Spring!

[CCOKC]

A weekly pool party? Are you going to provide the food and drinks?

[westsidesooner]

CC Im jealous. As much as I love the council groves area and all the beautiful trees there one thing missing. I've always wanted a pool. (I'm solar powered) While some of our neighbors do have pools I just cant see fighting all the tree debris to keep one clean. Also I miss having a sunny area to plant veggies. The only sun we have is a small part of our front yard. I may have to look into a community garden to grow my veggies if there are any on the okc area.

Since there appears to be several gardeners here I'll pose two more question. 1. Is there any plant that can survive in total shade? We have a large eave on our home 3-4' and Im trying to find something that will grow on the north side where it recieves absolutely no sun. and 2. whats your favorite plant in your gardens. I have an Oleander (its just getting ready to bloom) that Ive had for around 7 years. Each year I have to find a bigger pot to put it in, then drag it into the garage to survive the winter. Its geting pretty heavy. Thanks again for sharing.

[Thunder]

WSS, the best flowers for total shade in my opinion is the red and white flowers I have. I can't remember the name of them, but they are fairly common and comes in either light or dark green. I choose dark green leaves, because those can withstand sun, but can also grow nicely in the shade. The lighter green do better in shade.



They come in red, white, and pink.

Marcum's have a bunch of healty sized flowers of them for a bux each and I believe the pot is 4", generally the size shown in the pix above.

The other kind of flowers, the Vinca or Periwinkle, whichever name you prefer to call them, I believe they do better in the shade now, especially when the temperature has gotten much hotter than 10 years ago. My mom used to have a bunch of them at a rental house a long time ago and the front was facing E/SE, so they got the afternoon shade and grew so huge. Later, when she bought the house across the street, she used to have a bunch of them grown so big, but the past several years, they don't seem to be able to tolerate heat very well, so she stopped buying them. In extreme heat, their leaves curl up and if watering too much, it turns yellow. So, in my opinion, with experience, they do better in shade, at least morning sun and afternoon shade, despite the marketing saying full sun for them.

There is another flower, Impatient (spelling?), and they do quite well in total shade.

My favorite is the red and white (pix above), because they grow quite well and they love so much water. Excess rain helps them a lot! Watering the yard, no problem, they can take on the xtra water. They just love all the water. Mom got the pink around her oak tree (pix of it in previous page) and you can see how nicely they are growing. Now, they're getting bigger.

[CCOKC]

Westside, here is a link to a list of community gardens around town.
Community Garden Locations | Regional Food Bank Of Oklahoma
I have often thought the lack of sun would be somewhat of a problem in the neighborhoods around you. I have a really large oak tree in one corner of my pool which is fantastic in July and August for the shade but really sucks in late November on the one day that all of the leaves seem to fall into the pool. We have to pay a pool service to take care of the pool since we work such long hours.
By the way my favorite plant right now is my oak leaf hydrangea which is in the second picture that I posted. It is about 5 years old now and probably 4 1/2' tall now. A far cry from the little pot I planted all those years ago. With such a big yard I have to buy smaller plants and wait for them to mature. If you notice the Nellie R Stevens against the fence in the last picture they were about 2 1/2' tall when I planted them and they are now well over 7' tall.
There is no way I could have afforded 7 fully mature hollies or gotten them home in my pickup at one time.

[PennyQuilts]

Thunder, are those impatiens?

[southernskye]

The ones with the red flowers look like begonias. Westside have you tried Hostas? Caladiums also do very well in full shade.



Deep Shade Plant List

[Thunder]

Yes, they start with the B and that could be it.

ECO, my adopted mommy, I'm not really into Impatients.

[PennyQuilts]

Yes, they start with the B and that could be it.

ECO, my adopted mommy, I'm not really into Impatients.

I thought those were begonias, too, but they like the sun, don't they?

Thunder, I personally really like impatiens but if they miss a watering or get too much sun, they shrivel up. One afternoon with do it. When they are working right, they are gorgeous. IMO.

