Northern Shade Gardening

new front shade garden dappled light

Here is a new garden bed I’ve started  planting between some conifers. The area is very shady, so I chose some shade tolerant perennials, and included some plants with cream and silver foliage to lighten the area.

This bed gets less than an hour of light in the morning and an hour or so in the late afternoon. Then it gets the dappled light you see here off and on during the day. I picked perennials that thrive in shade like this.

I started by removing only the bottom branches that had no needles on them anymore from the conifers. This made a little room at the base, between the pine and the spruce. The front of the spruce gets more light, and still has branches to the ground, which I’ve left.

I then scraped the remaining grass off of this area, which was sparse anyways. I haven’t tried to maintain grass here for a couple of years, so the grass roots were shallow and easy to remove. Next I mixed in some organic material. There was plenty already here, since old deciduous leaves had accumulated under the bottom spruce branches, and were already breaking down. Also under the pine was a layer of very light, springy material. I think it is a mixture of old needles and perhaps long dead grass. There were lots of interesting textures, like a forest floor.

Under the pine there was a little midden (pile) of cone scales. They were left by a squirrel that used to like to sit on a pine branch and methodically work its way through each cone to get the seeds within. The scales fall to the ground and gradually make a little pile. They will make a nice mulch for the end section. They remind me of cocoa shell mulch.

new front shade garden hosta and ghost fern

In the centre at the back of the garden I planted Hosta ‘Francee’, which has a narrow cream margin on each leaf. The shading is reminiscent of the dappled effect of forest light on foliage. I’ve given it a little room, since it will expand.

new front shade garden looking through

On the left side I’ve included some Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’ (Siberian bugloss) in the garden. These do very well in shade. These will have blue flowers in the spring, and the lovely patterned leaves for the rest of the season. This area on the left gets a bit more late afternoon sun, so the Brunnera  should grow big here, maybe 60 cm (2 feet) around. In deeper shade these plants grow about 30 cm (1 foot) around.

new front shade garden side view

The Athyrium x ‘Ghost’ fern in the centre will add finely cut, lacy fronds, and a silver lightness to the centre of this shady garden area. They make a nice contrasting texture to the solid leaves of Hosta and Brunnera. They might need some extra water here, but I’ll see how they do.

The group of Epimedium ‘Lilafee’ (barrenwort) with the light green leaves on the right should do well here since this is a drier shade area. Their leaves have a nice contrasting shape to the other plants, and they will have pretty purple flowers above the foliage in the spring. They didn’t have the required cream or silver coloured leaves, but they do well in dry shade, which is even better. The light green coloured leaves match the Hosta at the back. This plant is rated for a warmer zone than 3, but the one I had survived a cold winter last year, so I’m planting more of this perennial. We’ll see next spring how they did on a larger scale.

before picture under conifers

Here is a before photo of the garden bed. You can see that there is just a few grass remnants, some tree roots, fallen needles and cone scales. On the other hand, there is little grass to remove and lots of decaying organic matter for humus. The tricky part in planting is to avoid the large tree roots when digging. I planted in pockets in between the roots, which meant the plant spacing is where the tree allows.

new front garden in shade

This photo was taken on the day I planted the area, Saturday. I haven’t finished planting the garden bed yet, but I already like this area in the middle. There is a section on each end still to go, but I haven’t made up my mind for sure. I might plant some dwarf goatsbeard to the left, maybe some Heuchera too, both do well in shade. I also might expand at the back and plant some solomon’s seal, perhaps the variegated ones. The garden section to the right is the shadiest and driest, and has overhead branches at less than a metre (about 2.5  to 3 feet), so I’d like to plant some more Epimedium, but I couldn’t find any more ‘Lilafee’, which has large purple flowers held well above the leaves. I might look for a white flowered Epimedium, to go with the blue and purple flower scheme.

I’m looking forward to seeing how this garden looks next year as the plants fill in to the space. I’ve tried not to squeeze plants too tight, as is tempting to do when you see lots of empty space in the bed, but I didn’t use my ruler either.

This garden bed is not only shady, but it’s under evergreens, so it doesn’t get the spring light that so many woodland plants like. There is lots of room to expand among the conifers, so I’ll be extending the garden this year and next on the same theme. It’s easy to do in manageable sections, in the gaps around the trees. Any particular shade loving plants you think would work on the same theme?

Here are some of the additional plantings for this shade bed, in this followup post.

Here are some photos of  interesting leaves of some shade plants in my garden. The garden looks especially appealing when neighbouring plants have some variety in leaf texture, shape, colour surface or size. It draws your eye along, noticing the different consistency of the foliage, coarse or fine, rough or smooth, patterned or solid, large or small, and flat or wavy. I particularly like plants with lacy leaves next to large, solid ones.

