Leave this field blank New England and New York Local Office Closures, Feb. 9 SAG-AFTRA Recording Artists and Singers - Lend Your Voice! SAG-AFTRA Unveils Industry-Shaping Service to Deliver Residuals to Members via Direct Deposit SAG-AFTRA Holds Largest Rally Of Video Game Strike SAG-AFTRA Statement Regarding Executive Order on Immigration Video Game Rally, Feb. 2 Notice Regarding Producers’ Obligations To Pay Per Diem On Overnight Locations Outstanding Film and Television Performances Honored at the 23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® Stunt Performers from “Hacksaw Ridge” and “Game of Thrones” Announced as 23rd Screen Actors Guild Awards® honorees for Outstanding Action Performances by Film and Television Stunt Ensembles Fall is so pleasant with cooler temperatures, beautiful leaves, pumpkins, and fall mums.Notice our pet lizard posing on the wreath. Just finished planting pansies, parsley, kale and dianthus.Family memories from Thanksgiving 2009.Eagerly anticipating another addition to our family this December.

food for bridal partiesA shade garden can be full of color and brightness even though there is no bright sun on it. To plan a shade garden, you need to understand the three kinds of shade-light shade, dappled shade, and full shade. First, you must determine where these three kinds of shade are in the summer, winter, spring, and fall. If you have deciduous trees, you will have more sun in the winter and early spring; therefore, you will be able to grow more kinds of spring plants. After you determine where your sun and shade are during each season, you can begin to make your plans. Start with well prepared beds. Most shade plants like well drained, acid soil with lots of humus. Next, draw an outline of your lot, including house, trees, sidewalks, and driveway. Then draw the planting beds. You can have them curve or wind around objects and make pathways and hidden spots if you have room. Start with the large plants such as camellia, azalea, dogwood, Japanese maple, and hydrangea.

These will give you color almost all year. For small plants, try hellebores, hostas, jack-in-the-pulpit, lilies, potentilla, dianthus, hardy geranium, foxglove, flowering maple, fern, cone flower, clematis, bleeding heart, astilbe, narcissus, pansy, and English daisy. Groundcovers for shade include Spotted Dead Nettle ‘Anne Greenaway’ (Lamium maculatum), Kraus’ spike moss, and coral bell. If you watch carefully, you may find some sun and can use more types of plants. Also, there are many flowers that need morning sun only. Plan carefully, and you will have color year around. Joan Cook, Smith County Master Gardener Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Shady areas under trees and between houses can be a source of bare landscape. And while there are several plants that can grow in shade, such as English Ivy, Asian Jasmine, and Mondo grass, most offer no color other than green. If you think that’s boring, why not try a couple of eye openers. Turks Cap, a native Texas perennial, is named for its scarlet, cap-shaped blossoms.

It will grow in any type of soil and in sun or all-day shade. In fact, its leaves grow bigger and broader in shade and tend to sag in full sun. daintree curtainsTurks Cap grows three to four feet tall, forming a shrub-like plant that dies to the ground in winter and reappears in spring. shower curtain rail christchurchIts bright red flowers bloom from July to frost and attract hummingbirds. paisley shower curtain kohlsIt’s best to start from a potted nursery transplant (or a division from a friend’s garden); lapwing curtainsplant in early spring.pirate shower curtain pottery barn

Columbine is another plant that loves shade or dappled shade. It has beautiful blue-green foliage and buttery yellow, blue, purple, pink or white flowers. curtains dovetonIt grows 12 to 24 inches tall and blooms from March to mid-May. extra long white waffle weave shower curtainColumbine’s foliage may need to be clipped during the heat of summer but it will return to bloom in the cooler fall weather. Pat Kashouty, former Smith County Master Gardener One of the challenges of landscaping in East Texas occurs when you live in an area that has lots of beautiful oak and pine trees on your lot (or surrounding lots). Trying to find colorful shrubs that tolerate shade is not always so easy for the novice gardener. Two plants that we have in our backyard at Hideaway Lake appear to do well in the partial shade areas.

The first is the Rose of Sharon shrub (Hibiscus syrianus). A member of the mallow family, it has done well in a raised bed where it gets filtered sun most of the day. We keep it pruned to about 4-5′. It is a deciduous shrub that produces bright pink blooms during the summer months. A potential pest problem is scale insect. The second plant is a forsythia (Forsythia intermedia). This is a small, deciduous shrub that is about 5′ tall in our backyard. It does well in the filtered sun and produces bright yellow blooms in the spring. It is in a raised bed that has good drainage. We have not had any insect or disease issues with this plant. Jerry D. Mullins, former Smith County Master Gardener A shade garden can be serene and beautiful. Here are some tips to keep your shade garden looking its best. Kathy Uncapher, former Smith County Master Gardener The trees in East Texas can be breathtaking in the fall, especially when sunshine brings out their brightest colors.

But what can we plant in beds under those shade trees that will color our world through all the seasons of the year? A few well-chosen shrubs can do that, and many will feed the birds as well. They require almost no work when they are established. Planting some of the following shrubs will provide a variety of color, texture, and size in your beds. Although most do well in partial shade, some do not tolerate any sun. Mary Wilkerson, former Smith County Master Gardener To add interest to a shade garden, select a variety of shade-loving plants that have contrasting foliage, colors and textures. Many perennials, such as hostas, will grow in filtered light and are dependable shade plants. Hostas have varied foliage in several colors and patterns. “Sugar and Cream’ is one of the best suited hostas for our area (3 ft X 3 ft) Other hosta varieties with varying tints of green are: ‘Guacamole’ (dark green and lime foliage that grows up to 3 feet), ‘Francis Williams’ (blue-green foliage with yellow borders, 2-3 feet) and ‘Francee’ (green heart shaped leaves with narrow white margins.)

Hostas should be spaced about 18-24” apart in organic soil (compost and mulch.) The broad leaves of hostas contrast with delicate ferns. Ferns are easy to establish and grow in moist, well-drained shade. Evergreen ferns include Cyrtomium falcatum (Holly fern), Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern) with glossy, green fronds and Dryopteris erythrosora (Autumn fern) which produces coppery-red new fronds that adds color to the older green frond. Deciduous ferns to add color and texture are Anthurium niponicum (Japanese painted fern) with silvery to purple fronds and Adiantum capillus-veneris (Common Maidenhair), a delicate, lacy fern that grows from 6 inches to 1 foot. Flowing plants add another dimension to the shade garden. A must have for the shade garden is Helleborous orientalis (Lenten Rose), an evergreen with varieties with red, white, pink or purple flowers. Other flowering plants to consider for shady areas are: Polygonatum odoratum (Variegated Solomon’s Seal) that produces small white bells in spring and Dicentra spectabilis (Pink-flowered bleeding heart) that blossom throughout the growing season.