I have a photograph of this east side of my shade garden that looks down on the plants like the first "plants combination" photo I submitted. But I wanted to give you an better idea of what this bed is all about. This side of the bed could have been claimed by my neighbor... a lovely and kind 90 year old Hispanic lady named Conchita. We have lived next to each other for six years and we have yet to have a complete verbal conversation... and yet we get along beautifully. I take care of her end of the garden... and try to give her plants that please her... and, in turn, she brings me enchiladas, taquitos, tamales and enough fresh fruit to start a produce stand. Yum !!!! We recently discovered the part of Google translate that lets us speak to each other... that has been quite a revelation! I love high tech when it works.
She loves red flowers... but she started getting excited about red foliage when I planted the Heucheras. And she loves the ferns... which is more than I can say about most of my friends. One of them actually said, "Well, you know... they come up... and that's it." Conchita bends over and caresses their fronds and says, very quietly, "Mui bonita!"
Oh yes, I want to mention how I've been able to compete with the Silver Maple roots in this bed. I don't cut tree roots... I use a piece of re-bar and a hammer to determine where there is enough space between roots to dig a decent hole. That determines where plants go. I use a lot of compost in the mix I use for backfill. And I also incorporate into the soil a decent measure of Viterra Agri-Gel. This is one of the only hydro-gels on the market that is specifically made for in-ground use. It has proved to be invaluable in holding water for use by my plants roots. I top-dress the bed in early spring with Milorganite instead of cow manure. This is a product I've used for 40 years and the results have been more than satisfactory. On hot summer days I probably water quite a bit more than a gardener whose shade garden lies under an Oak tree... that works well and I enjoy the Zen of hand-watering. Finally, I mulch with pine needles two neighbors let me remove from their lawn each August. The pine needles don't float away in rain storms and the tannins in the needles leach into the soil and help... to a small degree.. offset the alkalinity of our soils and city water. The needles, I've discovered, also discourage slugs from attacking the Hostas.
I have sunny borders on the other two sides of my duplex, but I will and do constantly maintain that this shade garden is my favorite.