Totally new gardener - need shade plants I can't kill
Well, okay, I realize I can pretty much kill anything, but the hardier the better. I'm VERY new to gardening (never really planted anything in the ground, just containers).
I have a very long flower bed I'm cleaning out that runs along the front of my house. Right now it is overrun with some kind of vine/ground cover and I'm just trying to clear out the back half and leave the vines in the front half (it's SO much work to pull them out).
The bed faces West but it gets an awful lot of shade. It's right up against my house, under an overhang and opposite the bed is a large tree that blocks a lot of the westerly sun. So it gets some dappled sun in the afternoon but not much. I'm not sure what kind of soil it is but I am willing to water every day if I need to.
I am located in Austin (zone 8b, I think).
I have a few questions:
1) What is this vine, and will it just overrun any plants I put in the back of the bed?
2) What can I plant back there along the house that will tolerate the shade and won't grow much more than 3 ft or so? I don't want plants blocking the whole front of the house. I *would* like a fairly healthy mix of textures even if I can't get much color. Although I would love to have a little color, too!! Perennials are preferred to annuals but I'd be willing to plant some annuals if they are pretty and it's not too late to plant them (I'm looking at planting this weekend or next).
3) Should I do anything to the soil before planting to get it ready?
Sorry for all of the questions you guys. I searched for "texas shade" but got a lot of conflicting posts. I really, really appreciate any answers I get. I'm totally clueless! :/
Here are pictures:
The bed
The crazy vine
The space I'm trying to clear out at the back of the bed
Does anyone know what this plant is? It's one of the few plants in the garden that hasn't died. It has little pink flowers.
Comments (11)
marlingardener
15 years agopodany4tx
15 years agoRelated Discussions
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