Well welcome to GW, we have a wonderful lot of people here that Im sure will give you advice....Since I'm a huge novice I won't attempt to give you any advice or suggestions..just wanted to welcome you to GW!
Dena

Welcome! I had lots of weeds growing in the grassy area behind my fence this spring and got sick of it, so went out when the soil was moist from the rain and dug it all up. I did use some leftover timbers along there to keep the soil in. I have a picket fence, so I can see what's growing there and planted yellow cosmos and threw a bit of compost over them. They are blooming beautifully right now.

But, you have a different situation with not being able to see the plants and you have shade. I think something like liriope or mondo grass would be an excellent option if it gets a little water runoff. If not, seed the area with horse herb. It doesn't get very tall and will fill in the area nicely. You can even mow the stuff if it gets a little taller than what you'd like, but really don't need to even do that.

I second the mondo grass idea since you need something low.

But you must first get rid of all the other grasses and weeds or you will have one heck of a time later trying to keep it looking nice.

below is my alley bed (with the cannas) and my neighbor's with mondo grass, and crepe myrtles (which for some reason she whacked down to the ground.

Wow, Melvalena, that looks great! What is that in front of the cannas? Does it require alot of water? I'd love to do something like that, but don't want to have to water it too terribly much. Do you have some kind of edging around the cannas to keep them from spreading too much? Tell me how you did that!

Those plants in front of the cannas are Artemesia 'Powis Castle'.

The plants in front of the cannas I was told several years ago are silver mound artemisia. I started them all from cuttings.

Honestly I'm confused over which artemisia it is. I just know I love it there! I have to whack 'em back in the early spring. During the winter they fall open and splay out looking pretty bad. So they get cleaned up some when I get in there and clean up all the canna stuff. I don't water that bed any more than the rest of the yard gets. It gets wet when the sprinkler system runs for the grass. It gets late afternoon sun only.

I just let the cannas go and do their thing. They and the artemisia have to duke it out. :)

This is that bed's third year I think. I may have to get in there and cut the artemisia back some this summer--its getting pretty close to the edge of the ally now.

Here's what it looked like late this winter:

Abilene is really dry and dusty. But you said this area is shady? You could use sedums if there is at least half a day of sun on the area. Mondo grass is fairly drought tolerant but you might need to water it if it hasn't rained in a month or two. Horseherb is practically invincible.

I thought it kinda looked like some kind of artemesia, but I've never seen artemesia in that large a planting look that good!! I'll show your photo to DH and see if he thinks it's a good idea (less for him to mow!!) Thanks. Sorry to hijack your thread abileneblues, but just had to find out about that alley garden. I have horseherb and a really shady location that I'm trying out with hard borders so it can't escape. I might worry that it would creep under the fence and envade what's on the other side. But it is an attractive little ground cover with tiny yellow flowers, pretty leaves, and a light green color. I like it alot. You might also look at veronica georgia blue. I have that where it gets sun till trees leaf out in spring, then it is mostly shaded, and it makes a nice mat and not terribly aggressive. Pretty blue flowers in mass in early spring.

Wow Melvalena, your alley looks great. My cannas don't look that good without regular watering.

What about sedum? It's low growing & drought tolerant.

Thanks for the advice and the welcome.

That alley bed does look awesome.

I like the mondo grass idea. I also have alot of liriope bordering 2 beds in the front that needs to be thinned before it takes over everything (except the morning glory, which will have to be nuked from orbit).

abileneblues,
It sounds like you have a good start for your alley bed once you thin out your liriope! Throw some sedums and maybe some other low growing flowering things and you will have a nice little alley bed too. :) I did spend about a year doing the lasanga thing on that area first. Just piled grass clippings and leaves on top of layers and layers of wet wet newspapers. Over and over, I'd just keep piling it on there.

I still have some grass pop up but its easy to pull and keep under control now that the ground is so loose.
That area was mostly full of weedy grass/some bermuda but mostly the weedy stuff before.

debndal, Let me know if your hubby agrees and you want cuttings. These things root very easily and like I said.. they could stand to be cut back pretty soon. I could furnish just about the whole world with what I have growing there.

look what I just ran across!!

I think its a great combo!

Here is a link that might be useful: verbena bonariensis blooming in a base of artemisis

Melvalena - DH like the idea of an alley garden. He said anything I can do to reduce mowing and dragging a hose behind the fence to water is great with him. I'm a little scared of trying that large a planting of artemesia - especially since that area doesn't really get much suplemental water (only 2 sprinkler heads back there, and they don't cover the whole area). It also faces south, so gets sun all day with reflected heat from the fence and concrete alley. I'm thinking Copper Canyon Daisy - I've always wanted to try them but don't have much sun in the yard. So I'm gonna work on finding a companion plant or 2 to go with them. Thanks for the offer of the cuttings tho, and especially thanks for the pic to show me how pretty an alley garden can be. It's a project that will have to wait till fall or early spring.

I'm glad your Hubby liked the idea and gave you to go ahead.
You'll have so much fun planning it and all your neighbors will just love it and you too. Alley beds tend to be so ugly and neglected.
With your restrictions re water, if you still want to consider something that might need more than your sprinkler heads can deal with, don't forget about soaker hoses. Before our sprinkler system was installed that's what I did back there.

Both the cannas and the artemisia are supposed to need a longer period of sun than my alley offers but they both do great back there. Cannas are supposed to be water hogs..but I haven't noticed them complaining. Maybe around Aug some of the leaves get a little burnt but they still stand up and flower.
The artemisa is pretty stout. I've seen it grow HUGE out by a 6 lane road, full sun and very very little water. In fact that is the plant I got my first cuttings from. I don't think they ever watered it, it only got what rain fell on it and it looked great, which is why I wanted it.

I never dreamed those 2 plants would co exist so well together.

I love your artemesia so much, I may change my mind back, or at least use the artemesia in a small area to start to see how it does. I wonder how it would look with the CCD. The possibilities are endless with full sun back there. So much fun planning!

Melvalena,
I got a bit of that artemesia from you at the LISDOLA spring swap of 06. She's a beauty and has been shared with several other gardeners, just wanted to let you know. Sorry to hijack your thread abileneblues ;-)

Pam

pkponder,

Lucky for you, my lawyer is on vacation. :-D

abileneblues ;-D

In our old house where all we had was blazing sun, we planted prickley pear. It was beautiful in the spring when it all bloomed. At this house where we have some shade, we planted lirope with nandina behind it. It requires very little or no water. We watered it twice the first year and haven't watered it at all since.

gardener972,

I actually love prickly pear and have been wondering where to include it in the landscaping. How much does it spread? I wouldn't want it too near the fence so I can replace/repair it without inflicting damage on myself. I also wouldn't want it to spread to my neighbor's property uninvited.