Here's a drawing of part of my yard. it's basically my path to the back alley where I park my car. The dirt part is between the garage and a fence and gets virtually no light ever (it's also the area I discovered floods when the snow melts). Anyway, Ebony has pretty much taken care of the grass in the 8X8' area. I had planned to get rid of the grass anyway (less to mow) and now I guess is as good a time as any. I need ideas of what might be cheap, fast, and easy (I know you are only supposed to get 2 of the 3 but I keep pushing my luck).
So far I've considered getting some landscaping fabric and rocks/gravel and doing the long dirt area and that square part. I have a bird bath I could put in there and I think I could maybe do something with some plant life like hostas maybe.
Or, maybe building a raised bed in the square and rocks/gravel on the dirt but that lets Eb out(and the easy part of my wishes) if she likes the spot to pee and really if she will go on the gravel that would be great as it's easy to hose it away.
Oh, I have a fairly large ground level patio that would be on the bottom part of this picture and butts right up to the grassy areas so seating area etc. are already taken care of.
any ideas or other possibilities you can think of?
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"cheap, fast, and easy (I know you are only supposed to get 2 of the 3 but I keep pushing my luck)." except when it comes to me - I have, over the years, found 3 out of 3 on several occasions lol :hairpull:
There are some order online nurseries out your way.
Hole's Nursery
[url]http://www.bluestem.ca/hardiness.htm[/url]
On the blue stem site they list a few grasses for zone 2-3 plus you can see the photos. That would be agreaqt idea and attract the birds too for the seeds in fall.
also [url]http://canada-gardens.com/1shopping.html[/url]
[url]http://www.sunstruckhostas.ca/index_files/SunStruck_Hosta_Catalogue_A_to_B.htm[/url]
thanks for the idea. We are a zone 2- 3 here so vines are limited especially when it comes to deep shade. I love hostas and was thinking if I covered that strip and the square in round pea gravel I could insert some hostas every few feet for green.
Timing is everything...while typing my next door neighbour came over to see if I'd like some rouge trees cut down (Yes!) and he and I had a chat about my backyard. they are big gardeners and he mentioned that the square area I have is perfect for some ornamental grasses since they wouldn't be able to spread and would get lots of sun. That hadn't occurred to me so that was helpful.
You could use gravel on those spots or mulch. Mulch tracks in on dog paws though and if it is dyed it stains any white on the dog's fur. Hostas would grown in low light and the ones with more white on the leaves would be pretty. For more colour you could add planters around. Can you get a nail into the garage outer wall ? If so you could hang some garden decor stuff or even a bird house. :) What about a vine ? Ivy Duckfoot trails and is zone 4-5 I think,
Blue Wysteria tolerates shade but it may not grow in your zone. There is also Porcelain Berry vine (red) that needs some sun.