Gardening in Shade: A Sunny Look at a Dark Subject
by Mary Ann Leigh

ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED: 2000 Fall

Pick up a garden magazine anywhere and I guarantee it will contain an article about shade gardening. Why? Well, the first thing homeowners do after building their homes is plant trees. Since trees neither stay the same size nor grow inversely, over time the entire status of the yard changes. Years later, when daylilies are sprawled flat, peonies have no flowers, and asters climb to five feet tall before tumbling over, the current owners scratch their heads and wonder what went wrong. Da! Shade has taken over.

Some gardeners refuse to accept the shade and insist that the one measly hour of sunshine as the sun skips from the east trees to the west trees means the yard is sunny. They are positive that with just the proper grass seed mix the grass under the trees will flourish just as well as the Creeping Charlie does. Give it up! Let your kid with the new house in yet-another-cornfield-gone-suburban come and dig out those perennials and put them back in the blaring, glaring, sunshine where they belong. While you're at it, lose the grass. Then draw in a deep breath, sign up for the twelve-step program for sun-garden addiction, and soak in the shade.

Yes, Virginia, it's time to head for the place where voices soften, footsteps slow, blood pressure drops. Ah, Shade. Home of Shakespeare's midsummer dreams, Robert Frost's lovely, dark, and deep, and Lady Chatterly'sÉ wellÉ you know.

Club-Me-Over-The-Head-And-Drag-Me-Away Flowers

Gardens in shade aren't about club-me-over-the-head-and-drag-me-away flowers, although there are a few. Hydrangea shrubs like ÔAnnabelle' have flowers bigger than your head. ÔSadie Rae,' a blue (repeat, blue) H. macrophylla lace-cap, is actually capable of blooming in northern Illinois gardens. ÔAll Summer Beauty' is fairly reliable with big puffy blue or pink flowers like the ones you saw on the ÔNikko Blue' the year you bought them and haven't seen since. You haven't seen them again because the root system is hardy but the stems and flower buds aren't.

Ligularia is a shade perennial with large flowers. L. wilsoniana, L. dentata ÔOthello' and L. palmatiloba all have enormous leaves of green or burgundy with large dark-gold daisy-like flowers in clusters that dazzle not only the gardeners, but also the butterflies who are lured into the shade for the grand nectar buffet. In a moist location, ligularias thrive. In drier locations, mulch them well and consider them the canaries of the garden. Wilted in the afternoon, take note. Wilted in the morning, drag out the blasted hoses and drench the whole garden.

Bright and Blinding Flowers

Gardens in shade aren't about bright and blinding colors of flowers, although there are some. The bright yellow early spring flowers of Stylophorum (the Celandine poppy) sparkle in the spring shade garden. Back them with Mertensia virginica (Virginia bluebells) and a boatload of yellow daffs and stand back.

Later in the season, sample some of the new lobelias floating around. ÔRuby Slippers,' Rose Beacon', or ÔRoyal Fuchsia' are all stunning examples of velvety rose, bright pink, or hot magenta--real break-through colors for lobelias. Vertical stems stand straight and tall, none of those delphinium crutches necessary.

Tall Statuesque Flowers

Gardens in shade aren't about the tall statuesque flowers, although there are many. The Cimicifuga family is expanding and a grouping makes a fantastic statement. The flowers are soft, delicate, and fragrant white bottlebrushes that zoom their way up anywhere from four to six feet. The foliage is finely cut and cultivars like C. ramosa ÔHillside Black Beauty' and ÔBrunette' are much closer to really black-leafed than ÔAtropurpurea', which has only a blackish cast.

Ligularia stenocephala ÔThe Rocket' and L. prezwalskii both have tall pale-yellow spike flowers that blast off up to six feet in midsummer. The leaves are heavily substanced and huge, up to twelve inches and either toothed or serrated with mounds two to three feet high and wide.

