Need help from you gardening/landscaping experts!!

We really want to work on the front our our house this spring in regards to the landscaping. The issue is, our house faces north and the front part of our house (the parts that we want to put 2 nice gardens) gets practically no sun. Does anyone have any ideas that we can plant in these 2 areas? I put a pic of the front of our house (its an older pic but you get the idea). We basically want to put 2 gardens right underneath both sets of windows - on either sides of the stoop. I was thinking maybe a Japanese Maple and some other stuff, but I'm not sure how that does with not a lot of sun. Any ideas or pics would be appreciated. TIA!

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Message edited 3/12/2011 12:33:42 PM.

Re: Need help from you gardening/landscaping experts!!

cute house!

the front of my home also faces north, so not much sun (unlike the back, which gets plenty)

Impatiens are super cheap, fail-proof and so easy to grow and maintain - and they love shade! in fact, they do better in shade than in sun. They are cute, too and they have a habit of "spreading"..because of this, when you go to plant them, plant them a few inches apart....they will fill in!

here is a pic of impatiens, in case you don't know what they look like:



hostas and begonias also do well in shade!



you can always go to a reputable place and ask them tons of questions.

Sometimes I even see people in the nursery sections who are shopping and appear to be "in the know" and I always question them as to their recommendations.

I find that plant and flower people love discussing what grows best!

Message edited 3/12/2011 4:43:27 PM.