Andrewmach
Newly Registered
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Mar 02, 2017 10:53 am
Location: Rhode Island

Small shade garden design help

I am very new to gardening and have a small bed along the side of my house that receives very little sun. The bed is about 15 ft long and 2 ft deep.

Looking for some advice on where to position my tubers to get the most full and asthetically pleasing result.

I have a few blue hostas, John peed caladium and bleeding hearts. Because I am very new at this I have no idea what these will look like in the space once they come up, how tall, wide etc. Any advice would be appreciated!

imafan26
Mod
Posts: 13947
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

It helps to know where you are located. Please update your profile with your location and zone. Also a picture would help

Andrewmach
Newly Registered
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Mar 02, 2017 10:53 am
Location: Rhode Island

Zone 6a in Rhode Island. But all I would like to know is where I should plant each item to give me the fullest final product. Which should be planted towards to back or front to give me a graduated look so I will be able to see each plant, how wide will they grow so I know if I need to buy more bulbs to fill out the space, or if I should buy other types as filler? Maybe some decorative grass?

ButterflyLady29
Greener Thumb
Posts: 1030
Joined: Mon Oct 19, 2015 9:12 pm
Location: central Ohio

Caladium is not winter hardy in your area. It will have to be dug in the fall, stored indoors over winter, and replanted outdoors in the spring. They grow to be 18 to 24 inches tall and wide, according to what I found on the net.

What is the name of your blue hosta? The variety is very important because not all blue hostas are the same size.

Bleeding hearts grow to around 2 feet by 2 feet but go dormant in hot dry summers so that might leave a gap in your design.

So how many of each do you have? One way to plant it out would be alternate the hosta and bleeding heart and leave the caladium all together at one end. Since your plants will grow to be about 2 feet wide there might not be room for much more. You could plant some spring bulbs in between each plant but more toward the front. Snowdrops and chiondoxa would be done flowering before the other plants come up. If you want native flowers Spring Beauties and red Trilliums are beautiful.



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