The Good, The Ok and the Downright Ugly

Today was a perfect day for some garden photography. There was a light, misty rain, enough that I used an umbrella to protect my camera. Overcast days give you the perfect light to take photos in the garden. Bright sunlight washes out the colors and will give you terrible shadows.

While taking photos I always think I'm taking way to many but now as I sit at the computer I wish I had taken more. This first photo shows the spot I was working on yesterday. The Hosta 'Liberty' is just to-die-for. There was a sickly looking daisy in front of it, the spot only gets morning sun and the daisy wasn't happy. To the right was a daylily that was there for 12 years and it never really thrived.

I decided to stop trying to fight the shady afternoons and go with shade plants. Isn't this a great combination now?

The shade beds in the back are really starting to put on a show. I just love all the different textures and foliage colors. Photos like this remind me to keep looking for great foliage, perennials just don't flower long enough to rely upon their blooms.

Ah ha, here's a spot that needs a bit of oomph. I've cleared out a large Astilbe and decided to add another spectacular Hosta 'Liberty' in this location. The other Hosta here look amazing but are getting too crowded. Just last week I was thinking that there was too much space between them.

Uh oh, a hole! This spot out front is where I stuck my pitchfork through the sprinkler line last year. Time to think of something to fill that area but it's going to take some real thought. I need to chose a low growing plant that has a shallow, easy to remove root system since I never want to stick my pitchfork there again.

One more uh oh spot. The cinder block in the bottom right corner is to hold my shade trough up and out of the plant material. If you want to see more about the troughs, click here on Old Country Garden and you'll see the post about them.

Two more problems are visible here, there's a ton of weeds just popping up and the Hydrangea in the top left corner had quite a bit of winter kill and needs to be cut back while I can still get in there.

That's it for today's post. See how helpful those garden photos were!

Melanie