our little patio

We don't really have a backyard. But we've got a little patio. A very little patio. It's on the west side of our place, on a thin little strip between our two story building and a big wooded hill that becomes a city park.

It's quite, there are no roads nearby, it doesn't face neighbors, and the trees dampen most of the city noises. And it's shaded. Very shaded. Somewhere between noon and two o'clock a thin bar of sunlight works it's way across the picnic table and then disappears. And that's about all the sunlight it gets.

It a beautiful place to sit in the late afternoon and read or write a little.

But nothing grows back there. Nothing. We plant grass every year, and by the end of the summer it dies. Last year we planted grass that was both hardy, and loves shade. When we bought it the guy even warned us that it's more like a weed. It will grow anywhere.

And by the end of the summer it was all dead.

So this summer we made an effort to find plants that do well in shade. We spent a weekend digging it all up, putting in new dirt, and planting things.

Some of the things were hostas.... not my favorite, but they'll survive.

We aren't about to be hired out as landscapers, or exterior decorators.

But this summer it has been my little slice of shaded heaven.