Sally Maurer's Garden

I just love being in the garden club. Everyone has been so nice and helpful as I "fine tune" my landscape. I felt that my garden club friends would be great assets as I went about the job of learning about trees, shrubs and flowers and their place in my home. They have helped me every step of the way. I have some beautiful old oak, sweet gum and pin oak trees that are over 100 years old. They provide us with wonderful shade for those hot St. Louis summers, however the gardening has been a challenge. The roots of these trees are so large that it makes it difficult to dig in many areas. The other challenge is to find color for the shade garden. I have some beautiful hosta, azaleas, bleeding hearts, and ferns.
One of my favorite shade plants is the lungwort. It has been a slow grower, but the speckled leaves and the beautiful blue and purple flowers bring some early color to the garden. I find the peonies and some of the other early spring bloomers do well, since they get a little sun before the trees are totally full of leaves. I add color with shade loving annuals and some potted plants that I can move around.

I am always trying new plants and experimenting. I shop all over from the nurseries to the discount stores looking for healthy, happy plants. We take several field trips to different growers and that is always interesting.

One of the best tips I have learned from the club is to write down what you have put in and where. I am afraid that many times I have pulled things out in the spring thinking they were weeds.

Happy Gardening!