Hey all,

I really want to get into gardening, but I'm brand new. I need some help.

The first thing I want to do is make a flowerbed along my driveway.

Here's some basic information on the area & what i'm hoping to achieve.

1) We are in zone 7A (Richmond Virginia)
2) This is a full shade to partial shade area. It will get direct sun for about 2-3 hours in the evening. Sun dapples all throughout the day. The area towards the road gets more sunlight.
3) We are going to be at this house for 3 more years, so I don't want to have to wait years for something to mature
4) We're in our 20's, so I don't want to blow the budget (is it possible to make a garden for $100 bucks? $200 max?)


I'm leaning toward hostas (we like "The Patriot") on the left side along the driveway and a resilient "colorful/pretty" flower behind it (maybe something that grows a bit taller than the hosta.

Our main concerns are :

1) The hostas and other flowers will "disappear" in the fall and winter (I'd love to have something filling in that space all year.)
2) The price! We went to a beautiful nursery, but each plant is like $15 bucks! I don't know exactly how long our driveway is, but we'd need at least 10-15 hostas to fill the area. $$$$

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Thanks so much for reading. I'd love any feedback on ideas to fill this area (even if it's completely different than what i was thinking)

I have bought quart or gallon hostas, popped them out, and hacked them into fourths, then planted each one as a separate plant. That and bunch of mulch to cover the gaps might allow you to keep it under the $100 mark.

Also: EVERYONE has hostas where I live. Ask around to see if people mind if you take a piece--it's not a big deal (slice into the soil as if you were cutting yourself a piece of pie--and about that size.)

Hostas are beautiful. Remember that streaks of white are especially nice in shadier places, so 'pure green 'Sum and Substance' ' would be less visible and The Patriot is a good choice.

NHhostas.com is great for perusing and falling in love with some cultivars.

Also at the end of the season, they're cheap as hell at big box stores -- they mark them down like *crazy*. So that's another one for 'patience extends a budget'. And even early in the season, a classic like 'Patriot' may be available far cheaper at a big box store.

If any of us ever leave the house again.

If you're like, 'but I just want to fill the damn thing for right now and I want it done': pachysandra is your friend OR a carpet of pachysandra with four or five tallish contrasting hostas (like yellow, or highly variegated, or high and tufty).

I would mix hosta and ferns together in there. Hellebore also would look good mixed in. The hellebore are sometimes a bit evergreen but only the foilage.

Hostas are easy and cheap to get ahold of. If you post on your local craigslist or on your Facebook page that you are looking for some hostas people will give you free divisions of them.

I'm going to redecorate my garden too and I like hostas a lot, but I live in London and the climate is cooler here, I guess it's zone 8. Do you think hosta plants will survive here?

If you find the right nursery, buy them in the fall (best selection and planting time then, I think), and/or get them on sale (also common in the fall), you can often get what plants you're looking for for half that price! I'd do a google search once you know the specifics you're looking for, and if you want to check out the vendor recommendations on my profile, most of them are where I've found good plants inexpensively online.

Personally, I'd go for a shade-happy shrub as the main event, rather than perennials. Or intermixed with perennials. I like having the permanent fixture there all year long. You might do a google search for the qualities you're looking for (ie: 4' flowering shrub for shade zone 7), and see what sounds best!

Wow! Had no idea that I can redecorate my garden spending only 200 bucks! Thanks for the info

That looks like a good shady place to plop in some flowering plants and small shrubs. Spring is the time of year when gardeners lift and divide their Iris and Daffodil bulbs, Hosta, Forsythia, Tulips, Grasses, Liriope, Ferns, and other clumping plants. These types of plants usually get divided out every three years.

I have been gardening many years on a shoestring budget. Most of my many plants came from other people's gardens. Folks are always willing to share if they know other gardeners are in need. Sometimes just talking with others can bring about a situation where they will ask you to come and dig out whole gardens for their ailing mother who is no longer able to care for them and wants them gone, but also wants them to go to someone who will love and care for them. This happened to me once. I dug out the most beautiful selection of Lily's that you have ever seen and many more specimens than I ever could have imagined.

If you are still employed you could post an index card on the bulletin board and post one in every place you have access to, i.e., church, daycare, grocery, etc.

Please do not think that gardeners will take offense at asking for them to share, because every garden lover that I've ever known loves to share their bounty, seeds, knowledge, and wisdom. Take the plants and plant them, sow the seeds in pots, grow your garden, grow your friends, grow your neighbors, and grow your property for the added beauty will be prominent in 3 years when you decide to sell.

Good luck and good gardening.

Here are some annuals that will live comfortably in the shade and self sow, or at least cast plenty enough seed for the next growing season if left be. Forget Me Nots or Myosotis, Nigella or Love In A Mist, and Hardy Begonia's. I would plant the Nigella in that dappled sunlight area.