Articles on Gardening | Topics: gardening, gardens, garden
by Owen Terrell
Sunny Side Gone – The ABC's of Shade Gardening
A well-planted and shaded garden has a charm all of its own. However, the gardener sometimes looks down having limited sunlight upon. The best thing to do is to find the plants that will fit best with the coverings around your garden and then plant those flowers and plants in your garden. Some factors that need to be taken into consideration are the soil's texture, whether the soil is dry or damp, and the soil's position. Take the time to make thorough preparation and add some humus in the form of mold or peat moss. Adding sand to heavy soil will vastly improve the texture of the soil. But where the soil is naturally acidic, it is better to grow plants that will be able to stand these conditions then change the condition of the soil.
Location is very important to establishing a garden. Buildings create draft pockets, and that may make for a rather inhospitable situation for your garden. Tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths are some of the easiest to grow and are some of the most colorful flowers. These flowers should be planted in fall and with careful selection of the variety of flowers the period in which the flowers grow can be extended greatly. Not as beautiful, but just as easy to grow is the grape hyacinth (Muscan), lily-of-the-valley (Convalaria), both Spanish and English bluebells (Scilla), and glory-of-the-snow (Chionodoxa). Except for the hyacinths and the tulips, the other bulbs bloom less each year. The other bulbs of the other flowers may be left to flower year after year and will multiply each year.
Make sure before you start to sow your garden, the soil is well cultivated. But, make sure not to damage the remaining bulbs that are in the ground. If you don't want to bother with seasonal displays, there is a big selection of perennials. The most important thing is to provide fertile soil and adequate moisture so that your garden can grow for many years.
For the spring and summer times, where the shade is not too plentiful, these low growing plants will become established quickly:
Carpet-bugle (Ajuga), this grows rapidly in damp soil. It produces short, dark, blue flowers.
| Historical Quote |
Within the memory of many of my townsmen the road near which my house stands resounded with the laugh and gossip of inhabitants, and the woods which border it were notched and dotted here and there with their little gardens and dwellings, though it was then much more shut in by the forest than now.
| —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) |
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Wild blue phlox (Phlox divaricata) is a hardy flower with big heads of light blue flowers. It multiplies very quickly.
Barrenwort (Epimedium) has soft bronze-green foliage. It is a perfect flower for dainty flowers in spring.
Some taller plants that are ok for the border of your garden or just for planting is the Virginia bluebell (Mertensia), this has drooping, tubular blue flowers. Jacob's ladder (Polemonium) has clusters of blue flowers. They both grow to be about two feet and are easy to grow from seeds. An early bloomer is the Christmas rose (Helleborus niger), which produces white, buttercup like flowers from December to March. A little bit later is the Lenten rose (H. Orientalis) that has purple and green blossoms. These require a place with shelter and they should be covered with a sheet of plastic or glass. Where there is light shade, the day-lily (Hemerocallis) is the best. This flower flourishes in both damp and dry soil. The lily-like flower has mostly yellow and orange buds. The leaves are long and thin. Astilbe, an early summer perennial, grows best in moist ground. The Astilbe comes sin many different colors from white to pink, salmon, red, and red-purple.
The short-lived columbine (Aquilegia) has slender stems and look great in large groups of flowers. Re-sowing the soil every three to four years re-plants the flowers. The bellflower (Campanula) offers a range of form and height. If you need a low growing plant, the Carpathian bellflower (C. Carpatica), the wall hairball (C. Rapunculoides), and the Poscharsky bellflower are 3 great choices. If you want to include at least one aromatic plant, the North American beebalm (Monarch) is the one for you. It is easily grown and produces red flowers on 2-foot stalks. For places with deeper shade, use bleeding heart (Dicentra eximia), Dutchman's breeches (D. Cucullaria), and squirrel-corn (D. Canadensis). Some delightful flowers try Trillium grandiflorum, which are large white flowers that appear in spring and slowly turn pink. Another set of perennials is plantain lilies (Hosta) and meadowrue (Thalictrum). There are many species available that range from hardy and useful for border planting.
Ferns don't produce flowers but are ideal for deep shade. Their foliage makes the perfect companions for all types of flowering plants. The American hair fern, hay-scented fern, Dryopteris filixmas, cinnamon fern, ostrich fern, and lady fern all thrive in woodsy, deep soil and requiring a lot of moisture at there roots during the summer and benefit for a top dressing of rooted springs in the spring. To finish your framework of shade planting, plant the more permanent shrubs and trees. Some examples are hydrangeas, rhododendrons, and azaleas. These have colorful flowers. Hollies and yews have attractive green foliage. The ground should be well soiled. This should be done in autumn or spring. Here are a few popular examples of shrubs are: Juneberry (Amelanchier), Carolina allspice (Calycanthus) and Japanese quince (Chaenomeles). These have very different coloring to other plants and are beautiful to look at in your garden. A popular tree that is small is the flowering dogwood (Corpus florido), which has creamy-white flowers. Also the Cornehan cherry (C. Mos), which has yellow flowers, and the tartarian dogwood (C. Albs var. sibirica) have red stems. A shrub that has beautiful red autumn leaves is the winged euonymous (E. Alatas). Another type is the purple-leaf wintercreeper (E. Fortunei var. coloratus), which produces a great groundcover.
A great flower for the fragrance of it is the honeysuckle (Lonicera). But the most popular types of flowering shrubs are the rhododendrons, which also includes azaleas. One of the first flowers is the royal azalea (A. Schlippenbachi) with its large, single flowers in a pink color. The hardiest and reliable is the native rose bay rhododendron (R. Maximum). It will grow in many areas of deep shade. Some plants will grow under any conditions of limited light. Giving a little thought beforehand will make sure there are no disappointments in the future. This also is true for any amount of land you may have to deal with, whether it's a few squares of land or many acres.
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