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Shade - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

From our friends at Proven Winners

When a new gardener is envisioning their first garden, more than likely the image in their head is a sun garden.  Sun gardens are crammed with a multitude of colors.  Colors range from the bright and bold, like orange, red and fuchsia to the softer beauty of blues, creams and pinks.  But make no mistake, flower color is the main show and thousands of different plants can play their part. 

However, every gardener is inevitably faced with another kind of garden.  A garden that is more challenging, more subtle than exuberant.  Not less beautiful than that bold sun garden, but a different kind of elegant beauty - this garden is the shade garden.  I think many people approach shade gardening with at least a bit of trepidation, if not fear and loathing.  However, it is best to embrace shade gardening for what it gives you, rather than what it cannot give you. 

During those steamy dog days of summer a shade garden is a refuge from the heat, an oasis in a landscape that can be sun blasted and tiring.  In the middle of summer, just looking at a shade garden can make me sigh with pleasure at the thought of escaping the glare of the blazing sun.  Once you embrace the shady part of your garden as having a wonderful role to play in making the garden more beautiful and user friendly, what was once a chore becomes a labor of love!

The first thing to learn about shade is that not all shade is created equal.  You might say that when it comes to shade there is the good (bright shade, dappled shade), the bad (deep shade, deep tree roots) and the ugly (the dark side of a wall, shallow tree roots).  Fortunately for us, good shade can be quite fun to work with, bad shade can often be turned into good shade and the ugly isn't all that prevalent.  Plus there are strategies to make even these deep shade environments look nice. 

Let's start by defining what shade is.  The rule of thumb for shade is an area that receives less than 4 hours of direct sun a day.  Full shade plants prefer to get little direct sunlight. They like less than 4 hours of direct sun a day and prefer morning and late afternoon sun to mid-day sun. Full shade plants will also do outstanding in dappled shade conditions. An area that will be shaded by a fence or wall will need to get several hours of sun in either morning or late afternoon for plants to do well. Full shade does not refer to dark places - all plants need at least some light. 

There is one other aspect of shade you should keep in mind, shade moves throughout the day as the sun moves across the sky.  It can be easy to over or under estimate how much sun versus shade an area gets.  However, learning how the shade moves across your yard, is a good thing to do. 

Now that we know, in general, what shade is, let's start looking at the different kinds of shade.

The Good

Good shade can be defined as areas that get morning and/or late afternoon sun, receive dappled shade all day and areas that are bright, but not sunny.  These types of conditions create shade that has enough light for a fairly wide selection of plant material to thrive.  Good shade can still be challenging, but usually those challenges can be worked around with relative ease.  Most shade plants will thrive in the conditions found in good shade.

Dappled shade refers to areas where there is a mixture of sun and shade, generally because a deciduous tree is nearby.  Plants in this category are often woodland plants and will do best with almost no direct sun (even morning or late afternoon sun).  The dappled shade area is usually larger than the tree canopy creating it.  Woodland plants thrive on full days of sun that has been filtered by trees. Bloodroot, Aquilegia, Wild Ginger, Wild Violets, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Heuchera, Hosta and Meadow Rue are some examples of woodland plants.

The Bad

Bad shade could also be called dense shade and can be defined as areas that get no direct sunlight but still get reasonable light, are too dark to be considered dappled shade and/or have complicating factors such as abundant surface tree roots that make gardening difficult.  Because these spots have more limited light, the plant palette is much more refined.  Let me also say that bad shade means that it can be difficult to establish a lush garden under these conditions. 

This does NOT necessarily mean that you want to get rid of all of your dense shade areas, as dense shade can be a haven from the heat of summer.  One type of garden that works in dense shade is a woodland garden. Woodland gardens will largely rely on shrubs and foliage plants installed under a dense canopy of trees.  These gardens tend not to be densely planted and often use mulch to give a uniform appearance in the open areas.  Spring ephemerals, plants that grow and bloom before the trees leaf out in spring are a key element in these garden situations. To best make use of your woodland garden, install some benches or other seating so that you can sit and enjoy your respite from the heat.

