A Human's Garden in the Shade

Apparently my ear worm for the day is by the Beatles.  You're welcome.

I've been living in my Queens apartment for 3?  4? years...(I've lost track a bit).  Since then, my 5-container garden has blossomed (you see what I did there?) into a 7-container garden, and I've had a lot of fun learning what you can and can't do with about 2 hours of sunlight.

You can't plant anything that needs any sun.

BUT, you CAN dress it up for the holidays!

Here, the 'evergreens' in the outermost pots and the two front pots are synthetic, but they and the red bows seem to have weathered (I did it again!) the season well enough to re-use for the coming winter.  I would love to light this up, but I've no access to an outlet here.  Future dreams for future homes.

And you CAN plant bulbs (if you never expect them to return the following year; in a shade garden, bulbs have to be treated as annuals once they've bloomed.  Worth it.).

          

Like crocuses...........................................         and grape hyacinths...........................



          

and the one daffodil that came up........................      and tulips!


That was a bit of a surprise, because I could have sworn I planted irises.  That's what happens when 6 months go by between planting and blooming (and you don't label your garden).


I definitely crammed everything in pretty tight, which is why I think 90 percent of the daffodils told me to stick it where the sun don't shine (I'm on a roll!) but I did get that one survivor, and it was a beaut.


Then some critter (dog? raccoon?) trampled all over my bulbs and turned them into weeping tulips.

Jerk.

It was about time for the summer annuals, anyway.

Like impatiens (seen here with hosta)   And begonias!

All Together Now: (Earworm #2)

(And some barely visible bugleweed with the yew.  But you get the idea.)

In a way, gardening in the shade has been a great challenge--there are really very few plants to choose from, but having limited choices isn't the same as having no choices or having bad choices.  I'm pretty pleased with the outcome, and it is pretty much the cutest little garden on the block, if I do say so myself.

And I do.

Go plant something!