Yes Grace it is possible and very easy! You will only need to match the plant with it's growing requirements!!! Lots of shade loving plants do well in this area. Hostas, heucheras, bleeding hearts, ferns, pulmonarias, astilbes, tiarellas, tricyrtis, many of the Spring woodland ephimerals will be in bloom soon!

Lee

Here is a link that might be useful: Area gardening info!

Another newbie here. Happy Birthday! I second the vote for hostas, also possibly begonias. Believe it or not, mine always come back, yes the little cheap 6-packs from WM, as long as they are semi-protected by even just leaves from last fall.

If you REALLY want motivation, you should visit the Garden of Dreams (AKA Honeybranch Cave), out east of Sparta. It's off of Hwy 14 right before the Christian/Douglas county line. There's a sign. Go down the gravel road a mile or two. They sell hostas and other stuff. But they have a really large area (several acres) that is terraced with every kind of hosta imaginable, plus lots of other stuff thrown in. Definitely made a hosta-believer out of me! I think they're pretty much always open, even though it might look like they aren't. Someone else here might could tell you better. It ought to be "required visiting" for everyone here. Gee, sounds like I work for them! (I don't.) Just when you said "terraced", reminded me of that place.

Leesa

Welcome Grace and Leesa and Happy Birthday Grace!
I love shade gardens best. I have mostly sun but started my first garden under the few trees along one side of our yard. It's cooler there when it's time to pull weeds and shade gardens have always seemed more peaceful to me too. I'm having good luck with heucheras, hostas, hellebores, and others.
Lee - That website is new to me too. I will look through it some more but saw lots of great photos. I'm glad you posted it.
Grace - There are a few nurseries around here with display gardens to inspire you and if you join a garden club you will have the benefit of touring some beautiful private gardens too. The Greater Ozarks Hosta Society would be a good one to join to see some shade gardens. It sounds like your yard has lots of potential. I envy anyone with a terraced yard, especially shady. Sunset Books has a book on Hillside Gardening or something like that might give you some ideas. Leesa is right about Garden of Dreams. It will make your jaw drop. I think there are some pictures of it and some others at the Greater Ozarks Hosta Society website. I'll put the link below. Best of luck. - Christie

Here is a link that might be useful: GOHS

Wow - where have you been all of my Missouri life? :)

I am adequately motivated and can't wait to see the places you referred to. Thank you so much for info and encouragement. This site is awesome.

Leesa - Garden of Dreams...do you know hours/days,etc? It sounds wonderful.

Christie - I will definitely join the GOHS. Sounds like just the info and motivation I need. Are you in Springfield and are you a member of any other garden clubs?

Thanks again - I really appreciate it.

Vicki

There are various degrees of shade.Improve your soil and you can grow lots.I have huge old oaks.Yes,I do have the flowers everyone else mentioned but hydrangeas,daffodils,coneflowers,lilies,helianthus,hardy begonias,azaleas,even iris will bloom in partial shade.The key is the soil.It is dry under trees and you have to make the soil moist with organic matter.I hope you have oaks and not maples.They are tough to work under.Don't be afraid to try annuals too.Posy Pet

Vicki,

I'm not too sure on the hours. I'd say mainly 9-6 maybe, 7 days a week. But I tried to do a search and found they don't open until mid-April, at least that was the plan for them 2 years ago, when the post was from. (Sorry, bad grammar.) But I think I've been there earlier than that. It's one of those family-run places, on their own property, so they're pretty laid back. (Except when they have weddings.) I know someone else here must know better than me. Maybe someone in the Hosta forum will know. If I happen to be out that way sometime soon, I'll check on it for you.

Just did a search on whitepages.com, and their # is (417) 683-3733.

OK, I'll end this little commercial now.... ;)

Leesa

Thanks so much, Leesa.

