Shade is inevitable in gardens. It is a blessing and a burden; while few plants flourish in the shade, the ones which do flourish are very pretty.
As a garden matures, trees get larger than was planned, shrubs soar and become treelike themselves, and soon there is very little sun to garden in. Many of these problems can be avoided, if trees are planted so their shadows fall on paved areas or the roof of the house. Trees and shrubs can be pruned to let more light through, and some that were planted too close together should be removed, but full-grown trees and shrubs cannot be replaced quickly, so what you can do with the existing shade should be carefully thought out.
There are varying degrees of shade. Deep shade is the most difficult problem. Only a handful of plants will grow in dark shade, and even they would prefer more light. Deep shade is usually caused by dense trees that keep branches close to the ground. Again, thinning is one way of allowing more light, but sometimes it helps to simply cut off the lower branches so more light slips through. Deep shade is also a logical place for a patio or other paved area, which sidesteps the problem of what to plant.
Light shade is much easier to deal with. “Light” means that some sunlight filters through whatever is directly above, or that if nothing is directly overhead but a plant grows in the shadow of something (as on the north side of a house), there is indirect light coming from the open sky above. Many more plants will grow in this kind of shade, and a few, famous for their flowers, actually require it.
For summer planting, here are some great bedding plants for shade gardens. Like most shade plants, these need light but not direct sun (don’t count on them in very dark entries, for instance.) All are bread-and-butter nursery items or at least easy to grow from seed. Not all are annuals, but they’re treated that way and replanted each year.
Bedding begonia:
Newer kinds are unsurpassed for masses of neat red, pink or white flowers. In warm zones, they are almost never out of bloom and can be counted on for color in the fall and even into the winter. Like impatiens, they are best replanted each spring.
Coleus:
Since they are grown for their multicolored leaves, pinch back tips to force more branching and cut off flowers to prolong the life of the plant. There are dwarf varieties as well as types that grow two to three feet tall.
Impatiens:
In the last few years, exciting things have been happening to impatiens. Flowers are bigger and colors brighter on plants that are denser and more compact. Impatiens will last through the winter in warm zones or indoors, but are best planted anew each spring and are considered one of the best shade plants. New Guinea impatiens are a little different. Grown for fanciful foliage, they do best with a half-day of sun in the morning, light shade in the afternoon. They’ll last several years in pots.
Monkey flower:
Sold as Mimulus hybridus, this is a good choice if you’re looking for something a little out of the ordinary. Its cream, rose, orange, yellow or scarlet blooms usually display brownish-maroon spotting. It likes part to full shade and requires a soil rich in organic content and regular water.
Wishbone flower:
(Torenia fournieri). A bushy little foot-tall plant with purplish-blue pea-shaped flowers. It gets its name from its stamens, which are arranged in a wishbone shape. Occasionally found at nurseries, or grown easily from seed.
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