Marie, I do the same thing, trial and error and that does end up causing more moving than if someone has a good plan that they are happy with. Are there gardeners who can plan something, install it and live happily ever after? [g]

At this point though, after about 20 years of experimenting, I think I know what I end up happy with. At least the palette of plants. I find I'm not moving as much as I used to.

I think you still enjoy gardening. Maybe you like thinking about it, deciding what you'd like to do and then moving everything around. The whole process is probably something you enjoy. It becomes frustrating if you're not able to move the plants the way you once were. Maybe you can enlist some help to do that part of it?

In a shrub border, I'm just as happy with mulch under my shrubs. In a mixed bed with perennials and shrubs, I've kept the shrubs away from the edges and filled in with perennials of different heights with the shrubs in the middle and shorter heights along the edges. Edgers. But you are talking about shade, right? In the shade, epimediums, European ginger, cranesbill, some low ornamental grasses. If you have enough room a hosta or a fern here and there.

Marie, can you add a photo? My memory is that you have a tough time taking and posting photos, but perhaps your daughter or SIL might be able to help?

I almost always use low growers under the edges of shrubs along the outside of a bed. What I use depends on how it looks as far as flower timing (I like to extend bloom so don’t match bloom times) and needed height of foliage along with color and texture of foliage and how it works with the shrubs. I don’t worry about flower color beyond that they don’t clash If they bloom together because the foliage is really the focus for most of the year. I might focus on plants that have evergreen foliage.

Pm 2, You hit on the reason for my frustration. It simply is not as easy to enjoy the digging, the moving and planting as it used to be. I think that may be why I am- this far into the game- looking for a formula that will work and keep me satisfied. For the last two years I had a crew come and do the fall and spring clean up which left me with more energy for plant play.

This spring was a whole new game, wasn't it? Also I am only working half of what I used to and I felt I had the time to do it myself. Actually, it wasn't the time...I didn't feel justified spending a lot of money on help. DH can't assist me any longer All life's circumstances contrived to affect my feelings about the garden. OTOH, I'd have gone mad without it.
Another failed zoom call? Go weed. Calling the same people and never getting an answer- stroll around looking at the spring flowers. Pools closed, can;t swim for my poor back. There's a thousand things to enjoy outside. No energy to clean house? go weed!

Barb, thank you for your concise answer. You reminded me of what I know, which is no small amount. Usually a few neighbors and friends would have visited and offered some compliments by this time! Sometimes I just need a little ego boost. Or at least a conversation! not this year while we're in our hidey-holes. I feel isolated from my fellow plant lovers.and, like most of us, from neighbors, workmates, even the postal carrier and the UPS delivery guy. can't take time to chat.

I've been taking a few photos because I have a 'black hole' spot in the sun garden and want some ideas from others. My photos are painful to look at. I'm don't even rise to the level of amateur. It is painful that my photographs are such a poor representation of my work But I'm not trying to win a contest am I?

This got awful long winded, It's not about gardening, its the state of the world, my mind and my body. That's another reason I'm glad to have a garden. .

A

Marie - I feel for you Marie, and understand how that goes. And yes, for sure, this spring was such an unexpected turn of events. My daughter loves Zoom. She and her friends have really made use of it to allow them not to feel so cut off. My husband has been working from home and we seem to have a routine going that feels fairly comfortable now. But, our usual visits with family have been sorely missed. I have seen a very big uptick in people walking around the neighborhood. My only full sun bed is in front, so I do end up visiting with people as they pass at a distance sometimes. We did get into Boston to walk around the Public Garden with our daughter one Sunday morning at 7am, with our masks on. That was a treat that we all really needed.

This spring was definitely the year to have a garden to play in. From what I hear, a lot of people have turned to gardening . My season is a little different this spring. No trips to the nursery, we ordered bags of mulch delivered this week. No local plant sales. No tomato seedlings or annuals for the pots. I’m still content, as long as I have one area of the garden that I’m happy with to watch it change from month to month and week to week. The projects that I have for the garden every year, keep my head in the game, but in those year’s when I can’t really make any progress on them, it can get frustrating. Some years, by the time I feel caught up with spring clean up, it’s hot and I might not even start a project the rest of the season until possibly the fall when it gets cooler again.

I’ve hired help in the past with some successes and some disappointments. I found someone at one of the garden clubs who came to help in the garden and I found what she was best at was pruning, so I quickly changed my priorities and asked her to do everything in the garden that needed it. I was very satisfied with her work. Lucky for me, because she was too busy to do it after that season. I’m still reaping the benefits of that work she did. I can do an adequate job, but she had a real eye for it.

I’ve worked with people from Craig’s list and that ran the gamut of some really excellent and special people who I wish were available for a longer period of time to some that made me think hard about whether I wanted to use Craig’s list again. [g]

Glad you are posting again, Marie.