The white flowers of Astilbe ÔMoerheim's Glory' climb up to six feet on strong stems. Aconitum (Monkshood) varieties are sensational with three- to four-foot tall blue delphinium-like flowers either from A. napellus in mid-summer or A. carmichaelii in fall. Other flowers in the aconitum family are white, bi-color, and even yellow. But no matter how scrumptious this plant looks, no tasting. The entire plant, stem to stern, is toxic.

Spare Us From McGroundcovers

Gardens in shade are no longer about just groundcovers, although there are tons of them. Spare me from most vinca, ajuga, and pachysandra, except for some of the newer variegated varieties. These form the McGroundcovers department of the McPlant world. Yawn. Check out some of the many other choices. Ranunculus ÔButtered Popcorn' has tendrils that tippy-toe through the garden with or without your permission. This selection has a bright golden overlay on finely cut green leaves with sparkly yellow flowers in spring. Use them to surround and take up the slack of one of those big blue hostas that take forever to get to the size promised. Aruncus aethusifolius (dwarf goatsbeard) has tiny ferny foliage and short little flower spikes that mass-plant beautifully.

Interestingly, the word "groundcover" no longer means plants that closely cover the ground. Some bigger kids have found their way to the playground. Enter two-foot-tall Persicaria ÔRed Dragon,' a flashy plant that forms a spreading mound with silver, gray, red, maroon, and burgundy all on long pointed leaves with chevrons, to boot! If you have seen ÔLance Corporal' with green leaves and the bronze chevron, or ÔCompton's Variety' with a longer tapered shadowed leaf and yearned for them, then ÔRed Dragon' will knock your socks off!

Sensuality & Mystery in the Shade Garden

Now that we know what gardening in shade isn't really about, let's look at what it is about: "getting away from it all." For most gardeners that phrase means a walk in the shade. Shade is a place for conversation, contemplation, consolation, a place to get away, with or without someone else. We instinctively put benches and pairs of chairs in shade without even thinking about it. Why? Because we can stand to be there without sunscreen and sunglasses and sun-hats and most of all, sun. And when we are there, everything takes a softer and slower tone. Shade is more subtle, more sensuous, more romantic, more mysterious, and ever so much more challenging than sun.

The first challenge to face is plant material. Think the only annuals you're stuck with are begonias and impatiens? Wrong! Tons of sensational annuals are available for shade that Rommy can sweet-talk someone else into writing about. Also gone are the days of a shade plant palette consisting of the ever-encroaching lily-of-the-valley, pop-up-everywhere ferns, and the infamous "Weed of Winnetka", Hosta lancifolia. When Virginia bluebells have tolled for thee, bleeding hearts are broken, and shooting stars are shot, what to do? What to do? Plenty!

The Hosta Mania

Hybridizers, plant hunters, and nurseries work like dogs to create, find, and produce new plants for shade. Based on the new varieties that show up each year from my umpteen suppliers, they are all doing a fabulous job. The hosta family has gone from about fifty varieties fifty years ago to well over three thousand now. Hostas have been the best selling perennial in the country for the last four years. Entire books have been written about hostas, as well they should be. They are fabulous plants, easy to grow, tolerant of a variety of soils and moisture conditions, and, of course, they thrive in shade.

Gone are the days when hostas were only used to make turtlenecks around trees, run lines of them behind the garage, and chop and divide them every fifteen minutes. Hostas are now designer-material focal points in shade. Mature sizes range all the way from four inches to five feet in diameter, and they can be tailored to any garden. Find them in arboreta or display gardens and look into their beautiful faces. Seek out and select the varieties that speak to you, and, trust me, they will speak to you. Then place them in your garden with room to attain their mature size and let Ôem rip.

With so many new registrations every year, and over 700 varieties dancing around our Timber Ridge display gardens, my recommendations for great hostas change like the wind. To categorize hostas helps somewhat in the game of selecting them, and it's fun to help choose them.

