A shady spot provides welcome relief from summer heat, but it can make growing a beautiful garden more challenging. Take heart, your landscape may receive more sunlight than you suspect and if not, you can grow quite a few shade-tolerant plants.
Evaluating sun and shade patterns throughout the day, season and year is a good place to start. Sun-loving bulbs need lots of sun early in the season before most trees leaf out, while other plants need sunlight throughout the growing season. If you work all day, you may assume those shady spots in the morning and evening never light up, so take time to evaluate conditions throughout the season.
Make a list of plants that succeeded and those that failed in the shade. Use these to help you select or avoid plants with similar light requirements. For example, if peonies bloom and tomatoes produce fruit this area receives quite a bit of sunlight, perhaps more than you thought.
If your landscape is too shady to grow the plants you desire, try increasing the sunlight reaching ground-level plantings. Hire a certified arborist to thin the overhead tree canopy. They have the training and experience to do the job safely and correctly. You don’t want to damage the health of established trees.
If there’s too much shade to grow even shade-loving plants, consider mulch to keep the mud in place, permeable pavers and a table or chair for relaxing, or a few steppers and moss to create a moss garden.
Here is a list of some shade-tolerant perennials to consider. As always make sure your plants also tolerate your region’s climate.
Woodland Wildflowers
Spring Flowering Bulbs
Grape hyacinths
Checkered lilies
Camassia
Daffodils
Virginia Bluebells
Perennial Flowers
Ajuga
Astilbe
Barrenwort (Epimedium)
Bleeding Heart
Bugbane/Snakeroot (Actaea)
Columbine
Coral Bells
Deadnettle (Lamium)
Ferns
Foam flower (Tiarella)
Ginger (Asarum)
Hostas
Japanese Forest Grass (Hakonechloa)
Lungwort
Sedges
Siberian Bugloss (Brunnera)
Variegated Solomon Seal
Toadlily (Tricyrtis)
Once you’ve made your selections and planted your garden, you need to adjust the care to compensate for the conditions. Plants growing under large trees or overhangs must be watered more often, especially the first year or two, because the canopy of trees and overhangs prevent rainfall from reaching the ground. The extensive root systems of trees and shrubs absorb much of the rainfall that does land, so check soil moisture several times a week and water thoroughly as needed.
Tree and shrub roots can also compete with plantings for nutrients. Use a low nitrogen, slow release fertilizer like Milorganite (milorganite.com) that promotes steady growth. The 85 percent organic material further helps improve soil. Apply slow release fertilizers at planting and once again for annuals mid-season. Fertilize new and established perennials in early spring and again in mid-summer as needed.
High nitrogen, quick release fertilizers promote lush succulent growth that is more susceptible to insects and diseases. Limited light as a potential plant stressor can increase the risk of problems.
When planting under or near trees, be careful not to kill them. Adding as little as an inch of soil over the roots can kill some species. And deep cultivation can damage feeder roots critical for water and nutrient absorption. The majority grow within the top 12 inches of soil.
Melinda Myers hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything: Food Gardening For Everyone” DVD set and the nationally syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment TV & radio segments. Visit melindamyers.com.