Shady woodland gardens

While sunny garden beds and walkways make a space pop, I am often drawn to shade gardens. I imagine reading a book there, cooling down after a hot day, inviting a neighbor over for a crisp glass of Chardonnay! Shade or woodland gardens are typically filled with plantings less than 2 feet tall. The choices are infinite. An easy start would be planting hosta and fern, then maybe scatter some other perennials or annuals, depending on the size of your garden.  Adding some lily of the valley along the front of your garden for some March to April dots of white would be pretty and require no maintenance.

Shade plants not only provide rich texture and shapes in woodland gardens, they offer soft to bold color options, too. Some shade gardens tucked into a corner somewhere can be relaxing and even a little magical. Have you considered a fairy garden? More ideas on that soon.

Sun gardens pop with color well into fall, depending on your choice of plants.  Same holds true for shade gardens. Want a changing palette of color from spring through fall? Start by adding some bleeding heart or two, nestled in among the ferns and hosta. They like to be planted together and will naturalize, so are a nice background. Their delicate cascades of pale pink flowers present in April and May. Once they’ve bloomed trim them back every month or so to keep them green. They often last well into summer.

See color in June by planting coral bells, which are best in groups of 3, 5 and so on. They come in a variety of leaf colors, from rusty orange/yellow, which would pair well with Rocket Ligularia in early summer, with spikes of glowing yellow blooms. Coral bells also come in muted burgundy to a burgundy with a slightly purple shine to it. All are about 10 to 12 inches tall at the base, with tall thistle like stems that have a delicate cluster of tiny flowers in shades of pink to orange that bloom in late May, June. into July.

For June through September color, varieties of calla lilies, astilbe, toad lilies and snakeroot will boast color from mid-summer to possibly September, depending upon where you live.

As you become more confident, see your garden expand in shape, texture and color, you’ll begin to know what works best. Maybe you like muted shades with pale colored flowers. Or you go bold with rich yellows, reds and purple. Mother nature has it all!