#Shade loving perennials how to#
#Shade loving perennials full#

There are the scores of columbines with long spurs and short stems that seed freely and cross haphazardly to put on a new array of surprises in unexpected places each spring into early summer. And all this to say nothing of the flowers, which can be white to pink with some hints of blue, some tall, some short, and some so scented that hummingbirds canвЂ™t resist. There are the hostas with their greens, grays and swirls of cream, with textures like velvet, ripples like pond water, and names like Rhino Hide that belie the touch of the foliage. My hardy cyclamen love to grow at the base of the maple, where itвЂ™s dry and shaded from June onward but sunny and bright from the first February flowers till the anemones finish in May, as the astilbes begin their reign of four to eight weeks, with one actually ending in October with the vibrant colored foliage of Astilbe Flash.

#Shade loving perennials full#

ThereвЂ™s also the early garden that shines its cheery face in full sun during the spring, before the tall maples shade the ground below. As they get a little taller, many of them need some form of staking, and yet they grow and fill the garden with their heavenly scents through July and August and look just magnificent. IвЂ™ve learned that just because the ground is shaded doesnвЂ™t mean that, 4 feet higher, there isnвЂ™t lots of bright light and sun-and these are the spots where my Asiatic lilies dwell. Other than the Boston fern, the other plants are Impatiens and Lamium. This urn gets bright light (still shade) and spots of sun for about 20 minutes early in the morning, but itвЂ™s still a shady spot directly under the dense canopy of an oak tree. Other plants can be planted among the hostas for added color like the red astilbe (lower right) which flowers before the hostas throw up their flower spikes. These hostas are shaded from the sun by a several tall lilac shrubs not seen on the right. Hostas can add a dramatic element to shady spots with a variety foliage colors, patterns and growth habits with some as small as a few inches to as large as 5 feet across and 4 feet tall. Just 5 feet from the trunk of a 100-year-old maple tree that provides high, thin shade, Japanese painted ferns and a pair of purple foliage Heucheras grow as Lamium Anne Greenway starts to creep in (bottom). Young Impatiens capensis, also shade loving plants, are behind them and will flower when about 3 feet tall. ItвЂ™s a woodland native that thrives in shady moist sites. This Tiarella Sugar and Spice thrives in full shade under a dense canopy from a dogwood. Polygonatum odoratum v., or false SolomonвЂ™s seal (dwarf), is the taller shade lover in the back, also easily divided and a naturalizer.

#Shade loving perennials how to#

Initially, perennials for shady spots can be much more expensive than annuals, but if you learn how to divide Heucheras like the ones in the center, they can be cost effective and long lasting.