Paul James, host of HGTV's Gardening by the Yard, explains how to grow plants successfully in shade. All plants need some degree of sunlight to grow properly. Most familiar plants require either full sun, which means 8 hours or more a day, or partial sun--between 4 and 8 hours. A garden spot that gets less than 4 hours of sun a day cannot be used for growing full- or partial-sun plants. If the shade is the result of a north-facing exposure, a high roof line or overhanging eaves, there's not much you can do to get rid of it. If the shade is cast by trees, more sun can be provided by limbing them up--removing low-growing branches--or by selectively thinning the canopy to let more light in. The amount of shade a spot gets can vary dramatically during the day and throughout the year. For instance, when deciduous trees are dormant, the area beneath them gets full sun, but once the trees leaf out in spring, that same area may get no sun at all. Proper soil is the secret to growing plants successfully in the shade. The forest floor is covered by a layer of leaf litter. The soil itself may be surprisingly thin, but that's okay as long as the leaf litter is present. These conditions can be re-created at home by providing shredded leaves with compost or packaged products containing a fair amount of leaf mold, or partly composted leaves. If the soil in a shady garden site is decent, all you need is to add shredded leaves and compost to each plant's planting hole. Top that off with a thick layer of mulch, and plants should do just fine, provided they remain evenly moist. Soil conditions may vary widely in shady spots. In time, by adding several inches of finely shredded leaves around the base of a tree, you'll create the soil conditions needed to support the growth of numerous shade-tolerant plants. It may take a while--perhaps 1 to 3 years--but it's the second-best solution to the problem. The best solution is to plant something that grows in dry shade, such as English ivy or Japanese pachysandra, both of which are easy to find and grow. (Caution: English ivy is extremely invasive and readily takes over if unchecked, creating "ivy deserts" in which nothing else will grow.) Dogwoods are one of the best kinds of shade-tolerant trees. They're true understory trees that in the wild grow in the shade cast by larger trees. The most common dogwood is Cornus florida, native to the United States, and it's a great tree. An Asian species, C. kousa, flowers about a month later and thrives equally well in shady spots. Japanese maples also do nicely in all but the densest shade, but red varieties may not color as well without a few hours of sun, preferably morning sun. When it comes to shrubs, the list includes short, tall, and medium plants as well as deciduous and evergreen varieties. Azaleas and yews are popular shade-tolerant shrubs, and within the world of perennials, the best-known example is the hosta. Hardy ferns of all kinds are easy to grow. One favorite is the cinnamon fern, so named because of its distinctively colored new fronds. Columbines are a favorite among shade-loving flowers. Siberian iris (figure A), like the daylily, isn't often thought of as a shade-tolerant plant, but it does beautifully with only an hour of sun a day. Another favorite is dicentra (figure B), whose common name is bleeding heart because of the flowers' unique shape. Finally, there's astilbe (figure C), which produces gorgeous fernlike foliage and showy blooms. Here's a list of good shade-tolerant plants: - Annuals: begonia, coleus, impatiens, forget-me-nots (Myosotis sylvatica), pansy (Viola)
- Perennials: astilbe, bleeding heart (Dicentra), bugbane (Cimicifuga), campanula, columbine (Aquilegia), coral bells (Heuchera), foxglove (Digitalis), goatsbeard (Aruncus), hellebore, daylily (Hemerocallis), hosta, Virginia bluebell (Mertensia pulmonarioides), fern, monkshood (Aconitum), phlox, primrose (Primula), lungwort (Pulmonaria), cardinal flower (Lobelia), Siberian iris, veronica
- Groundcovers: ajuga, wild ginger (Asarum), sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum ), epimedium, English ivy (Hedera helix), lamium, liriope, mondo grass (Ophiopogon japonicus), pachysandra, spirea, vinca
- Shrubs: boxwood (Buxus), daphne, gold dust (Aucuba), holly (Ilex), hydrangea, mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia), kerria, leucothoe, Oregon grape (Mahonia), mock orange (Philadelphus), nandina, privet (Ligustrum), cherry laurel (Prunus laurocerasus), rhododendron and azalea, viburnum, yew (Taxus)
- Trees: dogwood (Cornus), Japanese maple (Acer palmatum), stewartia.
RESOURCES :
The Complete Shade Gardener
Model: 0395574269
Author: George Schenk
1991
Houghton Mifflin Co.
Boston, MA 02116
Phone: 617-351-5000
Email: tradecustomerservice@hmco.com
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