Trouble bed helped

Since the front of the house just got a bit more exciting with its new door color, I've been looking at the rest of the front yard with a critical eye and found the ugliest part of it.

It's the bed under the maple. I half buried these pots a few years back in order to give whatever is planted in them a chance to thrive -- the soil under the tree is always so dry due to the greedy maple roots.

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The potted bamboo really took a hit this past winter and I haven't gotten around to replacing it...

I've been trying to get some other plants to fill in around the pots, and it's starting to show some results:

That's Persicaria 'Painters Palette' growing in full shade -- I'm happy with the results so far, but next year it should be even better -- quite lush. I'm excited!

Back to the pot though. I decided that there is enough bamboo in the front garden now (13 plantings) so something else should go into the pot:

I used one of my hellebores which I've been trying to site since getting it in the early spring, Ajuga 'Caitlin's Giant' which might need a bit more sun than it will get here, but I'll divide this later this summer and plant somewhere better. I couldn't resist the size of this bugleweed cultivar! Finally I stuck one of my potted begonias in there. I could probably put it into the soil, but I just left it in the pot for some extra height.

It's much better, but there is a large bare spot to the left of the pot that is now distracting me...

More potted begonias, and job done (for now)!

I should pull up that old soaker hose as I never use it anymore

I'm not entirely happy with the begonias, but I'm glad to get them out from under the deck. I am a bit concerned that deer or woodchucks will eat the begonia foliage -- something did while they were under the deck. 

If it was a deer that did so then these plants are now more exposed. If it was the woodchuck instead, then these are probably safer, as they don't venture to the front very often.

There's still quite a bit more bare ground under that tree than I'd like to see. Hopefully next year that won't be a problem anymore.

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