OK, I'm redoing the back of my house.

It has gotten really ugly back there in the past couple of years. It is a northern exposure, but the house, which is a ranch, is the only real shade source. I have a couple of trees about 30-40 feet away that give a bit of very early morning shade as the sun moves around.

In fact, it has been ugly for the past 2 plus decades. It's not the best soil, dark but not fertile, kind of sandy, and often water-stressed in the summer except for one small area that gets extra from the downspout.

I haven't found too many things that have done well back there. I've tried a lot of things over the years -- clematis, perennial hibiscus, hosta, ferns. Most of the things I've tried haven't ever really thrived. Probably too shady for the clematis and hibiscus.

There are a few things that are doing well back there -- Hydrangeas 'Limelight' and some pink lacecap of unknown/forgotten variety; a couple of rhododendrons that struggled for a few years but are finally doing better and growing. And, a lot of rather ugly dwarf running bamboo Pleioblastus fortuneii that has taken over about half of the bed, and crowded out a few thing that used to do well there, a clump of Japanese anemone, a Helleborus, and it completely killed off a once-thriving clump of Chinese ground orchids. Oh, and I do have a few perennials that still thrive, an old-fashioned bleeding heart, a clump of wild blue flag iris, and a yellow meadow rue.

So, I started tonight -- cut back the overgrown hydranges, dug out a bit of the bamboo then found out how awful it is to dig and resorted to cutting off at ground level.

Tomorrow, if it doesn't SNOW too much (yes, the Detroit area is going to get a dusting of snow tomorrow per the NWS), I hope to get a lot of this done.

My plan is to use thick landscape carpet over the worst of it, and over the entire bamboo patch save a couple of clumps here and there, mulch the entire thing down, use mainly shrubs for interest with a few perennials where I can, and put in some planters full of annuals for color.

I want it to be pretty back there, not ugly as it has been for a long time now. Wish me luck.