Looking forward to Lisa chiming in. This is a nice spot for some pretties. :)

How moist is it and do you like to water? :) Hydrangeas do best on the north side of a house (in Oklahoma) . I would recommend the Endless Summer type. My Nikkos were just about killed off after last year. Endless summers bloom on new wood, so they recover easier. Hostas could grow there. Probably azaleas.

Do people see this side during the winter? Is a dormant flower bed ok visually there? The north side of my house came with a eunonymous (?) Hedge that stays green all winter.

Haha Bon, we were posting at the same time :)

haha Lisa!

Ferns and lily of the valley would do as well.

can we have a broader looking picture? with more of the house/ yard?

Here's a pic of the full back yard. I want to put a flower bed in the middle where the bird bath is. There is a shed about 10ft. north of the birdbath. back of the house faces a neighbor that's yard is terrible. They mow every 2-3 wks. The weeds are usually a foot tall!! I'm putting up a privacey fence soon!!
I like gardens out where I can see it from the house! Going to try one as all my other homes have had them close to the house and you really couldn't see unless you went outside.
Lisa I don't mind watering. I havent watered this part of the yard for a couple months just what the rain has given it. I was trying to get it dried out! I love the Hydrangeas.
thanks everyone for your great ideas!

sorie, with lots of work, you can transform this to anything you want.

But first, address your moisture problem. Can you put extensions on your downspouts to channel the water further away when it rains?

Do you want annuals, perennials, evergreens? The closer you plant to the house, the more shade tolerant the plant should be.

I had the whole back yard to work with. Mine is south side. I plant castor beans every year for shade... :)

Here is my before,

one from last Summer

and one from this summer.

All this took lots of work, sweat, and free plants from everyone that gave some away.

I bought the grapes, and the herbs however.

and now, I have to do some organizing and move some plants around before next summer.... and of course, I am still on the mission of digging up bermuda grass.

Moni

Sorie, have you thought about a chaste tree (vitex) in the center of the yard? It would give you flowers, butterflies and also do some blocking :) They grew pretty quickly too. They are a soft wood tree similar to a crepe myrtle.

Autumn joy sedum will take a partial shade area. They bloom right now. Mums can take partial shade too.

lisa_h will this tree stand up to ice storms they say they have here? It is really pretty. do you have one?
Moni what a nice job on your yard! We already have extentions on the downspouts.
I realize I have an open pallet! I just need some feed back. I'm thinking rock garden close to the house! No plants close. But then again I may change my mind. I've been known to do that. ;>)
One thing I forgot to say is a mole lives in my yard and it stays pretty close to this side of the house? Is that because it's moist and he has lots of food.worms and such? I've not seen many worms in my yard. wished he move on!!
Thanks everyone for you ideas! Keep them coming.

This post was edited by sorie6 on Mon, Sep 23, 13 at 14:19

The north side of our two-story house gets mostly shade and has two planter boxes, and one is in really good shape with hydrangeas, several kinds of heuchera, various hostas and golden moneywort plus I have daffodil bulbs in there for spring. The other bed isn't quite there yet, needs some work, but has a gorgeous Japanese maple, a few hostas and lots of lily of the valley and creeping euonymous - I think even 4'oclocks have gotten in there. I wouldn't recommend the creeping euonymous lily of the valley unless you like to cut back/divide pretty frequently. I want to clean it all out except the Japanese maple and put back the hostas but add a few new things, too. Here are a few pics, I can take some wide-view ones and post later.

No, vitex is not really a tree to stand up to ice storms, but it grows quickly and blooms on new wood, so that is not really a problem in terms of flowering. I have heard you can cut them to the ground every year if you want. We were at the State Fairgrounds yesterday and I notice they treat theirs like crepe myrtles....topping them around waist or shoulder height. I don't do that :)

However, I haven't lost any limbs to ice as far as I know, so it is not a super brittle tree.

Here is a link for an idea if you like to think outside of the box and would go for something less conventional. If you are interested, I can suggest some plants. This is similar to the route I chose to go.

I would not treat this area like a shade garden with hydrangeas, hosta and ferns unless you plan to plant some trees and shrubs and do a lot of soil amending.

You desperately need definition if you plan to go conventional. A good way to go is to lay out a garden hose to define a preferably curved garden area, kill or dig the grass out and work on the soil in stages. Then plant some defining plants (bones) and add interest as time and the situation suggests. You can then enlarge the areas as you are able and if you so desire. You will need to install some sort of barrier to keep bermuda from invading.

I would start out with tough drought hardy shrubs or plants in a situation like this to avoid probable failure.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://planobluestem.blogspot.com/2010/08/welcome-to-plano-prairie-garden.html

Keep in mind that Grove gets around 42 inches of rain most years. While you may have to water in July and August in dry summers, it is unlikely that you will have to water at other times of the year.

Oh my, that is a lot of rain isn't it. I am so unfamiliar with that part of Oklahoma, we drove through there last spring for the first time and its looks very different up there, completely different native grasses and trees. I didn't realize.

and if you want to kill that bermuda grass with round up, do it NOW! While it is still green.

Right now, you have the time for a second spraying, if it didn't all die, before the grass goes dormant because of cold temps.

Moni

Good thread. I was looking for something else and found this.

Recommended Plants for Oklahoma