Sometimes dense shade can be improved.  If you are going to try to turn bad shade into good shade, the first thing you need to do is identify why the spot would be considered bad shade.  The first thing to come to mind is that there are trees that are creating dense shade conditions.  If you have a deciduous tree or trees creating dense shade conditions, you can usually create good shade by simply trimming off the lower branches to allow more light to penetrate under the canopy.  The tree roots do limit plant selection somewhat, but the light is fantastic. 

If you are gardening under trees, roots are simply going to be a fact of life.  However, not all tree roots are created equal either.  Trees with relatively deep roots, such as Hickory, Oak and Black Tupelo, are comparatively easy to garden under.  Deep-rooted trees are easier to dig holes and plant under.  Shallow rooted trees, fall under the "Ugly" shade category.  When tree roots are a factor, you need to plan on utilizing plants that will tolerate dry shade.

The Ugly

Areas in your garden that are not only shaded, but are dark - are the most difficult type of shade in which to garden.  These areas get no direct sun, not even dappled sunlight.  These spots are usually created by walls or fences, often combined with trees.  While trimming nearby trees can make some difference, these spots usually cannot be turned into bright shade.  If your dark spot is due to a fence, you could opt for a more open type of fence, for example a wrought iron or picket fence rather than one made of solid wood, to help improve the situation.  However, if privacy is the goal of the fence, this is probably not an option.

There is a rather limited plant palette available for these areas.  If you have a dark spot you might want to consider transforming this area using hardscaping.  You could pave it and make it into a seating area or perhaps install a water feature to add ambience.  Using garden art, statuary, outdoor furniture or containers to add color would also be something to consider.  Despite the limited plant palette, a dark corner can be turned into an asset for your garden with creativity and persistence.

Another side of ugly shade is where there are shallow rooted trees, such as Maple, Birch and Beech trees.  Shallow rooted trees have roots very near the surface of the soil, practically on top of the soil.  These very shallow roots make digging holes for planting extremely frustrating, not to mention hard work.  You may be tempted to get around the root problem by installing a raised bed and simply adding soil on top of the roots.  There are two problems with this - first, the roots will eventually grow into this new soil layer.  Second, if you put too much soil over tree roots you can actually kill the tree.  Roots need to breathe and adding a dense layer of soil over the root system limits the oxygen it receives and can over time weaken and then kill the tree.  We will cover strategies for dealing with shallow rooted trees in another article.

The last ugly shade condition are trees with very low hanging branches, such as evergreens that have branches within a foot or two of the ground.  With very low-branched trees, you should probably plan on using mulch rather than planting.  If you do use mulch, do not over mulch.  The recommended mulch depth for trees is two to four inches, which will discourage weeds and improve aesthetics.  Using too much mulch will have the same oxygen reduction effect as adding soil.

Shade gardens can be wonderful additions to any flower garden, you simply have to embrace what shade can bring to your garden

Gardening Jobs for May

Weed perennial beds with special care to avoid pulling up precious self-sown seedlings. When you can tell for sure what's what, pull the weeds and top-dress the plants with compost or rich soil -- just before a rain, if possible.

Provide support for flowers that need it before they start to fall over. Try twiggy prunings or pea stakes for sweet peas and ramblers. Put Grow-thru rings in place for bushier plants such as peonies, balloon flower, and globe thistle.

Spread a little lime or wood ashes around delphiniums and peonies.

Divide late-summer or autumn-flowering perennials. If necessary, go after phlox and artemisia with a sharp spade or even an ax. If delphiniums need to be divided, remove and replant the new little plants growing around the outside of the clump. Discard the hard old heart.

Trim climbing roses and attach securely to fences or trellises.

Scatter crushed eggshells in a thick ring around roses to deter slugs.

Sow annual poppies and baby's breath in borders for midsummer bloom by scattering them between the other plants, covering with fine soil, and tamping down gently.

Prune suckers from fruit trees now before they become established.

Melons often benefit from supplemental warming, such as that provided by growing under plastic. Wait until the transplanted seedlings are established, as they cannot take up moisture very well at first and can easily get dehydrated.

Plant aboveground crops in the light of the moon.

Thin beets and lettuce and use the tiny thinnings to fill in spaces in the row or to start additional plantings elsewhere.

For a crop in two years, plant year-old asparagus roots about eight inches deep in trenches lined with rich compost. Fan out the roots and space two feet apart. Cover gently with good soil.

