Question
Hi Kenneth,
   I am purchasing a home about 40 miles northeast of Detroit where there are alot of older and larger trees all around the property. The problem is that the lawn, ecspecially in the rear of the house, is patchy at best. I believe that this is because it must not get very much sunlight due to the trees. I think that it may be the wrong type of grass for a shady area. There is a septic field somewhere, presumably, in the rear of the house.It is also on a well and near a lake.I like to have a healthy green lawn with colorful plants but, I am not sure what type of grass or plants to buy. Can you help? Cordially, Stephen

Answer
The type of grass to try is fine fescues (hard, chewing, creeping red). Avoid kentucky bluegrass, and perennial ryegrass.

Even so, growing grass under the shade of a canopy of large mature trees can be extremely difficult. The problem is that the large mature trees compete with the grass for sunlight, water and nutrients. The tree roots always win this competition. The grass prefer a loose aerated soil with moderate moisture and nutrition level. The tree roots tend to compact the soil restricting grass root growth and amount of air and water in the soil.

If you are going to be successfull, you may have to overseed the lawn every spring with more grass seeds, rake leaves promptly in fall, and consider maybe pruning and selectively removing specific trees to make 'pockets' of sunlight and then grow grass in these. It will have to be trial and error.

For plants in shade, very popular shade plants are hostas (plantain lily). They are grown primarily for foliage which are typically variagated. hostas used to be green plants a few years ago, but today you have literally thousands of different color combintions, many multi colored with white and yellow streaks in addition to blues and golds. They look fantastic and do really well in conditions described by you. Combine these with some hardy ferns and then plant impatiens (summer annuals) for color. Impatiens are the absolut best flowering plant for shady conditions, especially those of large mature trees.

For all above plants it apply, that you should mix in plenty plenty plenty of compost into the top 8-10" of soil and mix thoroughly. Then plant your plants and mulch with shredded hardwood shavings, shredded fallen leaves, etc. Apply a 2-3" layer of mulch around the plants. This will keep moisture in and moderate soil temperatures.

Fertilize hostas and ferns in late spring as they start to grow. fertilize impatiens very sparingly. they don't use much fertilizer and too much will result in very tall, very lush, very large plants but with few flowers. Keep the impatiens flowering by withholding water and fertilizer and only occationally giving them a diluted fertilizer application. e.g. if the package say to use 1 tbsp per gallon of water, you can use 1 tsp per gallon.

Impatiens will droop (leaves look limb) when they are water stressed. this mainly happens in full sun, or in dry conditions. you want to water enough that they don't get in this condition, but if you have mixed in plenty of compost in the soil, the impatiens can go days or a week without watering.

Good luck.