If you garden in shade, you may be disappointed on your first trip to your local garden center to find that the number of shade-loving plants is considerably smaller than the selection of perennials for sunny gardens. But don’t despair. Most of the sun-loving flowers we list in the preceding section can also handle at least partial or dappled shade. These plants may not flower as freely in the shade as they would in full sunlight, but the large majority of them can cope with some shade.

If you’re dealing with extremes — for example, very dense shade with either soggy wet or very dry soils — the number of adapted perennials you can choose from is quite limited. If at all possible, give serious thought to moving your flower bed to a more suitable place. Alternatively, you may choose to thin out a few trees to bring in more light or to install drainage tiles or a watering system. If none of these solutions appeals to you, just enjoy the selection of perennials that can tolerate such extremes — and be sure to give them lots of encouragement and praise for their adaptability.

You can easily measure whether a particular perennial is adapting to its shady environment by watching its performance. When a flower fails to bloom or starts to look pretty darn pathetic — with anemic, yellowing leaves on spindly, weak, and sprawling stems — it’s time to admit defeat. Find the poor thing a sunnier home and try another plant. On the other hand, when a shade plant is getting too much sunlight, the leaves generally bleach out and become papery thin; they may actually sunburn and develop scorched patches and brown margins.

Getting More Blooms With Less Sun

Designing a shade garden is no more complicated than designing any other. As always, the key is choosing plants that are compatible with your site or modifying the site enough to accommodate the flowers that you’re bound and determined to grow. In some respects, designing for shade is simpler and more satisfying than designing for sun, because the focus on flowers is automatically diminished. Flower color is only one part of putting together an outstanding garden. Foliage shape, color, and texture are all equally essential elements (click here for more on highlighting these aspects in your design). Shady perennials win hands-down over their sunny counterparts in this respect. Where light is low, catching sunlight becomes more important than conserving moisture loss through evaporation. The result is plants with massive leaves.

The shaded garden doesn’t flower as freely as the full-sun flower bed. Most of the shade-loving perennials bloom in spring and then are unobtrusive for the rest of the year. To add flower appeal to your shady garden, leave space among the perennials for a few annuals — click here for more on annuals — to keep the flowering season going longer. Where tree roots interfere with planting annuals, grow them in pots and set them beneath the tree. Or hang baskets of annuals from lower limbs for another splash of color. (Click here for more on container gardening)

Many bulbs have woodland ancestors and do well in the shade, giving you the opportunity to add more color. If your garden is shaded by deciduous trees and has unobstructed sunlight during the winter months, you can likely grow any of the early sun-loving spring bulbs, such as tulips, daffodils, and crocuses. These flowers bloom before the trees don their spring leaves.

Back To The Forest

A recurring theme among shade-loving perennials is a woodland origin.  ....read more