Last spring Jeff and I got tired of popping dandelions and decided to rip out our front boulevard as away around weeding. In hind sight it might have not been the easiest route but I am happy that we jumped in head first and committed to making the space between the sidewalk and the street a pretty shade garden. Now that we’ve made it through our first winter the garden is looking a little worse for wear, we lost a few plants due to salt from the streets and mountains of snow piled on top of it.

It’s coming time to start firming up what this baby is gonna look like. It is currently home to an assortment of Hostas, a couple Coral Bells and some Variegated Grasses. There are so many awesome boulevard gardens in our neighborhood and I want to be a part of the club. So after paying some close attention to what the neighbors are doing and studying my mom’s shade gardens I have come up with this plan for success.

Here are the ingredients:
Bleeding Hearts – for height and texture
Sedum – because I love all the shades of green they come in, their waxy leaves and their round shape.
Variegated Iris – because those leaves are awesome.
Jacob’s Ladder – because it comes in different shapes and sizes, another way to add some height OR some texture closer to the ground.
Ornamental Ferns – because I planted a ghost fern last year and it survived, might as well add another one.
AND
Flagstone – because I can create levels and borders and give the garden some dimension.

Here’s a photo of how the garden looked at the end of last summer. It’s a little puney looking but starting to come together, now imagine it all beat up and weedy, and that’s what it looks like now. I can’t even bring myself to post a photo of it on the internet, MAYBE once I get a much better looking after shot.

So does anyone out there have experience with this type of garden? Do you have any recommendations for me, or am I crazy for planting some of these perennials? I need all the help I can get!