Hi - Here, are a few plants I am looking for to put in a shade garden. Here are just a few plants I am looking for; lady ferns southern wood ferns hostas ajugas astilbes chelone/ turtleheads geraniums wild ginger/ quicksilver epimediums; Frohnleiten Ellen Willmott Splishsplash oakleaf hydrangeas I am switching a sun garden to a shade garden. Let me know. Thank you, Mistee For the trade - I can offer these plants: Hi - I have these for sun, perennials for trade. These plants, never need replacing as they are perennials. I ,am needing shade loving plants. I, would like some perennials. All of these plants are mature, there are no small starts. You, will be getting mature plants. Plants: pink pampass grass, tallish plant. morning glory vine , large electric purple blooms, large heart shaped leaves. tall bearded iris, yellow blooms. fragrant serviceberry bush, pinkish white blooms fragrant , evergreen privet bush, white blooms. variegated, evergreen vinca vine, blue blooms, ground cover. jewel of opar , tallish plants succulent bright green leaves- pink star shaped blooms. mexican petunias , tallish plants bright purple blooms. ornamental grass - monkey grass, spikey purple blooms, ground cover. artemesia , silver grey - grey fuzzy foliage tallish plant. red yucca, nice accent plant with long spike covered in small red flowers, tallish plant. fragrant corkscrew vine, curling purpley,white blooms. red salvia, fragrant tallish plant with red tubular blooms that the hummingbirds love to visit. cuttings; hardy red hibiscus , large red blooms hummingbird bush , red tubular blooms rose of sharon, large lavender blooms I am in zone 8a, Texas. I ship, priority with delivery confirmation and would like the same. I hope, we can trade! I prefer, a multi - plant trade to maximize on the postage. Thanks for looking, Mistee

If you want aggressive groundcovers that spread quickly - but don't invade or affect your larger plants - I have a few I like to use, which are common, easy to find and well-known: Ajuga reptans var. 'Bronze Beauty' - nice dark-leafed groundcover (a mottle of dark purple and olive green leaves) that is very shade-tolerant for the areas closest to the house. Short blue flower spikes in the spring. It will survive droughts but if there's water available it will grow very dense, to make it absolutely impossible for weed seeds to sprout from within it. But it's shallow-rooted so won't compete with your plants, nor will it shade them because it never grows more than 3 inches from the ground. It's easy to spread around by digging small bits that take well even in heat. Sedum spurium 'Red Carpet' - A very attractive red-leafed sedum that will really stand out in contrast to those varigated irises if planted right next to and among them. It is also very low-growing, drought-tolerant so it will not take water that could be going to your other plants, and this particular variety grows pretty slow. Sedum spurium 'Tricolor' - similar to 'Red carpet' but grows more quickly, has a green/white leaf that has a very visible pink blush over it when it's exposed to direct sun; it also turns more pink in the winter, and has pink flowers. Cerastium tomentosum ('Snow In Summer') - spreading silver-leafed ground cover that is also reliably less than 4 inches high, gets absolutely covered in white flowers in the early summer, and would pop against the ajuga and red-leafed sedum. It wouldn't contrast as well against the iris so I wouldn't plant it right there, but because it's the most drought-tolerant, I'd put it right up against the edge of the garden.

Hello i have an area on side of house i was going to reseed around this fall august/september etc. My question is should i go with a hard fescue blend of hard fescue, chewings,and creeping fescue or just go with a tall fescue blend? This reseeding project primarily will be in shade under pine trees etc. I was just contemplating should i get hard fescue only for shade areas and a tall fescue for the sunny areas. Or just go with this hard fescue blend all around the house not just in shady areas?

I would say there are a number of factors that contributed to the growth difference in the Sun Sugar, which you mentioned. 2 weeks longer in their starter container - as mentioned that can cause some stunting. overcrowding - 8 tomato plants in a 4'x8' is crowded, 10 is very crowded and then 20 cuke plants?? ahhh! Even if you removed every sucker, that's not only overcrowded in the soil, but really reduces airflow, which can promote disease. No fertilizer used in the raised beds(whatever soil was added probably had minimal nutrients) water - while your plants in the raised bed probably weren't in dire need of water, they weren't getting the little extra dose. Young transplants need more frequent watering than mature plants, which have large root systems that can search deeper in the soil. They may have been able to squeak by with the rainfall, but that raised bed has a lot of mouths to feed. That's not to say that your plants in the raised bed won't produce delicious fruit and be healthy, but they weren't babied as much as your container plant. Adding high nitrogen fertilizer is not truly what you want, unless you plan on eating tomato leaves :-p A balanced fertilizer is what you want, so the plant can grow, but also produce flowers and fruit(which require the P and K as well). Ya live and ya learn! That's what gardening is all about!