Any suggestions for a really shaded area?

Question

My husband and I just bought a new house. Since fall is approaching here, I'm not sure what to do about the landscaping problem we have in our new back yard. The entire yard is covered at all times of the day with shade trees so grass doesn't grow. We were thinking of cutting one of the morning shade trees down to let in some light.

There are bushes and plants taller than 3' all around the perimeter. I would like to remove all of these, that might let in some light, besides the fact they look terrible.

I'm a huge gardener, love planting flowers, landscaping, would really like it if I could have a garden, but that requires a Lot of sunlight. Is our backyard doomed to be muddy and full of weeds all year?

Answer 1

You can buy grass seed for shady area's, and have you tried cutting down some of the branches, rather than the complete tree's.

Answer 2

I have the same problem: too much shade in the back yard. However, I can't bear to cut down the trees. I started searching on the "materials" and "free" sections of craigslist and posting for fill dirt, bricks, pavers, broken slabs of flat concrete and such on freecycle. I have enough and am almost done with the yard (it's taken close to 3 months to get the materials together and I've completed a little each weekend).

We outlined a huge area with wood, and inside the wood we placed sand, then we placed the recycled concrete and bricks, etc on top of it. We packed the layout with fill dirt and it's really turning out nicely. Toward the end of the yard, we used more wood to make a "garden" area. We planted ivy, hostas, day lillies, 2 small holly bushes, and creeping phlox. We used a red-color mulch to add some color and so far so good.

Get creative. Check out hardscaping sites online. Put in a rock garden. A fish pond. Rock walls. Climbing vines and trellises. Use everyday recycled materials. (The bigger perk is use of "recycled" or "green" items.)

Don't let traditional "landscaping" limit your thoughts & ideas. Trust me when I say my yard is looking beautiful and I can't wait for it to be complete. Good luck!  

Answer 3

My suggestion is to first have the trees "thinned out" so that they let in more light, trim the overgrown bushes and then seek out shade living perennials. For instant color and variety plant some impatiens.

You can always choose a variety of ferns and hostas both of which do quite well in a shady, moist environment.

Answer 4

I have a yard that is largely shade also.  We have Lily of the valley, Periwinkle, ferns, and astilbe, hosta, and columbine, and rock sedum, and perennial allysum and phlox.  They all bloom quite well in lower light.  We also added a few ferns this year and some wild violets but you have to make sure and control these if you use them.  The violets tend to take over if you let them.  To fill in the muddy spots in paths around the foot path I used moss.  This may sound crazy but I took a blender and blended the moss up in it with some water and put it in a sprayer and sprayed it onto the lawn. Anywhere there was a bare patch the moss filled in and it looks beautiful even in the winter.  The part of the lawn that does have some I planted blue grass, perrenial rye grass and red fescue mix.  Here I also filled in with moss on the spots that were still too shady.  Have fun and good luck!