I haven't posted on here recently, but when I was getting my shade garden going a couple of years ago I asked questions and got a lot of help. So I'm here to show what I've done and maybe encourage someone else.

My garden is on the N side of our house in Chicago. It would get nice morning light but for the 6' fence beside it! It's only about 8x12'. However, in that tiny space I have a 2x3' pond with water babbling over a flat rock, a 'Bloodgood' Japanese Maple, a dwarf 'Dorothy Swift' rhododendron (blooming this year for the first time), an 'Elf' mountain laurel, brunnera macrophylla and 'Jack Frost', Cinnamon, Japanese Painted and Bladderberry Ferns, Kirengeshoma Palmata, Ligularia 'The Rocket,' Jack in the Pulpit, Wood Trillium, Solomon's Seal (vigorous this year), Celandine Poppy (very happy), Galax Urceoleotata (from North Carolina and missing it)...and a few other things I can't remember.

From my experience it really paid to make the soil bed right, and I 'double dug' this entire bed. It was exhausting! I amended the clay Chicago soil with sand, old wood chips, a lot of compost, and in particular a bagged product called 'Black Forest.' I mulch heavily and occasionally sprinkle a little sulphur. The soil is very black and rich and smells great when you turn it over.

All these photos are from the last week, except the mountain laurel, which is from last June...it's getting ready to bloom soon.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/ahthatcher/album?.dir=9b47&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos