The first pic, in the post above, is from 2011, before the front garden was finished.

Today: The Elephant Ear plant is doing well, although it takes a LOT more water than I had imagined. The begonias survived the summer, but we lost alla the lobelias. So, I decided to try the alyssum in that bed, for now. Cheaper and easier to use the clippings from the alyssum I trimmed in the front garden, than to buy more seeds. It'll do until I have enough cash to finish the shade garden the ay I really want to do it,.

It really looks nice.

Including the hose and hose reel, I have less than a hundred bucks invested in that shade garden

. A little, here - and a little, there, and after awhile things start to look pretty good.

Thanks for the pics. I like seeing what you've done on the north side! As you know I'm (still) trying to decide what to do with the north side of our house too.

I don't really have a planting diagram for it. I was basically thinking about foxglove and hostas, Mebbe a few ferns. That sort of thing.

I think you have transformed that area and the path is a good use for that shady area. Paths are very practical and I tend to not have room and let plants encroach on mine. When plants reseed in paths I let them stay and when they flop over the path I let them block it. What is the material in your path? How deep is it? The good thing about shade is that Bermuda can't thrive in it. Shade gardens are easier to tend in the summer and less likely to be taken over by the worst weeds. Now that it is sale time, I would be checking for shade plants at Lowes because when Christmas trees come they mark things down and move them out.

Helen, the path has a layer of landscape cloth, sand, landscape cloth and then gravel. In the shade garden, I'm afraid that neither the sand nor the gravel are very deep. The rest of the garden, the paths were dug eight inches deep and filled with four inches of sand and four inches of gravel, layered with landscape cloth.

Personally, I like the plants to encroach on the walkways just a bit. Ok. mebbe a lot.

It is nice to be able to push a wheelbarrow or little wagon into the garden on a path. Paths let you get in to pull weeds. Paths like yours would show up snakes.