Shades of Shade
I have been blessed with lots of shade -- which I initially thought of as a curse. I couldn't have been more wrong. When I planted my first barrenwort, I had no clue how much I'd fall in love with those delicate little blooms. Of course, since I seem to need to learn things the hard way, gardening in shade was rough going at first but I didn't have much choice. The yard of the house we were living in at the time was almost 100% shade. About the only sun I had in that yard was over the septic field. So, I started reading and buying and planting, followed by more reading, more buying and more planting and yes, even more reading, more buying and more planting.
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Trillium
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Turtlehead | Sensitive Fern | Barrenwort (Rubrium) |
Pictures
I've taken in my Gardens
The
first
thing I noticed about gardening in shade is that it is much more
comfortable to work in. It's not as hot, not as bright and
chances are you're not going to burn - at least not as badly (always
wear a hat and sunscreen). The ground tends to stay a little
moister which makes pulling up weeds a bit easier. You can
usually get away with less watering in the shade since evaporation is
slowed without the sun pounding down. Woodland gardening is great and
for more information about it click on "Woodland Project" on the right.
I also
discovered "natives" when a pink lady slipper magically appeared in my
"fern and hosta" bed. When I went to research what it was, I
luckily found a site that explained why I should leave it right where
it was. Chances are very good that it would have died during
the transplant. From there I learned about trilliums,
bloodroot, iris cristata and other great natives. In no time
I was hooked. Native plants do well since they are naturally
adapted to our area - consider most of Virginia was wooded when the
pilgrims arrived. But just like any other gardening research
is key. To successfully grow natives you must plant the right
plant in the right place. I recently joined the Prince
William Wildflower Society and I'm hoping to learn more ...
after all, native plants were here long before me or my ancestors were.
NEVER
remove native
plants from the wild. For a list of nurseries that propagate
plants contact the Virginia Native Plant Society at www.vnps.org.
Although
some of my favorite blooming plants are shade plants but one of the
things
I had to face early on with shade gardening is texture counts.
There was a time I thought all hostas looked alike.
Not only do I see the differences now... I've definitely
learned to appreciate them. I love Blue Umbrella with it's
huge blue leaves that remind me of corrugated cardboard as well as Love
Pat, a tiny green smooth-leaved beauty. Other than both are
hostas, they have very little in common. The airiness of
ferns adds a lot of summer interest when little blooms in the shade.
The trick
for me with shade gardening it to try a plant and see how it does
before investing in a lot of it. Partial shade means
different things to different people and plants for that matter.
You have limited choices of what will grow in full shade but
there are lots of plants that flourish in part shade, bright shade,
afternoon shade, morning shade, diffused shade... well you get the
idea... there are lots of shades of shade.