Where can I find a good garden design for a shady area of my house?

Question

I live in Zone 6 and would prefer a long flower blooming season.

Would prefer something low maintenance.

The area measures 60' x 10'

Answer 1

Try your local public library. There are tons of great books on gardening of all types which will inspire you. Do not limit yourself to looking up works on shade gardening. One fantastic book is "Creating Small Gardens" by Roy Strong.... it is chock full of nifty garden plans.

Answer 2

Check the Yellow Pages for a botanical garden, garden clubs, and/or agricultural extension agents.  All of these groups will have knowledgeable people more than willing to help!

Another source is the American Horticultural Society.  They publish lots of books on gardening.  Their web site's URL is www.ahs.org

Answer 3

Any of the flower/sales web sites will steer you towards the kind of plants you are looking for.I prefer lillies of the valley for the shade.They spread like weeds and are very hard to kill.

Answer 4

Try typing in shade garden in your search engine.  I did and got 48 million hits.  Here are the first few:

http://www.stonethegardener.com/shade.ht...

http://gardening.about.com/od/problemare...

http://www.extension.umn.edu/distributio...

http://www.backyardgardener.com/shade/in...

http://www.ourgardengang.com/shadegarden...

Good Luck & have fun