When potato plants come through the soil, hill them up by pulling several inches of soil around their stems with a hoe to encourage deep roots and keep young potatoes from exposure to light.

Mulch between rows and keep the garden weeded to give emerging seedlings a fair chance.

Get that herb garden started by putting in plants. If you include mint, plant it in a large plastic tub (the kind drywall joint compound or birdseed comes in) with its bottom removed. This will help keep it from invading the rest of the garden.

An established asparagus bed will be ready to harvest. Patrol daily and select spears of about the same size (which will require the same cooking time). If you had trouble locating those first spears, mark the bed with stakes so that you can find them next year.

Watch for signs of drought in plants transplanted from containers. Apply water (not much, but often) close to each plant's stem, where it will percolate down to the root ball. The larger the plant, the longer the recovery period, and the more diligently you need to water. Poke a pointed metal rod into the soil above the root ball. If the rod doesn't penetrate easily, the soil is too dry. If it moves around and feels squishy, the soil is too wet.

Moles generally come calling this month. They're searching for mates and also grubs in your lawn. To get rid of the grubs, apply milky spore disease (Bacillus popilliae or Bacillis lentimorbus), a dust you can buy at your local garden center. Or try a new product called Mole-Med, which has castor oil as its active ingredient. Moles don't like the taste of this any more than you do.

Prune late-flowering shrubs, evergreens, and hedges.

Don't be in a rush to plant tomato, eggplant, pepper, and other heat-loving seedlings if you live where late-May frosts are common. Old-timers will surely wait until after Memorial Day.

Don't cut the leaves off spent spring-flowering bulbs. Dying and yellowing foliage may look unsightly, but leave it in place (and don't tie it up) to help the bulbs ripen for next year's show.

If you have crocuses growing in your lawn, don't mow until their leaves have died down.

Don't force clematis to climb a lamppost or fan trellis. Instead, give it a chance to climb trees, scramble over shrubs, or romp over the ground.

From our friends at The Old Farmers Almanac

Low Water Landscaping Tips: Xeriscape, low water plants & more

The following is a list of the TOP TEN important tips for water conservation in a low water landscaped yard. 

No. 1 Know the path of the Sun

The utmost important consideration for someone concerned with low water landscaping should be the path of the sun. Knowing which sides of the house receive the most sun, which receive early morning, late afternoon, or little to no sun is absolutely intregal. Low water landscaping and xeriscape techniques will aid you very little if you are, for example placing drought resistant plants in the shaded side of the house and water thirsty plants in the full sun area of your yard. The basic rule of thumb for a low water landscape is to place the most drought resistant plants in the full path of the sun and the most water thirsty plants in the shade. Generally speaking, an area exposed to the south gets the most sun during the year and the northword facing sides of the yard receive the least. Other factors such as wind direction factor in as well. You can also manipulate the path of the sun by placing large shade trees to the south of the yard that will then provide shaded north facing lots where more water thirsty plants can reside.

No. 2 Use Drought resistant plants

There are many drought tolerant trees, shrubs, perennials, and ornamental grasses to choose from. Our drought tolerant plants page lists many of them here. Choosing drought resistant plants can save you hundreds of dollars in water bills. Whereas in the past, drought tolerant conjured up the image of a gravel yard with catcus, the name has taken new connotations and many low water landscaped yards may even pass off as semi tropical if executed properly.

No. 3 Group Plants Wisely

Place water thirsty plants together and out of the path of the full force of the sun. Place drought tolerant plants together. A yard might make a progression from low water use drought tolerant plants (succulents, cacti, etc) to aloes, lord's candle, to drought resistant shrubs, to low water grasses, to palms, to tropicals (weather permitting). By grouping the water thirsty plants together, you only have one or two areas that need heavier watering during those summer days.

No. 4 Limit Your Lawn

Now this might sound anti-patriotic for an American to size down the lawn, but it doesn't mean you have to get rid of the lawn. The point is, only have lawn where it's needed and thin out as many unneccesay corners and low use areas as possible. The worst thing to do is run a rectangle lawn the length of the yard and just throw hundreds of dollars down the drain. You can very well have a decent sized lawn that looks to fill the yard but is actually half the square feet of a rectangle. Try knocking off corners, concaving in the sides (kidney bean style) and so on to limit your overall square feet of sod. It's also important to choose a lawn that is appropriate for your climate. Finally, in areas of low use, you may consider lawn-like ornamental grasses to give a lawn like appearance with half the water usage.