Posy Pet or any other daring soul - I have a question. When adding organic matter to the soil, am I correct that this should be done in the fall prior to spring planting? I think I killed new plants last spring by working manure into the soil and then planting about a week later (ya think?) :) With all the trees that I have, wouldn't the soil already have a lot of organic matter? Probably stupid questions - but I've got to ask them to learn. I'm reading about soil prep, alkaline soil, ph, acidic soil, but still have lots of questions. Would my soil tend to be acidic due to all of the trees?

I should have chosen the name "garden toddler." So many questions. :0

Thanks.

I know not everyone will agree with me on this.

I worked as a gardener for awhile for someone who just didn't have time for it because of work responsibilities, but he used peat moss. (Some people are ANTI-peat moss.) He had me using it for mulch, 2-3 inches thick all over. Then in springtime we just hand-tilled it into the soil. He said he had been doing it that way for years, and his soil could grow anything! That made a believer out of me, and I've been doing it that way myself ever since. It adds moisture-retentive properties to our clay dirt, and I like to grow lots of water hogs! :D People say around here the soil tends to be alkaline, and so it also helps make it more acidic.

I'll admit I know nothing about manure.

What kind of trees do you have?

Speaking of shade...
Does anyone know if any evergreen shrubs will grow under the shade of oak trees? I have a neighbor who is apparently creating a dumping ground (junk, old car, construction garbage, etc) down by our common fence line at the back of my property. The same area where I have my hammock and a bench under the trees. I now need some evergreen shrubs to plant under the trees to block out the ugly view. The trees are large (mostly oak, some cedar) and their branches don't begin until 10-14' off the ground.
thanks,
Mel

The GOHS is hosting the 2005 Midwest Regional Hosta Society Convention in Springfield and I included the link to pictures of some of the tour gardens included on that tour. All the area hosta gardens should be up and unfurled by the first week in May. The next meeting of the GOHS will be Sunday April 3rd 2P.M. at the Library Center on South Campbell. Much of the program will be convention planning but visitors are welcome. We are all just gardeners and use the common thread of Hostas as an excuse to get together. Many of the members are also Master Gardeners, or members of other garden clubs or societies in the area! Y'all come...Many times there are door prizes for new members and visitors!!!

Lee

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Tour Pictures

Sorry I'm slow getting back Vicki. I'm not very far from Springfield and I am a member of GOHS but not any other garden clubs. I haven't checked any others out so I don't know which ones would be good. I joined GOHS to get the newsletters and it wasn't expensive. I wanted to tour the member gardens. I probably didn't need to join to do that but needed the newsletters to keep up with what's going on. There's a pond society that has garden tours every summer and that is something to see also.
There's a flower show coming up at the new Expo Center in Springfield next weekend(?) where Sears used to be downtown.
I had the title of that book wrong. It's called Hillside Landscaping. I don't have a copy - just remember looking through it at the beautiful photos. It's available at the Greene County Library.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hillside Landscaping

Grace,manure should be aged or better yet,composted before you use it.My experience has been with horse manure and you can burn plants with it and also bring in grass and weeds in it(LOTS)Our soil here in southern MO. is such heavy clay that you have to continually add manure,peat,compost,or shredded leaves to it to keep good tilth.You can also use aged sawdust,potting or topsoil,sand.I planted cedar trees under our old oaks years ago for a windbreak to keep the snow from drifting and they are huge now.Also have green ash near them and they have done good too.Posy Pet

I love shade gardening. Have you thought what white, a lot of white, would do in a shade garden? It's like turning on the lights in a dark room. In S. Texas I had 600 white caladiums beneath my Live Oaks behind a border of monkey grass and Agapanthus. Hostas don't take the heat so well. People passing in cars were forever braking, backing up, and idling in front of our yard. It's really a site to gaze upon. And they work in the moonlight too to effect a very special show at night I vote for a big show of white caladiums among your hostas and am bringing in my caladiums this year for the first time since coming to S. MO. Be sure to get a variety tall enough to show up among your other plants. Marge