For seersuckering with gold and blue-green variegation, I'd recommend you look for ÔPaul's Glory' or ÔInniswood'; for the drama of a huge vase-shape--with variegation--try ÔSagae' or ÔZippity Do Dah'; for an enormous green to equalize all the variegated hostas we are drawn to, get H. nigrescens ÔElatior' or ÔNiagra Falls.' Far out foliage? ÔSpilt Milk' has white flecks, yes, flecks, on large dark green leaves; ÔGuardian Angel' has whitish center streaking and shadowing on enormous blue leaves; and ÔRevolution' is a ÔLoyalist' sport with a green edge and a wide white center with green flecks, yes, I'll say it again, flecks!

Lust after the little guys? ÔMasquerade,' ÔMedusa,' and ÔMunchkin' are some that start with "m." Love your groceries? ÔGuacamole,' ÔMaraschino Cherry,' and ÔLemon Chiffon' should fill you up. [TWG Editor: ÔMaraschino Cherry' is one cool hosta. It has crimson stems! So dark that I've had several strangers stop while cruising by our house to ask what the cool hosta is that is out by our driveway. By the way, it was retailing at $50/plant at the time. I bought it cheap-cheap from a sale sponsored by a hosta society at the Klehm Arborteum in Rockford, Illinois. These non-profits are so worth joining or attending their functions. How many do you support?]

Interested in The Great Beyond? ÔElvis Lives,' ÔMostly Ghostly,' and ÔArchangel' will haunt you. Gimme a category, I'll fix you up with a hosta. We have clients with theme hosta gardens: patriotics, hearts, family names. Hosta collecting has become a slippery slope. Call it an uncontrollable urge, a passion, a compulsion, an obsession, an irrational exuberance. Wow, look at those words! If they weren't describing hosta collecting, they would be describing insanity, another slippery slope. Time for a subject change here...

The Heuchera Revolution

Climb in bed with Heucheras (coral bells). You'll find it's a very crowded place, since each plant is more fabulous than the next. One of my favorites is ÔSmokey Rose', a strong grower with bronze ruffled foliage, a metalic overlay, and lovely rose flowers instead of those shagnasty greenish-cream ones that hover above many of the other dark-leaved varieties. Another beauty is ÔEbony & Ivory' which has large white flowers over very dark foliage. Or try ÔFireworks' with bright coral flowers over dark bronze leaves. Each of these heucheras combine stunning flowers and foliage instead of sacrificing one for the other.

The Foam Flower Family

The Tiarella (foam flower) family is another that is becoming more intriguing every year. Some of this year's new additions include ÔCygnet' with pale pink flowers over long cut leaves that look like flying swans and have a narrow shading of black in the center . ÔIron Butterfly' has fragrant pink to white spike flowers and deeply cut leaves with a deep chocolate butterfly marked in the center. Then again, check out the awesome, slip-into-a-coma ÔHeronswood Mist' with pink flowers and leaves fogged with pink, cream, and green that appear to smoulder in the shade. With so many new and wonderful choices, the greatest challenge of plant selection may very well be narrowing the field of choice.

Pathways Through Heaven

Another shade challenge is accessibility. To path or not to path? If paths must be in shade, by all means mulch them, step-stone them, or rock them. If slivers of sun work through, then the brightest areas can be maintained in grass and the gardens will tackle the shadiest areas.

My philosophy on grass is that the only necessary grass is that which transports me from one garden to the next. The terrain will determine where paths will serve best. Make it work for you instead of against you. Because of the trees, shade contains more obstacles which can complicate the placement of paths. Why is it that my best plans for pathways are obliterated by quality trees? No box elder, mulberry, or elm will block a path, but an oak or hickory somehow sends me right back to the drawing board. At Timber Ridge Gardens, paths take us up the ridge, down the ridge, and across the ridge. Most of our shade gardens are in what was formerly a combination of timber, bramble, and pasture, so some of our most interesting paths follow old cow paths. Cows are critters that find the easiest--but not necessarily the smartest--way to and from the barn. Hence, our path layout is very similar to the State of Virginia Highway System.

