Northern Shade Gardening

Heuchera ‘Plum Pudding’ (coral bells), with its shiny purple leaves, can really catch your eye in a shady border. Here is a garden bed that I’ve rearranged, including some perennials with purple foliage. This garden area is in shade, so the perennials have to thrive with just an hour or two of sunlight.

Heuchera 'Plum Pudding' foliage

The most eye catching purple foliage is from the Heuchera ‘Plum Pudding’. I particularly like this shade of purple as it has a metallic silver tinge to it. You can see in the above photo how the silvery overlay reflects the light in this darker area. Dark colours can fade into the background in the shade, but the silver highlights brighten up the foliage. The leaves are very vivid, and I like the way they add a little drama  here.

One of the advantages of Heuchera is that their leaves stay fresh looking through the mild frosts. In fact, the frost often brings out the colors in Heuchera. In the short growing season of zone 3, it really extends the gardening season when plants can look good into October and November. Heuchera keep many of their leaves under the snow, so they also look great in early spring, before other  perennials have risen. Here is some information about Heuchera ‘Mint Frost’, which has silvery green leaves.

The foliage of the Heuchera make a great ground cover, since they produce many overlapping broad leaves. Smaller plants can’t grow through, so there is less weeding. However, the 2 m (6 ft) tall Actaea has no trouble growing over the 25 cm (10 in) tall Heuchera, so they make a good combination. The group of three Heuchera make a nice clump in front of the Actaea.

Actaea racemosa 'Atropurpurea' leaves

The tall perennnial behind is Actaea racemosa ‘Atropurpurea’ (Cimicifuga, bugbane). This plant has purple tinges to the edges of its leaves, and reddish purple stems. It grows a couple of metres tall (around 6ft). The leaves will make a good backdrop to the other plants. My other Actaea racemosa have tall white flower wands, above my head. These plants will flowers with a minimal amount of light.

Heuchera 'Plum Pudding' and Astilbe

The purple Heuchera is planted next to some Astilbe simplicifolia ‘Hennies Graafland’. I dug up and divided the Astilbe, which had too many lily of the valley closing in on them. Now these short astilbe are towards the front of the bed, where they can be seen better, and have more space. I like the shiny Astilbe leaves next to the glossy metallic purple leaves of the Heuchera. The glossy leaves of A. simplicifolia are highly reflective in the shade. They still have their faded flower plumes on them, with fall colours now. I think the bright pink flowers of summer will look good with the dark purple leaves, but I’ll see when they flower fresh next year.

This section of the border is going to have mostly purple highlights on the leaves. I saw a nice Tiarella that had dark purple centres on its leaves that I might add too. To the south of this section, the plants have more silver highlights. The Heuchera ‘Plum Pudding’, with both purple and silver colours, will make a nice transition between them. I love fall gardening, redesigning the beds, transplanting, dividing the perennials, and adding new plants. Then you wait over the winter, picturing it in your mind. I’m eager to see how this garden border will look next year, as the plants grow in.

13 Pulmonaria Athyrium

Here is a picture tour of the perennials that grow under my willow tree. All of these plants have done well in this shady spot with dappled light. There is a fence to the south and west, so the garden area gets sun in the early morning, and then some dappled light through the shifting willow branches during the day. These plants have managed to compete with the willow roots, and thrive in this area.

The walk goes clockwise, following along the edge of the bed, so mostly the pictures below just show the shorter plants in front. The photos overlap slightly, as you walk along. It starts with the blue flowered Campanula, which are just outside the edge of the willow leaves, and ends at the Epimedium.

There are lots of silver leafed plants here, because the silver colour adds some sparkle in the shadows. The light colour shows up well in the shade, and looks good next to the different shades of green. The main silver colour comes from the the Brunnera macrophylla (siberian bugloss) and Pulmonaria (lungwort). The Athyrium ‘Ghost’ (ghost fern) has silver fronds, and Athyrium niponicum ‘Pictum’ (Japanese painted fern) has highlights of silver mixed in with green and purple. There are also glints of white from the variegated Hosta ‘Francee’. The darker green colours tend to fade into the background under the willow, so the groups of lighter colours make it much more interesting, and the darker colours show up well against them in the shade garden.

