GARDNERS HAVE IT ‘MADE IN THE SHADE’ ---Now that it’s well into Spring and we’re anticipating a warm summer, we’ll be looking for that cool, refreshing spot in the garden to spend time. With a little satisfying work now while it’s still relatively cool, that shady spot in your garden can be turned into a restful, calming retreat. We sometimes think of the shady areas as not lending themselves to gardening projects when, with a few basic shade plants, the opposite is true. You can enjoy a wonderfully cool spot to relax, with just a little imagination and an invigorating weekend spent in the garden this time of year.
There are many perennials that thrive in lightly shaded to densely shaded areas and reward your efforts by returning year after year to be even more beautiful. With a mixture of groundcovers such as Lamium ‘Beacon Silver’ or ‘Pink Pewter’ in the foreground, a selection of hostas and ferns in different sizes, shapes and color variations, and a few beautifully plumed astilbes in shades of red, white, pinks, and purples, you can create a restful hideaway. All you need add is a small bench and you have a great spot for relaxing with a good book!
The variety of shade plants is extensive and there is definitely something for everyone who wants to turn a dull area into the focal point of the garden. The striking color combinations in the varying shades of hostas --- ranging from the popular green and white ‘Albo-Marginata’ to the two-toned lime green of ‘Golden Tiara’ and the wavy-leaved chartreuse of ‘August Moon’ --- lighten any dark area and create a cool feeling when they catch even the smallest breeze.
Ferns are especially useful plants for shady areas, not only because they thrive there, but because they are so beautiful. They’re ideal border plants along a shady path, clumped in sunless garden corners, or on the north side of a building or high fence where not much else will grow well. Most ferns prefer the dappled shade created by deciduous trees rather than dense evergreen coverage, and most like a woodsy, acidic soil, and benefit from a mulch of rotting leaves or needles.
These shade perennials need very little maintenance and weeds are slow to appear under their leaves if the area is well mulched after the plants are installed. While there are lots of beautiful foliage plants for shade, there are almost an equal number that will also give you colorful flowers from spring all the way through the fall months. Lily of the Valley, columbine, bleeding hearts, crested irises, and several of the various groundcovers are only a few of the spring blooming perennials. The hostas, astilbes, heuchera (coral bells) will give you summer color. Toadlilies, asters, and hellebores will provide fall and winter blooms. Plan your area using plants with varying bloom times to ensure a little color for each season.
Shade gardens offer refreshing relief on a hot summer day, and a completely different assortment of plants than those that grow in a sun-drenched border. In addition to these bonuses, the trees and shrubs that provide the shade also furnish protective shelter to a wide range of birds and small animals that can further enhance the garden with sound and motion. |
