Shade Gardening
By Rachel Hauser

Before you can grow anything, you first need to understand the varying degrees of shade.

There are four categories of shade:

Deep shade--no direct sun ever reaches the ground. The ground may be dry or moist depending on the particular site.

Part shade--shade part of the day with direct sun the other part of the day. Shade plants that receive morning sun and afternoon shade do very well; but if your situation is morning shade and afternoon sun, you might want to select a more sun-loving plant, since the afternoon sun is hotter.

Filtered shade--there is never any full sunlight in this area, it shines through tree or bush branches, for an example.

Open shade--no direct sunlight. The shade usually occurs on the north side of a building with light reflected to the ground from the surrounding walls.

Defining your shade area is important because it allows you to select the appropriate plants for that area. There are many wonderful plants that will thrive in the various shady areas of your yard, so there is no need to drive yourself crazy with a hit or miss guess.

You might think that the biggest problem area would be the one in deep shade--then again, you might be wrong. You can grow a variety of ground covers that are quite lovely in their own right. Ground cover plants are used to anchor and decorate the bare earth. Like living mulch, they help trees and shrubs grow better by keeping the soil moist and cool. They need only minimal upkeep once they are established. Here is a short list of suggestions:

Bergenia. The soil should be moist, rich and well drained. It's dense strands of large, round, leathery/waxy leaves and spires of white, pink or lavender flowers make it a valuable ground cover.

European Wild Ginger. The soil should be moist, rich and loamy. The plant has shiny, round evergreen leaves about three inches wide, it makes an attractive low cover, with flowers that are brownish and inconspicuous.

Mountain Phlox. The soil should be loamy and well drained. The creeping, mat-like evergreen foliage bears a thick cover of blue, white or violet flowers in three inch balls on ten inch stems in the spring.

Sweet Woodruff. The soil should be loamy and moist. It's a six inch, green deciduous plant with fluffy sprays of petite white flowers in the spring. The plants grow in clumps with shallow matlike roots.

In part or half shade there are so many delightful choices for your garden. Here are just a few to provide you with the inspiration you need to get started:

Sweet Alyssum. This small plant features globular clusters of tiny, fragrant flowers in white, pink or purple. They range in height from three to six inches.

Astilbe. Graceful showy plumes of pink, white or red flowers bloom for several weeks during the summer, and attractive foliage from late spring until after frost are the mainstays of this unusual plant. They range in height from one to three feet.

Hosta. A striking plant grown more for its large foliage than its flowers. Hosta may be blue-green with white or yellow variegation. Some of the most dramatic types are puckered like seersucker, but most are smooth or ridged. They range in height from six inches to four feet.

Impatiens. Probably the world's most popular garden flower and rightfully so, since the all-purpose ever blooming plants are relatively easy to grow and come in a rainbow of colors. They range in height from six to fifteen inches.

Yarrow. This is a hardy and easy to grow plant. Its wide, flat-topped blossoms come in bright yellow, red, white or pastel shades and bloom throughout the summer. They range in height from eighteen and thirty inches.

In light or filtered shade plants that are lighter in color, white or pale pastels, have an arresting and dramatic affect on the senses. So with that in mine, I suggest:

Anemone. These daisy-like flowers grow from three to six inches tall and come in white, yellow, violet-blue, lavender, rose or pink with black or yellow centers.

Begonia. There are over a thousand species of Begonias, but here's one that does well in light or filtered shade, Wax Begonia. It has green leaves mottled with white or bronze and its tiny clustered flowers come in white, pink or red.

Coleus. This plant is grown for its brightly colored and patterned leaves. They range in height from six inches to two feet, however, if you pinch them back they are fuller and much more lush; likewise you should pinch back the flower buds, since they rob the plant of strength that should go into the foliage. The patterned leaves come in combinations of chartreuse, red, pink, purple, white, yellow or green.

Lily of the Valley. There is nothing lovelier to look at or smell in your garden than Lily of the Valley, with their long-lasting elliptic green leaves and white bell-shaped flowers. These plants are easy to grow and quick to spread.

The final group of plants are ideal for open shade (remember, since it receives no direct sun, by painting surrounding walls white, you will get even more light reflected).

Daylily. This one to three foot plant produces many flowers in yellow, orange, red, pink, lavender, rose or bicolored on their long stems over several weeks in mid-summer, but each flower lasts a single day. Be sure to remove dead flowers daily to keep the plants attractive.

Lady's Mantle. The silvery chartreuse leaves of this plant are round and crimped, with dainty sprays of yellowish-green straw-textured flowers. Because this plant is invasive, space widely, as it will spread and fill quickly.

Wishbone Flower. These bushy, low-growing plants are constantly covered with small and very distinctive flowers throughout the hot summer. The pale violet blooms have a lower lip with 3 lobes off velvety deep purple and then a yellow lobe in the middle of the lower lobe. In addition to their constant beauty, they are easy to grow and maintain.

Enjoy the shade and have fun planting.

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