with nhbabs that perhaps a nearby orchard will help out. Despite living on a former apple orchard, I've decide not to plant any fruit trees. Hope the new sunny areas will provide enough for veggies and herbs although herbs can take quite a bit of part-sun. Hope your daughters are still interesting in gardening.

Congrats on your new home, and new garden. The ocean view sounds fantastic. One thing I love about gardening, is the renewed hope and spirit every year! There is always the chance for new life for the plants and the species that use them, that are surviving and thriving. :)

Good luck with your shady garden and with creating a patch of sun. Living on a partly shady lot with many canopy trees, I have terrible sun envy. I've done 2 1/2 days of tree work, the previous owner did 1 1/2 days, and this parcel still has too much shade...and I look forward to moving and having a big open sunny space some day.

Yes, prariemoon, William Cullina is the director of the Botanical Gardens. It is a great place, with a large effort at celebrating native plants and landscapes. Also, a FUN children's garden! I will have to utilize them in my search for shade plants.

nhbabs, thanks for reminding me to take some good "before" photos. I didn't do that at my old house and always regretting not being able to show off the results of hours and hours and hours and hours and hours of rejuvenating it. This garden is in better shape than that one, but some before pics would be fun to have as it still needs some attention. I know the seller was a gardener, but I think many of us will reach a point in life where life itself demands much, and gardening can't be given so many hours. I'm happy to be able to do some good cleaning up and pruning here. I did find a great apple orchard just on the next peninsula. Even got Mutzu apples, my favorite!

I also just found out I'll be able to do some decent thinning of trees here within Maine regulations. YEA!!! I don't think it's enough to make me sunny, but it will take away the deepness of much of the shade. Next step is an arborist. (Now I know why many gardeners on the coast might look forward to some hardy ice storms, too. Nothing like letting Mother Nature take care of shade for you. Hoping for a cold winter. ;-] )
I've come to really appreciate and love this setting more, shade and all. It is extremely peaceful, and every evening seems to end up with a nice show. Even the storms are fascinating. We had a river otter, a rare thing, swimming around our dock last week. He got some mussels/clams from the bottom and flipped on his back to crack them open. We are really hoping he comes back.

Our house faces south, and the winter sun is very strong with the tree leaves gone. The house stays very warm and sunny. Our NH home also faced south, but this one is much warmer because it has more glass, and also because the reflection of the sun off the water is very strong, adding a great deal of additional heat. I've just realized that I should be able to have some nice flowering indoor plants that can handle lots of direct sunlight. I'm wondering if I can even get some things like thyme to grow indoors in the winter, too. Another thing to learn about gardening. My favorite thing to learn about!

Pictures, you asked for? Here's two. One is of two of my kids at the dock. They look like they're relaxing, but they were actually having a contest to see who could keep their feet in the freezing water the longest. Next is one of many nice sunsets.

Sunset

Looks wonderful, Deanna.

Lovely photos, Deanna. You are living in a beautiful paradise! How fantastic to have an otter visit. I had thought that they were nearly extinct, at least in populated areas, yet Pixielou in the Boston area also has them visit her back yard pond (which feeds into a river). I have never seen one in the wild. What an exceptional treat!

Very pretty scenery there, Deanna! I remember that frigid water, I went to camp in Maine when I was a kid and they would have us swim every day. Torture! lol But I'm glad I experienced it, it was bracing! :-)

Beautiful! And your new garden will be too. I have had to garden in shade for many years and there are a lot of possibilities.