LITTLE ROCK — After the summer we have had, we are all grateful for a little shade. There are times when it is the only saving grace to being outside in an Arkansas summer.
Those who do have shade often bemoan the fact that they can’t grow anything, but that need not be the case. Aside from vegetables and fruits and traditional lawns, there are plenty of shrubs, annuals and perennials that thrive in the shade.
When choosing plants for a shade garden, the first step is to assess your shade. Not all shade is created equal.
Do you have dense shade with very little light coming through, such as that underneath an established Southern magnolia? Or do you have light, dappled shade like that beneath pine trees? Or something in between?
Is your shade coming from evergreen or deciduous trees?
What time of day is your shade? If we talk in terms of full-sun plants, we usually mean those requiring six to eight hours of sun. So we immediately assume that any plant needing less than six hours of sunlight would be appropriate for a shade garden. However, if you get your five hours of sun from 11 a.m. through 4 p.m., then your landscape does not qualify as a shade garden in the South.
Shade-loving plants would fry in our hot Southern summers.
Once you have decided on the amount of shade you have, what style of garden do you want? Do you want a traditional landscape with shade plants, a woodland garden or a perennial bed?
Consider water needs, especially since shade plants are usually competing with trees.
As you will see here, there are plenty of choices for shade gardens. Make sure you group plants with like needs together, so those that like light shade and plenty of moisture, for example, won’t perish next to those that thrive in a dry shade.
Experiment! New plant variations are introduced every year. And in the heat of the South, many plants touted as sun-loving will often thrive in light shade, unlike in more northerly spots.
And if your garden is totally sunny, consider planting trees to create a shady environment.
THE GARDEN’S BACKBONE
Choosing plants is always the fun part, and today there are more choices than ever.
For mostgardens you need a backbone of evergreen plants - something to hold interest and give you fill even in the dead of winter.
Evergreen shrubs that like shade include wax myrtle (for central Arkansas south), aucuba (often called gold dust plant), plum yew (Cephalotaxus), cleyera, boxwood, hollies, illicium, nandina, leucothoe, Otto Luyken laurel, mahonia and pieris.
Most of these plantswill tolerate full to light shade well.
Azaleas, camellias, gardenias and daphne are great evergreen flowering plants that need filtered sunlight or full morning sun in order to bloom.
The newer Encore azaleas actually need a bit more sunlight than that to bloom well.
Deciduous shrubs that bloom inthe shade include Calycanthus (sweet shrub), hydrangeas, kerria (yellow rose of Texas), viburnums, Clethra and itea. Again, they need some filtered sunlight to set flowers.
HOUSEPLANT GARNISHES
There are even tropical plants for shade, as well as houseplants.
Banana plants do well in the shade, but won’t flower.
The flamingo flower (Justicia carnea) has beautiful spikes of pink flowers and the “Black Flamingo” (Chrysothemis pulchella) has wonderful orange and yellow flowers.
A host of houseplants can be set in the garden or even planted to give color and texture during spring through early fall. Of course, they must move back inside for the cooler months.
Big variety of plants makes choices easier
Perennials are herbaceous plants that survive for more than one year in the garden. When you think of shade perennials, hostas and ferns immediately pop into mind, but there are other choices as well.
Even within the realm of hostas and ferns, you have plenty of choices.
There are hundreds if not thousands of cultivars of hostas today, some with green foliage, some with blue, yellow or variegated leaves.
Some have tall, showy white flowers while others produce floppy purple spikes. They range from teacup to elephant-ear size. All hostas are deciduous, meaning they die back to the ground in winter.
In the fern family, there are evergreen forms such as Christmas-, holly- and autumn ferns. Also find deciduous types: Japanese painted-, cinnamon- and lady fern.
Branching out from there, some plants can look great even in what’s considered an off-season. For late winter/ early spring, try hellebores or Lenten rose. The new varieties have lovely upright flowers in a range of pink, purple or white and bloomin the shade.
Woodland phlox (Phlox divaricata) is a springtime showstopper with purple flowers. Bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis) and foxglove (Digitalis) bloom in light shade in early spring.
For all-season interest, there is ahuge offering of coral bells (heucheras), from the traditional green-foliaged types to those with yellow, silver, purple and even toffee colored leaves. Heucheras are for the most part evergreen, but often benefit from a little haircut in earlyspring.
Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum odoratum) comes in a green or variegated form and some new dwarf types are available.
For summer interest, cranesbill (Geranium sanguineum), astilbe (for light shade) and bear’s breeches (acanthus) are showstoppers.
A huge range of wild gingers (Asarum) do well in shade; some have small evergreen leaves and others come in larger deciduous forms.
For fall, try toad lilies (Tricyrtus), turtlehead (Chelone) and Japanese anemone.
Annual events
You must replant annuals every year, since they only last one season in the garden.
Still the top summer shade annual in Arkansas is the common impatien, coming in a range of red, pink, orange and white. It likes water, but will bloom in light to the darkest shade, often reseeding for the next year. New varieties extend the color palette to yellow and apricot with the Fusion or African impatiens. Some of the newer forms need a bit of morning sun or filtered light to keep blooming well.
Begonias offer another color hit in the shade;
flowers include pink, red and white. Whether it is the common wax begonia or the showy Rex version (grown as much for its colorful foliage as flowers), they add a huge boost of color.
The wishbone flower (Torenia) does well in the shade, as does Plectranthus“Mona Lavender.” Don’t overlook plants with colorful foliage. There are hundreds of coleus that thrive in the shade along with Iresine, polka dot plant (Hypoestes), Persian shield and caladium.
If you have deep, heavy shade, lighten it with white or light-colored foliage, since dark colors often disappear.
HomeStyle, Pages 37 on 09/25/2010