Good morning. I hope everyone enjoyed the Fourth of July. It always reminds me of how grateful I should be for so many things. We all have our ups and downs with politics; but, in the end, we still live in the greatest country on Earth. Watching parades, eating strawberry shortcake and coming together in community activities just makes it more fun.

I think the mild winter has wrought some changes here on the hill — one of which is  fertility. We have what seems like dozens of baby chipmunks scurrying about and vying with a batch of baby red squirrels for sunflower seeds. The big gray squirrels don’t seem to put them off at all, but the blue jays make them run. We are currently supporting the sunflower seed industry, but the entertainment these critters provide is well worth it.

Whatever seed doesn’t disappear during the day is gone in the morning, thanks to a momma raccoon. Feeding those little ones requires a lot. She lives in a hollow in a huge old oak. I saw her earlier this spring literally waddling with the weight of her unborn kits as she navigated a stonewall back to her treehouse. Now skinny, she gets up on the porch railing every night. She pulls the hanging feeder toward her with one paw, sits down and uses her other paw to pull out the seeds. She also rids the deck of all the seeds the other critters spilled all day — bonus. I expect she might bring the little ones to visit in a few weeks, and that will be really fun.

Anyway, on to the garden that provides housing for all these critters.

Our topic today is shade gardens and their inherent problems and joys. I have one particular garden that has always been a challenge. It’s right by my front door, so I can’t just give up. The space gets about 30 to 45 minutes of very late afternoon sun during the summer, and that is all.

After big rains, it stays wet for much longer than other spaces. For many years, we had a huge red rhododendron there, but eventually it got too leggy because it kept reaching for the sun. When we removed it, we put in new soil and made the fairly small space into a garden.

Part of that garden housed a witch hazel, suggested to me as a good heavy shade shrub. It was airy and light, and I liked it very much. But as it grew bigger, same thing, reaching for the sun brought it over the sidewalk. So it came out early this spring and went to the back of a big garden, where it can grow as it pleases. Having exhausted shrub possibilities, the wizard came to live with us out in that garden. I’ll explain about him in a minute.

The point here is that sometimes you have to think about things differently. No matter how good or dedicated a gardener you might be, or how well you research something, sometimes your plan still doesn’t work. I killed two clematis before the third one grew to be a beauty. I kept trying because I wanted one, but — and this is a big but — I could put them in different places. You can’t put the troublesome garden space in a different place so you have to deal with it differently.

Everyone wants color in a garden, but summer daisies, etc… don’t grow in deep shade. There are beautiful shade plants, but many are pretty because of their foliage not their flowers. Hostas come in amazing colors and leaf designs, and many sizes. Coral bells range from lemon yellow to peach to orange and red-leaved, and they brighten the darkest corners. There are beautiful ferns with shades of red, burgundy and white fronds that love a wet, dark corner.

Lady’s Mantle with its yellow blossoms, lungwort with flowers of blue or pink and brunnera with its amazing foliage of white or pink are all good choices. I really like the tirella, or foamflower, which has a tidy mounded growing habit and puts up feathery, airy blossoms that last a long time.

Ground cover sedums are another good choice because of the various colors they come in and their ability to stop weeds. Lamium, or Beacon Silver, is terrific. I have it everywhere with its silvery white leaves and pink or purple blossoms, which go all summer. Lamium will grow in all light conditions if protected from harsh afternoon sun. It grows in good soil or bad. And try bloodroot, an absolutely extraordinary flower.

My corner is so shaded that my old-fashioned bleeding heart stays all summer and never goes underground; and it is lovely. The point here is that sometimes you have to make the best of what you have. I have given up on having a shrub next to the front door, but now I have a wonderful wizard statue that overlooks and peeks out from behind that bleeding heart. He makes me smile. According to my granddaughter, Nola, he protects the garden from the magic things we can’t see.

You can find wonderful statues and sculptures, ranging from the whimsical to the formal to Japanese, all made in the good ole’ USA, at Donna’s Greenhouse just south of the Auburn line in New Gloucester on the Hotel Road. Chuck and Donna McNally are wonderful people and they have dragons — how can you not want to have a dragon? Made of cast cement, the sculptures don’t have to be moved inside for winter. Chuck wraps them in burlap bags from the Hershey folks for their trip home, so your car smells of chocolate all the way home. Really.

Just a few other pointers for that shade garden. If it tends to stay wet, lighten the soil with some sand or very small gravel so it drains better. Slugs really like wet places, so always keep that in mind. And, try venturing to some out of-the-way specialty nurseries. That is where those special ferns, hostas, tirellas and coral bells are hiding.

Until next time, enjoy the strawberries and watch for the raspberries, keep a big place in your heart for your country and buy American-made products. And, be nice to the critters. Just think how boring it would be without them.

Happy gardening.

Jody Goodwin has been gardening for more than 25 years. She lives in Turner with her husband, Ike, and two cats. She may be reached by writing to her in care of the Sun Journal, 104 Park St., Lewiston, Maine, 04243-4400 or by e-mail at jodyike@megalink.net.

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