Easy Shade Garden
Although our business is growing and selling cut flowers for the lovely folks of Germantown and Westminster Maryland, our customers (and passersby) frequently ask me a wide variety of garden questions.
A few months ago, a regular customer - Delores (an office worker with little spare time) - asked what to do about a small shady spot. She wanted a garden that was colorful, interesting and seriously low maintenance, so I told her about my easy shade garden . Then it got me thinking, this would be perfect for our new blog!
There’s a couple of unsung bonuses to shade gardening that are rarely mentioned. The first is- THEY NEED HARDLY ANY WEEDING! That’s right! Most of your obnoxious weeds prefer prime solar energy to gum up garden maintenance . Now I’m not saying shade gardens are weed-free but it’s a fraction of the weed pressure of a sun garden. Since there’s less sun , there’s less water to maintain it - that’s bonus number 2. These are the most time consuming activities in the average garden. I spend almost no time maintaining this garden. I plant it and then water it occasionally; then rest of the time I’m busy with the work gardens.
When you get dressed to go out, you probably reach for some nice duds that look well on you and accessorize accordingly- some standard stuff and and some new to freshen the look. You know what works for you and it’s the same with the plant choices with this garden. There’s 2 perennials - hosta and sweet woodruff - that I just love. The annual element that gives it zing are orange, hot pink and/or violet impatiens - but especially the orange because they are very visible at twilight (when you’re likely to be looking at them). Sounds easy? It is! There’s a few things to know to get these workhorse plants pulling hard in the traces together.
Hosta is a fun foliage plant that’s available in large, medium and small sizes, narrow to wide leaf shape and green and/or yellow stripes and fast or slow growing. This is enough variety to overwhelm the decision making process- so here’s my choice - pick green. This provides a welcome texture and color balance to the wild colors of the impatiens. I’ll leave the variety type to you. The hostas form a green band at each end of the garden - gracefully hemming in the vibrant impatiens.
But let me tell you a little story about the hostas in my garden. In my case , I recieved an older hosta variety (we guess from 1940-50’s, like the house) from my sister Sue’s garden. It was too large for her garden and also had the extra ” benefit” of reproducing exponentially. It’s really a beautiful hosta , just in the wrong place. When I went looking for the varietal name , I couldn’t find it. Sue’s afraid to try hosta now due to this boisterous “SuperHosta”. I tell her that there are tiny slower growing hostas that are not invasive. All my other hostas are VERY slow growing . Sue, on the other hand ,is waiting for the surface area of my farm to be overcome with these superhostas. So I leave it to you , dear reader, to view with great suspicion any plant gift from relative, friend and neighbor- the bigger the smile or guilty look , the faster it will grow. Tip - Keep the aggressive plants together in one square or circular spot and give some border space. The border space not only looks good but provides room for yanking stray roots. I should mention that it’s a good thing I have a 146 acre farm with plenty of shady spots that need foliage!
Impatiens walleriana (not the hawkeri- New Guinea impatiens) are readily available . I like them in orange, hot pink or violet. If you have to pick one color, make it orange. Orange is easier to see in twilight or moonlight conditions. As for mixing the colors- irregular one-color bands work better at giving bolder color impact than mixing them like confetti. This flower tolerates abuse well. It can lay over gasping for water and bounce back quickly once that necessary nutrient is applied. If you want them to grow taller, plant them closer together than the regular spacing . As an example, check out how many plants you get in a hanging basket to get that full opulent look. I’ve seen landscapers use hanging baskets for in ground use and you can too if you need big color in a hurry. Just keep in mind close-set plants need more water more frequently.
My friend Becky gave me the Sweet Woodruff that forms the ground cover around one of the old maples in this shade garden. AGAIN, I am accepting potentially exuberant plants! It’s OK . We are best friends and she dug some Silver Queen artemsia ( very invasive) out of my yard so that makes it fair. I tamed this little charming herb by giving it groundcover duty under a maple. Be merciful and allow it some mulch annually or it’ll have nothing to stick it’s roots in. The south side of the tree is too arid for even this sturdy herb so I just mulch and put one of my rabbit sculptures there. You can use liriope or myrtle (vinca minor or periwinkle) as well.
The foundation of any garden is what keeps it from looking boring in the wintertime. I know we’re talking summertime viewing here, but some thought as to how it looks as you scurry past in your arctic wear is important too. I started out with an inhospitable area between 2 maples (big ancient ones) that grabbed up all the topsoil with their relentless roots. Penetrating this formidable root barrier was impossible (not good for the trees either) so I made a raised bed. If you’re lucky and you can dig in the soil in your shady area that’s actually a bit better as raised beds dry out more quickly. I have a lot of rocks laying around so I used those to make the raised bed. If you have trees with surface roots (like mine) you’ll need to make an impenetrable barrier to keep the roots out- I used old roofing tin. You could also use large pots/ planters in a varied grouping - just mulch around them to give a clean look. For additional interest I added an iron pedestal candle holder. It could be a bird bath, statuary or other art work. If you opt for the planter / pot grouping use one type of plant in each pot to frame it in. You could also use coleus for additional flavor . I like Wizard mix coleus - lots of variety and slow to flower. Pinch the flowers off though or they start looking weedy.
So the mix is orange/violet Impatiens, green hosta, maybe some coleus and sweet woodruff around the tree. It’s tough, refreshing to look at, low maintenance and not too pricey! If you’re not in love with the impatiens colors, try them anyway. I’ve tried pastels and they look washed out in the shade. My mother in law is definitely a pastels gal but only wants orange impatiens for her garden now. Good Luck!
