Three Gardening Questions

[Mandolinrain]

1. We have a large creek bed to the North side of house. Some of it is more like a ravine. It does come up and meets the end of the mowed yard and theres extensive weeds between the yard and the creek. Since you can't spray for weed control due to EPA and hazards to wildlife I am looking for a way to  find something to plant on the edge. I may try to take a picture and post it later this evening on this post so you can see what I am taking about. its kinda an eyesore and some of the weeds at 4-5 ft. tall. We don't want to put trees on the edge because we love the view of woods on other side

2. Our planting zone is 6a. I am curious to get suggestions for fall garden plants to put in. I have always planted my garlic in October but are there some other things I could plant this late?

3. On the SW side I have a garden shed area and it is pretty much total shade. I have blue hosts there but now that we have extended the driveway, we have another area near it....all shade , that hubby put all this fill dirt around and I don't want to do grass there. Wondering if any suggestions of some sort of fast growing ground cover? I started 3 packasandra plants and I have no clue if I spelled that right, lol. I am thinking about digging up some ferns from our woods over . But I would like a mix of ideas, please

Have the twins today, so I will check in later and see if anyone has any ideas. I will also post a couple pics later of the areas I am talking about. Thanks ahead of time , gonna be a hot one here today. Near 90 . Staying inside with girls and AC

[Posamari]

Your Monarda should come back in spring. Only issue is when it first starts coming up, looks like a weed. Hope you didn't pull them. I lived in the snow belt of northeast Ohio and mine always came back and thrived (and fuller too) every late spring. I found the red and scarlet red were more hardier and grew taller than the other colors. I planted here in high desert and not very successful. I have some in a huge pot with several other plants on the patio now.

A little trivia about Monarda--

It is native to the U.S.  Usually blooms around 4th of July---notice it's bloom looks like a firework.

It's other names are Bee Balm and Bergamont.

It's flowers and leaves are great in salads and it's what puts the taste of Earl Grey in black tea. Be sure and let blossoms go to seed. When I would put garden to rest in late fall, I would take seed pods and scatter or plant them about an inch in soil to help along for the next season. And yes, it's a Sun loving plant. 

[YoungAtHeart]

I did the same thing with it I always do - nothing!!!!

Not sure what killed it off ----I have a few that I see - hopefully they will spread and fill it in again.  Miss my hummers!  Neat history - thanks!

[Posamari]

Sweet Woodruff does well as ground cover in shade/part shade in your area of Ohio too. 

[karenjones]

Ferns ferns ferns. plant now.

[Mandolinrain]

I am  

[IrishRose]

Does that north side along the creek get a lot of sunlight during the day?  If it does, I would plant blueberries in a row along the border, as they would get the moisture from the ground along the creek.  Blueberries are delicious and their foliage is just so very pretty all year long.  Pine straw built up around the blueberries would keep the weeds at bay. 

Irish Rose