garden advice?

[cellio]

Most of my back yard was obviously well-planned by someone, and it's lovely for most of the year. Bulbs bloom (in stages) in the spring, there are pretty bushes in the summer/fall (some of which flower), and in general there's usually something interesting going on at any time from about March to about October. (I'm horticulturally challenged, so I can't actually name any of these things other than the bulbs.)

There's also one strip of grass that was never worked on. I'd like to plant something there, but I have basically no clues. Any advice?

The place in question runs most of the length of the garage (I guess that's about 15-20 feet?) and is about 4 feet deep. It's next to the garage, so it's partial shade rather than full sun. Obviously, whatever I put there shouldn't have root systems so big that they would interfere with the garage.

I'd like something that blooms in the summer, and ideally blooms for a while. (This should be enough room to plant a few different things, which might help that goal.) This space is bounded by a sidewalk that I use a lot, so whatever I put there shouldn't be too aggressive about spilling out into the sidewalk. No thorns, please. I dislike pale pink but like pretty much all other flower colors.

I wonder if lilac is suitable. I don't know how long it blooms or what its light requirements are.

Suggestions welcome!

Comments

Re: Springhill catalog and gardening

[cellio]

Thanks for the pointers! Must seek out pictures of some of the things you're talking about. :-)

Re: Springhill catalog and gardening

[jpbl.livejournal.com]

If you go through myseasons.com, you can get to SpringHill's website. You can look at their shade garden, or search for specific plants. They also let you ask for shade or partial shade plants, although they only seem to show you six or so if you go this route. I don't know exactly how good the interface because I really haven't used it, but they seem to have a lot of their catalog on line.