Today CasaCARA discusses the Brooklyn Garden where she "cut her gardening teeth — the 21′x35′ backyard on Verandah Place in Cobble Hill where we lived for twenty years." Here's an excerpt. Lots more text and pictures at CC.
"Little by little, through trial and error, I learned how to create a garden. The main challenge: excessive shade. Though south-facing, sun was limited by gargantuan ailanthus trees in the neighboring yards.
A couple of the principles that served me well:
Use variegated foliage – that is, shade-tolerant plants
that don’t flower showily but have green and white foliage to bring
light to dark corners of the garden, e.g. ‘striped’ hosta, caladium bulbs, variegated lirope (the festive-looking silver stuff in the left foreground below), vinca and ivy – anything at all that comes ‘variegated."
that don’t flower showily but have green and white foliage to bring
light to dark corners of the garden, e.g. ‘striped’ hosta, caladium bulbs, variegated lirope (the festive-looking silver stuff in the left foreground below), vinca and ivy – anything at all that comes ‘variegated."