There's no doubt that shade gardening can be a challenge. Growing flowers in full sun is easier, and you have more colorful plants to choose from.
Even so, those of us with gardens that sizzle in the sun often find ourselves longing for cooling shade.
A lush bed out of the heat and glare of the sun can be an attractive, inviting and calming oasis in the garden The idea that a garden without much sun is a problem probably stems from the first experience of a treed backyard with brick-hard soil and thin lawn struggling in the shadows.
If grass won't even grow there, how can anything else?
Rest assured that there are many attractive perennials that grow well in shade. Getting them to thrive is a matter of enriching the soil.
Do keep in mind that a flower garden directly under deciduous trees will be mostly spring blooming. In general, most plants that grow well in the shadows, including spring bulbs that naturalize, tend to bloom early in the season before the leaves come out on the trees.
This doesn't mean there won't be other flowers in bloom during the rest of the season, but you'll have a more limited palette of flowering plants to choose from. Impatiens is one of flowers that will give you color in the shade all season long - one of the big reasons it's such a popular annual.
When it comes to shade perennials, attractive leaf textures and colors are important because foliage will be your shade garden mainstay through the season.
The idea that a garden without much sun is a problem probably stems from the first experience of a treed backyard with brick-hard soil and thin lawn struggling in the shadows.
If grass won't even grow there, how can anything else?
Rest assured that there are many attractive perennials that grow well in shade. Getting them to thrive is a matter of enriching the soil.
Do keep in mind that a flower garden directly under deciduous trees will be mostly spring blooming. In general, most plants that grow well in the shadows, including spring bulbs that naturalize, tend to bloom early in the season before the leaves come out on the trees.
This doesn't mean there won't be other flowers in bloom during the rest of the season, but you'll have a more limited palette of flowering plants to choose from. Impatiens is one of flowers that will give you color in the shade all season long - one of the big reasons it's such a popular annual.
When it comes to shade perennials, attractive leaf textures and colors are important because foliage will be your shade garden mainstay through the season.
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