Planting in the shade poses yet another problem. Inevitably, whenever I have a magnificent sweep of Alchemilla mollis (lady's mantle) all laid out and all planted except the-next-to-the-last plant--thud, I hit a massive tree root. Ratsafratzen! All those years of teaching language arts in Chicago have made me such a petty nit-picker that hitting that root usually means a total realignment of the entire sweep. Some trees are kinder than others, but maples and cedars have oodles of fibrous roots very close to the surface. They fight every other plant for moisture and nutrients.

I have found it helpful to take a sharp shovel and cut straight down around the perennials in a circle at the outer edge of their roots when they first come up in spring. This cuts the tree roots trying to work their way into the perennial roots and seems to keep them at bay for a while. Ah, the joy of shade.

Vive La Variegation!

Trying to bring light into the shade is becoming less difficult with the addition of many new white variegated and white flowering plants. Hostas like ÔPatriot', ÔLoyalist', and ÔNight Before Christmas' are strong growers with plenty of white on the leaves, unlike ÔWhite Christmas' which talks the talk but doesn't walk the walk. A favorite white flower of mine is Kalimeris integrifolia. It has small daisies with yellow centers that start blooming in June and don't stop. I'd also recommend that you find Galium ÔVictor Jones'. It will puff and billow its way into your heart, passing itself off as giant baby's breath for shade, again with flowers from mid-summer until fall. The towering white bottlebrush spikes on the large shrub, Aesculus parviflora (bottlebrush buckeye), are spectacular in mid-summer. You gotta have it!

The Gold, Silver, Blue or Burgundy Rush

Introducing foliage color in shade provides fantastic opportunities. For example, accessorize with gold by using small Hosta ÔGolden Teacup' with deeply cupped and puckered leaves; the mid-sized Hosta ÔMidas Touch' with its seersuckered golden bronze leaves, or a large Hosta ÔDaybreak' with large, pointed, smooth leaves and a low spreading habit. The new Dicentra spectabilis ÔGold Heart', (bleeding heart) has golden foliage which will be quite spectacular in shade. And Pulmonaria ÔGolden Haze' has brought gold into the usually green-and-white pulmonaria color scheme. Who knew?

Silvers have wandered through pulmonarias for a long time, along with Athyrium niponicum, the Japanese painted fern. But just when we thought we were limited to only one Japanese painted fern, along came ÔUrsula's Red' with much more red, especially in spring; ÔSilver Falls' which becomes more silver as the season progresses; and ÔWildwood Twist' with fronds that spiral as they grow.

For blueness, try a river on the flat or a waterfall on a slope of Hosta ÔBlue Blush,' ÔBlue Danube,' or ÔBlue Wedgwood' meandering through the garden. Each smooth leaf of these small mounding plants becomes a rippling wave. Burgundy's usually come in by way of Heucheras, but don't overlook Cryptotaenia with its delicate foliage, or Geranium phaem ÔSamobor' which has a large burgundy inset in each leaf.

Making Shade Even More Enticing

Planning in shade holds its own set of challenges. Unlike behavior in sunny fields, you can't run but you can hide in shade. Running in shade sends you tripping on tree roots, tangled in thorny brambles, and brings you up close and personal with wild raspberries, prickly ash, and poison ivy. Yikes, even the adjectives are horrifying. This is why we walk in the shade, no way or reason to hurry.

As for hiding, think of the creative opportunities to hide things in a shade garden. Surprises around corners, behind shrubbery, and beside trees provide for wonderful planning and create tremendous interest. Anything from a small plant, to garden art, to an entire garden area may be concealed in shade. That "secret garden" philosophy really does work.

Shade is a place to rest, relax, regroup. Shade is a mood, an environment, a gestalt. To garden in shade, one must first acknowledge it, then accept it, and finally embrace it. Now get out there and hug those trees!

Mary Ann Leigh and her husband, Ted Loberg, sell plants and design gardens. Their incredible nursery and its many display gardens is called Timber Ridge Gardens. It is located in Elizabeth, Illinois (near Galena). See their classified ad in the back of The Weedpatch Gazette, or call (815) 858-3740 for more enthusiasm.

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