[Thunder]

I thought those were begonias, too, but they like the sun, don't they?

They do great either way.

[southernskye]

Wax Begonia - Garden Basics - Flower - Annual
(Begonia X semperflorens-cultorum)

This widely used tender annual produces single or double one-inch flowers in red, white or pink. The flowers are held on succulent stems among shiny bronze or green leaves, providing color in sun or shade from late spring until frost. Wax begonias tolerate hot humid conditions well.
* Light
sun or shade

[Thunder]

They actually start blooming early Spring. I got mine done in April.

[CG23]

I love all the flower pictures! I think the longer growing season is one of my favorite things about OK (vs my home state of Ohio.)

My house faces North and I have azaleas, hostas, and impatiens growing in the spots that get almost no sun. In the areas facing North that do get a little sun, I have spirea, spiderwort (they do great in total shade), ageratum, and even daylilies. Astilbes are also a good option for shady areas - and they come in several different colors. Bleeding hearts love shade too.

[PennyQuilts]

I'm loving this thread.

[Thunder]

Oh, the Wishbone grows in the shade! Those are really awesome to have, they attract hummingbirds!

[westsidesooner]

Those are Begonias in Thunders pix. I tried them a few years ago but I seem to have a tough time with snails eating my Hostas and anything tuberous? like Begonias. We plant alot of Imaptients because they are cheap, they make a great groundcover and they bloom from early spring until late fall.

The spot Im looking to fill is right next to the front porch and Im really looking for a bush (strong enough to support Xmas and Halloween lights) Did I mention we decorate for most holidays? We have a large holly bush that is beautiful in the winter with its green leaves and red berries but damn they are deadly to unprotected hands. I hate trimming it. I'm thinking about a hydrangea but not set on the flower colors. I'd really like something that is evergreen. We have lots of japaneese yews.....I may have to go with that but Id like something different.

And CC I only wish all of our leaves from the Oaks fell on the same day. lol We have two different kinds of Oaks. Live oaks which tend to lose their leaves November thru December. And Black Jacks which tend to hold some of their leaves til spring. The ice storms did a helluva a job on the black jacks!! AArrgh. If only I could get all the neighbors to rake on the same day. Otherwise its pointless to rake when the wind blows all the neighborhood leaves the next day.

We also have two really nice sweet gum trees that I wish would blow down..........they are awesome in the fall but their roots grow close to the ground and suck up all the moisture making it impossible to grow anything underneath them. Unfortunatley they are really strong.

Towards the back of the yard we have another pond connected to a fifty foot stream. I love it but the pump on that portion isnt working right now. The pic I posted with the timelapse waterfall is part of it. I'll try to get more pics up as soon as I get it working again.

I have lots of older (construction of the yard) pics saved on cd. Il try to find them and post them soon.

[Thunder]

Why rake? I never rake! I just start up the mower, use the bag for it, and pick up all the leaves. I also mow the lawn, the final time, to be very short.

[westsidesooner]

We rake ours into one area of the yard, (so I dont kill the grass with the wet leaves or mowing over it to many times) it usually turns into one huge pile then mow over them and throw them on the compost pile. Great for use later in flowerbeds....and we dont waste trash bags. And its an adventure everytime I turn it.....lotsa cool bugs.

[Mr. T in OKC]

A weekly pool party? Are you going to provide the food and drinks?

I think it should be a BYOB pool party.

[amandagall5]

I have had a rabbit in my yard for a while now. We were away the last two weeks and the dog was gone so the rabbit was left to its own devices and has eaten some of my plants. The dog will be back tomorrow and will certainly kill the rabbit if he catches it. I don't know if it can't get out of the yard or doesn't want to, but I would like to remove it without it coming to any harm, any ideas?

[Thunder]

Set up a bunny trap and release it into the wild, if it's a wild bunny. If it's a pet bunny, somehow escaped from somewhere, then post an ad saying Free Bunny You Catch It.