Beefing Up the Shade Garden

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When I went to the plant swap this past weekend I was hoping to find some shade tolerant plants to add to the corner shade garden. Something new or unique would be a great addition to the shade garden. I saw several hostas at the swap. Almost everyone loves them (I don’t know anyone who doesn’t) and they are easy to divide which makes them a great plant for trading. Even though we already have several hostas in our garden I came home with two more. I just can’t resist a hosta. One of them is very small plant (not pictured yet) that I’ll just place in a pot for the summer and keep it in the shade garden. The other does not have a name but it seems to be a fairly common variegated hosta.


The night before the swap I was contacted by someone who wanted one of my red-twig dogwoods. (Those went fast I’ll have to make more cuttings for next year!) I looked at her list and saw some heucheras and since I’m a big fan of heucheras I agreed to a pre-trade. I came home with this little Coral Bell called ‘Fireworks’. We’ll see what kind of sparkle this little heuchera can add to the ‘Palace Purples’ next door! ‘Fireworks’ is supposed to have a long lasting flower display from May to August.


Here’s another plant that I didn’t have that is a fairly common one in gardens: Variegated Soloman’s Seal (Polygonatum odoratum ‘Variegatum’). I think this is a pretty cool plant. If you grow it primarily for its foliage you can’t go wrong but it has some really interesting flowers in the spring that form along the underside of its stem in pairs.


I brought home four of these woodland plants and placed them near our Oak Leaf Hydrangea. Hopefully the variegated foliage will reflect the variegation in the hostas. They are a little taller than the heucheras and hostas and should add an intermediate height between them and the Hydrangea. My goal for this area is to create a natural looking woodland shade garden.

Now I just need to get some mulch over here!

7 thoughts on “Beefing Up the Shade Garden”

  2. Great looking shade garden, Dave. When it gets some size to it boy will you ever have a great shade garden to work with. Maybe even have to enlarge it.

  3. The plant swap is a really good idea – might suggest it to my gardening club. My mother doesnt like hosta as the slugs eat it!

  4. Hi Dave, you are going to love that variegated solomon’s seal, it spreads very quickly by large rhizome looking things that kind of look like knees sticking out of the ground. After a couple of years you should be able to spread them even more. They make a great filler for a woodland area, just like you are using them. Another addition to that bed would be epimediums. Ours do well with the sol. seal, without causing a problem since both spread well. In winter it looks like only the heuchera will show. Maybe some evergreens for winter interest? Just a suggestion.
    Frances

  6. Dave,

    Your shade bed is coming along. I second Frances’ comments the VSS will spread….and it transplants without balking…..before you know it all the lovely trees you have planted will be shading the ground and you will be planting more woodland wildflowers.

    Gail

  7. Tina,

    You’re right about the Oak Leaf, it’s doing great. Just enough sunlight for it to thrive. There should be a couple blooms on it soon.

    Thanks Lola!

    I’ll probably have to move transplants to another spot or add some trees for shade. That corner area is as big as I could make it for shade. There’s a gas line that runs through there so that limited what I can do.

    Helen,

    I know hostas are good food for slugs but I still like them! Just gotta put out some beer for the slugs.

    Frances,

    Some evergreens sounds like a good idea. I don’t have much room left though. They would need to be fairly small.

    Jen,

    I haven’t fully decided what to use. I may go shredded pine but cedar would be good for its rot resistance and bug resistance.

    Gail,

    I would love to have more shady areas here. In the back we have a good spot for those shady wildflowers I just haven’t been able to work that area yet. I’ll get to it eventually!

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