Backyard Garden

[06Honda]

This area gets total shade during the summer so growing grass is not going so well. Looking for some ideas to green this area up with plants; etc. I have thought about removing some branches from the trees around but the roots are most likely getting most of the water from the inground sprinkler so this may not be a good option. I am open to just about anything except cutting down any trees. Thanks for any help.

Kingston Ontario
Zone 5B

[nes]

Clover?

[rainbowgardener]

You could make a lovely shade garden, with ferns and hostas and lots of shade wildflowers:

anemone, black cohosh, columbine, wild ginger, bunchberry, trout lily, heuchera, tiarella, trout lily, Virginia bluebells, solomon seal.

It would mean watering regularly at first to get everything established. But if you mix some peat moss/ potting soil into your soil before you plant to help it hold moisture and mulch after planting, it should get by without too much watering once well established.

[bullthistle]

Potting soil? Must be a rust belt thing. I'd use peat and cow manure and when planting throw a handful of bone meal into each hole. You want to get as much nutrients you can into the soil because more then likely the tree has removed all of it and another reason why grass won't grow, besides the water.