Shiny leaves near matte textured leaves make a nice contrast in the shade. The Astilbe simplicifolia and Asarum europaeum (ginger) are the shiniest in my garden. In fact, the Astilbe looks as if a flash has gone off above it, but that’s just the leaves, reflecting the maximum amount of light. The Asarum looks polished to a high gloss. These plants bring a little dazzle to the shade garden.

Some shade plants leaves have subtle colours that catch your eye. The Brunnera, Pulmonaria (lungwort) and ghost fern are the most silvery. Their light colour makes them jump out in the shade. They look appealing near dark green leaves. The Athyrium niponicum (painted fern) and Cimicifuga ramosa (bugbane) have purple highlights, while the Epimedium grandiflorum (barrenwort) has red borders on the new leaves. They look good adjacent to green coloured leaves.

The Brunnera, Heuchera and Hosta have the strongest pattern designs on them. They add a little pizazz to the shady garden bed, so it’s not just a solid mass of green. When looking along a garden bed, your eye stops at moment to look at the patterns. The provide a focus, a place to rest.

Some shade plants have a light texture, and some are heavy looking. The Hosta, Helleborus and Asarum are the stiffest leaves. The don’t move much in the breeze, and make a good contrast to the supple movement of ferns. The deeply divided ferns look graceful next to any solid leaves.

A variety of shapes on shade plant leaves make a garden bed more pleasing. The Asarum, Brunnera and Sanguinaria (bloodroot) are the most rounded, making a good foil for long leaves or finely cut ones. The Pulmonaria and Hosta have long leaves, which look attractive beside delicate foliage or rounded shapes.

I made a gallery of foliage pictures to show how a variety of leaves look in the garden. It’s a celebration of photosynthesis. All of these perennials are happy in a shady or part shade garden, with the exception of the spruce, which is more of a shade creator. Do you have any favourite leaves in your garden?

You can click on any picture to enlarge it.

You can see more foliage photos in this previous post about leaves.

After shady bed east side

Here is a before and after comparison of one of my shady garden beds, and how it has been changed from eight years ago. The above picture was taken this June, so the plants are not quite their full summer size. I like the mixture of textures in this bed, from all the different foliage colours and shapes.

At the back is a mockorange shrub, Philadelphus virginalis. It gives a shady green backdrop for the garden bed. In front of the mockorange are a group of Athyrium filix-femina ‘Lady in Red’ (lady fern). These are a fresh green colour with dark red stems. In front of them on the right are some Brunnera macrophylla ‘Mr. Morse’ (Siberian bugloss), with their silver and green leaves. In front of the Brunnera, to the left and right, are some Asarum europaeum (European ginger), with extra shiny leaves. To the left are some Pulmonaria ‘Samourai’ (Samourai lungwort), with long silver white leaves. On the far right edge of the picture are some Trillium grandiflorum.

Ugly before picture

The before photo of this same area was taken when I first moved into the house 8 years ago. I think it makes a classic before picture, because it’s so bad and decrepit that anything you do to the area has to be an improvement. The before is actually just a bad grassy area in front of a rundown fence. The new bed is near the fence, between the maple tree on the right and the sidewalk on the left.

after east shady bed sideways

This is a sideways view of the area now, with the fence on the right. This shows the plants in spring, so they are still a little small here. I like the combination of leaves in the bed, and I think it looks interesting , even when the flowers are gone. There are delicate, finely cut fern fronds, large heart shaped leaves, round shiny leaves, and long matte finished silver leaves. This year the Trilliums are adding their groups of three too.

After east bed showing pulmonaria

This view is farther back, to show a bit of the Pulmonaria on the left. There is a new fence behind the Philadelphus virginalis, although  it’s mostly covered here when the shrub leafs out. This mockorange has never bloomed for me, but I’m excited this year, as it appears to have buds. I thought perhaps it was too shady a location for it, but if anything, it’s more shady now. We even had a cold winter, and quite a few late spring frosts, which I thought would have decreased the bud count. I’m looking forward to seeing the flowers for the first time. This mockorange has never performed as well as my Philadelphus lewisii ‘Blizzard’.

Here are two previous posts showing before and after pictures for other garden areas that were changed, a corner shade garden redesign and a narrow side garden remake.

There is a great sense of satisfaction in creating or renovating a garden bed, and watching it develop. It’s fun to see how the plants work together, whether the plant shapes, flowers and leaves look good together, and fit their space. Have you been redoing any beds? How do you plan a new area?