Skip to the page

Shade plants only · Portland, Maine · Since 2016Portland, Maine · Since 2016Thursday to Sunday, May to October

Vynumbra
Vynumbra
Pages

Write to hello@vynumbra.com

Page 03 · Planting

We Come and Look at the Dark Corner

A planting job runs in three parts: an hour on site, a drawn plan, and a day or two of planting. You can stop after any of them.

The site visit

An Hour in the Corner You Have Given Up On

One of us comes out, usually Marit, and spends about an hour in the space. We look at which way it faces, how many hours of sun reach the ground in June, what the soil is like a spade down, and where the water goes when it rains.

A week later you get written notes: what will grow there, what will not and why, and a rough count of plants. Plenty of people stop at the notes, take them to the gate, and plant the bed themselves.

The visit is $95 anywhere within 25 miles of Portland, and the $95 comes off any planting job over $600 that follows it. Visits run Monday to Wednesday, when the gate is shut.

The plan

A Drawn Plan, to Scale

The plan below is a real bed of about 400 square feet against a north wall. Yours will look much the same: positions, a numbered key and a plant list with prices.

Plan of a small shade bed against the north wall of a house, with fifteen planting positions numbered one to nine and an old maple at the right House wall, north side Old sugar maple 111223444456789 Stone path 0 5 10 ft
A bed under the north wall with an old maple at one end, drawn after a site visit. Numbers repeat where a plant is set more than once.
  1. 1Christmas fern, three along the wall
  2. 2Lady fern, two in the wettest spot
  3. 3Blue hosta, the one large leaf in the bed
  4. 4Wild ginger, a drift along the path edge
  5. 5Foamflower, under the hosta's reach
  6. 6Solomon's seal, for height by the maple
  7. 7Epimedium, in the dry roots of the maple
  8. 8Maidenhair fern, in the deepest shade
  9. 9Hellebore, where it can be seen in April

A plan for an area up to 400 square feet is $180, and each further 200 square feet is $60. It takes two to three weeks from the site visit, because we draw it from the notes and then check every plant against what will be ready on the benches.

Planting

Planting Days

We plant from the plan, with plants from our own benches, and water everything in before we leave.

Rates

  • Planting, per persontwo hour minimum$65/hr
  • Plantsfrom the stock listGate prices
  • Depositwhen you book, the rest on the day we finish50%
  • Paymentcard or cash at the gate for plantsBank transfer

How far ahead to book

  • May and Junethe busiest months3-5 weeks
  • July and Augustwe plant in the cool of the morning2-3 weeks
  • Septemberthe best month to plant fernsAbout 2 weeks
  • October to Aprilplans can still be drawnNot planting

What we turn down

Things We Will Politely Not Do

  1. 01Plants for full sun, lawns or vegetables. We grow nothing that wants more than four hours of direct light, and we would sell you the wrong thing if we tried.
  2. 02Shipping by post or courier. Everything leaves by the gate or on the Friday van, upright and watered.
  3. 03Wild-dug ferns, trilliums or lady's slippers, from us or for us. Everything is propagated here or bought in nursery-grown.
  4. 04Burning bush, Japanese barberry, Norway maple or anything else listed as invasive in Maine, however politely asked.
  5. 05Paths, walls, irrigation, tree work, or weekly maintenance. We plant, and then the garden is yours.
  6. 06Planting jobs more than 25 miles from Portland. The plants travel, but we would spend the day in the van.

Before you write

What to Put in the First Message

Tell us roughly how big the space is, which way it faces, what is growing there now, and the town. Two or three photos taken around midday help more than a long description.

You are welcome to browse the stock list first if you already have plants in mind.

We answer within three working days in season. The address and what else to include are on the contact page.