What beautiful hostas and what a lovely setting.

What are all those little spots of white? Hardy geranium?

So sorry to hear of the ash borer! THat is my nightmare, as my woods in predominantly ash.

Spots of white - in the first picture...? Those are Corydalis ochroleuca. I love them - which is good because they seed around furiously! However they are relatively easy to remove and don't seem to choke out other things. They are just about the first thing to green up in spring and bloom from April to November. They are my groundcover for most of the shade garden.

I actually don't mind too much re the ash. I have been sort of planning/planting for a few years assuming the ash would come down sometime soon. It'll be a bit hard on the garden for awhile but I've got a lot of ideas of what to do when the conditions change.

The backyard woodland garden is actually my favorite part of the garden (hence my screen name...)

Hmmm, I have corydalis lutea and corydalias elata, but I've never seen ochreleuca. I will have to look for it, I like the sparkle that white adds.

Looks like everyone but Flora is coming on board to read this.
I don't believe she replied to my GREEN Garden photo I posted in her topic either. Hmmmm....

Whatever.

Your shady back yard is wonderfully inviting. Looks like many of the old Southern gardens with hostas and such. I like it VERY much.

Thanks for posting this.
~Annie

Hey, come on,sweetannie, give us a chance! - I do do other things besides sit at my computer although I like to look and see what's new quite often. Today, Sunday, I have been out most of the day, then I went to a concert, read the Sunday papers and now I'm cooking a roast chicken .... and don't forget the time difference. I love all the green gardens especially woodyoak's lovely seating area. I don't know whether to be jealous that it's warm enough to eat outdoors often where she lives or pleased that when it IS finally warm enough here we don't have any mosquitos. Same goes for the beautiful hostas - I can't grow them to save my life because of the snails and slugs. But then we only have those because it is so wet and that means I don't need to irrigate. Swings and roundabouts like everything else.

Very inviting pictures - the older I get the more I appreciate the 'green' look. Now that I actually have a wooded property (mostly pines) to play on I am looking at green and texture to take center stage in the woodland areas. My latest order from Bluestone Perennials was mostly woodland type plants - heucheras and geraniums. I had a wonderful internet friend send me 4 big boxes of hostas from her gardens due to downsizing to a condo last year so I have the hostas that I need. A 'green' garden is very relaxing to stroll through. I will always have my cottage garden with the riot of color but other gardens are more restraint in color TFS .......

Lynne

Flora - snails! Oh yeah - I've got snails!! Most of the hostas I grow are the big ones with thick foliage. While the snails definitely attack them - and most other things too, especially things with big leaves - I'm not a 'neat freak' and can live with the holes. I'm aiming for fairly natural conditions in the garden - and I've got 'em! :-) Other than in the first two years of establishing an area, I don't irrigate much either. I will water a new plant for the first year or so but after that it is on its own to survive or die as it will. I call it Darwinian gardening - survival of the fittest!

I know the cottage garden is largely about flowers, veggies and sun. But I'm sure all of you probably have some shady green areas too. sweetannies picture was unexpected given her climate. I'd love to see more pictures of how other's green/shady gardens look - post them here?

Nothing is more calming and welcoming than a green garden in the shade. You did a really good job!

Your yard is just so inviting. Deffinately lots of green. My favorite picture is the one of the walkway along side the house. I just want to go back along the path and see whats there.

Thanks Oakleyok - ten years of work and more in the works as the big ash comes down soon...

Rita - the patio is the destination if you continue forward. Going back takes you up the south alley and there's not much happening there until the New Dawn rose starts blooming on the swag in a week or so. Outside the alley gate is looking quite nice though.
South alley gate:
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Moving back from there towards the driveway there's a big common lilac that has just finished blooming and is in dire need of deadheading! And back from that is another 'star' - The President clematis in full bloom (the color is washed-out in this picture):
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The south alley is shorter than the north alley - only about 25' and gets a bit more sun. The sideyard leading to the gate is almost directly south-facing so the green garden doesn't really start until you exit the south alley (although there are some ferns in the alley against the neighbour's privacy fence by their patio.) My garden has two faces - the outward-looking colorful one and the inner serene green one. Something to please everybody :-)

That's your alley gate! Wow! That is just beautiful!
You have such a beautiful place.

woodyoak, what a delightful and cool looking space. And that alley gate is fabulous :)

That alley gate photo looks like a magazine cover shot. GOrgeous!

Thanks for the nice comments re the gate... It will be undergoing some major changes in late July/August. Currently, the spring show is what you see in the picture above. Then the mockorange (the bush the clematis is climbing on) blooms with the New Dawn rose (the mess on top of the arbour). That is followed by Jackmanii Superba clematis spilling down from the top of the arbour as New Dawn is finishing its major bloom flush. Then it goes 'quiet' on the outside of the gate, although there is a Rose of Sharon that blooms in August at the end of the rose swag at the bottom of the alley. I am concerned that the mass of New Dawn canes is getting too heavy, plus the arbour needs cleaning and perhaps repainting. So, when the Jackmanii Superba finishes blooming we're going to strip everything off the arbour and swag, clean up the arbour, and let everything start again, swagging all suitable canes as they arise so there won't be the big volume of stuff on the top. The arbour should then be dominated by the clematises with the rose adding some blooms to the arbour but more on the swag. I've also just bought a 'Little Lamb' hydrangea which will be planted between where the dwarf lilac is and the arbour. It will add white flowers on that side when or just after the mockorange blooms. The the hydrangea flowers start turning pink and are a quite intense pink by October. So that should extend the season of display by the gate. There are a few pink mums just up from the mockorange so they should 'go' with the hydrangea in the fall.

Woodyoak, that garden is so inviting. Makes me want to sit and enjoy the beauty of it.

Thanks a2zmom.

We've started the process of painting the shed green. It looks a bit odd at this point because the prime coat is lighter than the finish coat will be, and the door is still blue instead of the dark green it will ultimately be. DH took this picture of it from the roof this morning:
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I'm aiming to make the shed about the same color as some of the darker greens in the picture. I might have to go with a darker green than we've chosen at this point - it's the darker of the two sticks in the picture below (the lighter is the prime coat that is on it now.) The door will be a few shades darker yet. I think I might end up painting the shed it all the door color.

It's hard to get the 'right' green. I want the shed to fade into the green background and let the plants stand out. If the green is too light (as the primer is..) your eyes travel past the plants and come to rest on the shed. If the color's dark enough, your eyes should be drawn to the lighter green of the plants and stop there. It might take us a couple of tries to get the 'right' green!
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