Some of the perennials, like the ferns,  have very light textures, and some, like the Hosta, have much heavier textures. The plants with the finest cut leaves are the ferns and the Aruncus aethusifolius (dwarf goatsbeard). The most robust ferns here are the Athyrium filix-femina (lady ferns). They send up new fronds all summer, and grow thick and lush. At the back, with just the occasional frond poking into the photos, are some Matteuccia struthiopteris (ostrich ferns). These ferns grow the tallest in my garden, and have a vase shape with fewer fronds. The Dryopteris expansa (spiny wood fern) is medium sized fern, and mostly keeps to itself. My smallest perennial here with finely cut leaves is the Aruncus aethusifolius. It is about 30 cm tall, and has done very well so far, planted very close to the willow tree trunk.

The perennials with the largest most solid leaves under here are the Hosta, Brunnera, Asarum and Pulmonaria. These look great next to the ferns, and keep the bed from being a solid mass of shapeless green.

The tallest perennials that I’ve been able to grow under the willow shade are the Dicentra spectabilis ‘Alba’ (white bleeding hearts), and the Matteuccia struthiopteris (ostrich ferns). The ostrich ferns are in some of the darkest corners, but the bleeding hearts are in a lighter part of the canopy. I’ve planted some Polygonatum commutatum var Giganteum (giant solomon’s seal), too. So far it’s only 60 cm (2 ft) tall, but I do have hope that it will take its name more seriously as it gets older. I tried Aruncus dioicus (tall goatsbeard) under here, but it didn’t do well, whereas it thrives in other shady spots.

Once you get to the Epimedium grandiflorum ‘Lilafee’, you’re at the other edge of the willow canopy. All of these plants have thrived here under the swaying branches of the willow. I love this tree, which forms a wall of green in this corner of my garden, and I’m glad these perennials will grow underneath it to create a shady retreat.

birdbath shade plantings

This woodland birdbath is located under my willow tree. The garden bed is backed by a fence to the south and west, so it mostly gets some early morning sun, and some dappled light during the day. These shade plants have all done well with low light, and competing with the willow roots. Very few weeds ever grow here. I always enjoy gardening in this shady green area.

You can see that the birds would have every right to complain right now. I’ve let the birdbath go dry, but it will soon be refilled. I usually check it every day or two, empty it, and refill it. The birds love a good splash about in the water, or a guarded drink. Some birds are extra cautious, pausing every few seconds to check around, while some just splash away, sending water droplets spraying to the nearest plants. Some birds bring a friend to keep guard from a nearby branch.

Behind the birdbath are Matteuccia struthiopteris (ostrich fern). These ones grow about 1 m (3 feet) tall, and don’t mind this shady location. They give a lush look to the planting, with their large, arching fronds. On either side of the birdbath are the much daintier looking Adiantum pedatum (maidenhair fern). Both ferns sway in the breezes. A few Dryopteris expansa (spiny wood fern) and Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern) grow on the far left edge.

Asarum europaeum (European ginger) grows at the front of the bed. The rounded leaves make a great groundcover here, very close to the tree trunk.

The heart shaped leaves with silver highlights are Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’, and make a nice contrast. Behind them in the darkest, driest corner, grows the uncomplaining Convallaria majalis (lily of the valley).

Just out of sight to the back and right there are Polygonatum commutatum (solomon’s seal). Their slender arching stems form a bracket to this group. Just to the left of the photo are Brunnera macrophylla ‘Mr. Morse’, which have very similar leaves to the Jack Frost, but with white flowers in spring. All of these shade plants have done very well in this garden under the willow.

frog birdbath

Here is my other birdbath, under a pine tree. This one has a hexagonal shape.There is a relief of a frog on a lily pad inside the bowl, and carvings of lily pads around the pedestal. It gets double the amount of birds as my other one. There are tall shade plants around this birdbath, but above it is more open than the birdbath under the willow. The Hydrangea paniculata has just started blooming, and the white flowers are halfway open. A large Matteuccia struthiopteris frond is just about as tall as the shrub on the other side. To the left grow some Pulmonaria plants.

woodland birdbath with water

Now the woodland birdbath is filled with water, and ready for some feathery customers at the bird spa.