No. 5 Proper irrigation

How many times do we see sprinklers watering the concrete, sending valuable H20 right down the storm drain? It's important to check the layout of your sprinkler system regularly and adjust the heads as needed. Only water plants when needed, don't let the sprinklers come on in the rain, just before, or just after. It's also important to water at night or early in the morning when evaporation forces are at bay. 

No. 6 Improve the quality of your soil

Routinely cultivate your soil, incorporating organic matter such as compost. Doing so improves the soil's ability to resist evaporation and retain moisture. In heavy or compacted soils around trees, you can improve air and water penetration with a heavy-duty drill and a screw-like auger (available at hardware stores and nurseries). Bore 12- to 18-inch holes, 3 to 4 feet apart into the ground withing the tree's drip line.

No. 7 Hardscape and Mulch

Use permeable paving that allows water to seep into the soil, instead of solid concrete the encourages greater runoff.

Decomposed granite or flagstones offer a beautiful permeated hardscape at a reasonable price. It's also important to mulch effectively to reduce weeds, slow erosion, and reduce the amount of water lost through evaporation. Organic mulches such as shredded bark, compost, and aged sawdust are best because they break down. A 2- to 4-inch layer, spread beneath the canopy of a plant is ideal.

No. 8 Control Weeds

These garden intruders steal water needed by desirable plants. Regularly hoe or pull them out when they're youn, or use landscape fabrics or mulches to contain them. It's important to fight the battle with the weeds BEFORE they seed. Many people go after the weeds once they've taken over and all the effictively do is remove the dying host plant material and spread the seeds for next year's generation. By removing the weeds before they seed, you can make your yard 95% weed free within a couple of years of so doing.

No. 9 Keep Plants Healthy

If they're robust, they'll be able to withstand dry periods better than plants that are troubled by pests, planted in the wrong locations, or improperly cared for.

No. 10 Care for container plants

Group containers so they shade one another. During droughts or periods of drying winds, place them in the deepst shade they can tolerate. Mix water-holding polymers into potting soil. (For details ask your nursery.) Be sure to wet the entire rootball (it may take several passes with a hose). Double-pot; set small pots inside larger ones, wiht a layer of sand or gravel between. Or set pots into the ground up to the rims. And top-dress pots with a layer of cobbles, bark, or rough compost over the soil surface.

Low Water Landscaping

Garden Design Using Native Plants by Genevieve Schmidt

I've been reading "The New American Landscape: Leading Voices on the Future of Sustainable Landscaping," edited by Thomas Christopher (Timber Press, $34.95), and one of the points that has stuck with me is in Douglas Tallamy's section on welcoming wildlife into the garden through planting native plants.

Tallamy, of course, is a passionate advocate of using native plants in the landscape, and is the author of "Bringing Nature Home."

Why native plants are sometimes rejected

In a discussion in the book about why gardeners are resistant to planting native, Tallamy's wife points out:

"Horticulturists are artists, and their medium is the garden. Their goal is to paint the landscape with beautiful plants, and they have a larger palette to work with if they use plants from all over the globe."

Yes! This is completely true, and it's particularly hard when we've grown to love so very many non-native plants. Exhortations to plant more natives tend to fall on deaf ears, because firstly, we don't always know a lot about native plants and how to use them successfully.

I don't know about you, but the more I learn about a plant, the more I tend to fall in love with it, because I figure out how to show it off to its best advantage.

Another reason gardeners are resistant to planting natives is that we think of using native plants as an all-or-nothing deal. We've developed the false idea that we can either have a boring landscape of natives that looks more like a restoration project than a garden, or have a gorgeous, artful one which uses non-native plants.

The restoration approach can lead to a garden that seems to reject human artistry and contribution. But the other approach is missing a broad spectrum of life, beauty, and regional connection that isn't always obvious at first glance.

Using natives as a design element improves our gardens in so many ways, and gardeners who use natives are tapping into another lens through which to view a garden. We're used to considering color, movement, and texture in the garden. In the same way, using native plants can add a number of important elements to improve your design... .Read more