The 21st Century Matriarch

The shady space between the pine and the hollies has become a more welcoming place for birds and insects since I replaced the grass with pine needles, hostas, lamb’s ear, violets and American Spikenard. The insects active on the flower stalks of the lamb’s ear are big enough to see from my office window. I know there are critters in the pine needles because I see the juvenile robins find them.

I had been considering trimming the low branches from the pine since there are so many plants growing under it. The juvenile robins I saw a few weeks ago tended be in the higher branches before they dropped to the pine needles.

I changed my mind after I observed some American goldfinches using the lowest branches to survey the shade garden. One of them perched long enough for me to get pictures through my office window.

My small Canon Powershot SX730 HS is going to stay near my mousepad….ready to photograph birds enjoying the shade garden!

I bought some Christmas ferns for under our deck about 6 or 7 years ago. This year I realized I planted them in the wrong place – under the part of the deck that is not roofed; the boards have enough space between then that heavy rains come through with such force that the dirt under that area looks like a model of ridge and valley topography in exactly the pattern of the boards above. The parent plants managed to propagate in the more hospitable area where the covered deck overhead provides more protection! I’ve noticed a few ferns in the area in previous years but this year they seem to be taking off. And there are more than Christmas ferns in the mix – all of them are growing very well in almost complete shade. I’m going to spread some finished compost around them this fall to help them grow even more profusely next summer.