Making a garden out back

A while back I found some interlocking cement items cast aside along one of the edges of our back yard. I decided to reclaim them and use them to create a raised perennial garden. I wanted to raise the garden because the maze of tree roots back there make digging one very difficult. I brought in a load of triple mix, and spent part of the day moving it from front to back, supervised my our bear of a puppy.

The whole back yard is quite shady, and with all the mature trees around, I decided to make a garden with a woodland feel. I planted some of the big ostrich ferns. These get up to 4 feet tall and are quite dramatic. They're also the ferns used as edible fiddleheads in Southern Ontario.

Spicecat gave me a container with two plants in it. One is Lysimachia ciliata "Firecracker", a native wildflower known as fringed loosestrife (not to be confused with purple loosestrife, an invasive weed in Ontario). The other plant in the bucket is Polyganatum, or Solomon's Seal, a herbaceous plant of the lily family.

I added three different Coral Bells. I had Coral Bells at Blackthorn, in the partial shade of a Japanese Maple. Based on that experience, I think this spot should have enough light for these plants. At least I hope so.

I planted one red-leafed Mukdenia "Karasuba". I think this plant would like more sun than I have but I think it will tolerate our conditions OK.

I planted half a dozen little Labrador Violets in the biggest holes.

Finally, I planted two Foxgloves, a Camelot Rose Foxglove and a Camelot Lavender Foxglove.

It still looks pretty empty, but give it some time, and it should make a fine garden. In the meantime, I may supplement it with a few annuals for colour.

Looks like rain tonight. Perfect.