Question
I live in a ground floor apartment. I have a roughly 4x12ft space that currently has just small rocks and dirt. I have a source for good composted topsoil that I plan to put in it so that I can grow some plants. Its right up against my apartment and has some trees overhead so I'd say its a shady low light environment. It doesn't need to be anything exotic or spectacular, anything green and reasonably attractive would be nice. I'd rather not do followers but I don't mind flowering plants. It can be grass height as long is it won't creep out of the space onto walls or patio and It can be up to 6-8ft tall just so long as it doesn't have huge roots that are going to damage the patio/building. I'd also prefer that it be relatively low maintenance and easy to grow, I have very little growing experience. I live in Delaware in the US so the climate is temperate. We average about 3-4 inches of rain a month. Temperature averages about 75F in the summer and then gradually falls off to low 30s in winter. It doesn't need to survive winter but the longer it will stay attractive the better.

Any suggestions for good plants to look into would be great. Thanks!
-James

Answer
Hi James. I would go for a fern garden, mixed with a wide variety of Hostas, convallaria (lili of the valley) and bergenias (elephant's ears).

There are many ferns to choose from and you could take advantage of the high rainfall. Aim for stark foliage contrasts, like wide-leaved plants contrasted against delicate foliage plants (like ferns)

For structure plants look at the viburnums, box and yew.

Try and eliminate grass- it's just not worth the hastle! Bark mulch everything and establish a small hard-landscape surface, like brick, gravel or again bark.

Grass is totally en-ecological!

Good luck

Jonathan www.ecologicagardens.com