Northern Shade Gardening

There are many perennial books that give good information. While I love to lose myself in fantasies of tropical gardens, when it comes to planning, it is frustrating for northern gardeners to skim through detailed lists of perennials they have no hope of growing. Here are 3 books about perennials that are useful for anyone gardening in a cold climate.

The first book is called Lois Hole’s Perennial Favorites, by Lois Hole. The book has good general information about growing perennials, including useful lists of plants for different situations such as shade gardens, rock gardens, wet areas or dry spots. Practical tips for perennial care such as dead heading plants and dividing them are clearly explained with pictures. However the bulk of the book is given to detailed information about specific perennials for northern gardens. Each plant gets 2 to 4 pages of description with many coloured photos. The specifics are well organized and easy to access. There are tips on plant culture and recommended varieties. One extremely useful section is a 2 page chart showing the relative blooming times of 100 perennials through the seasons, with individual bars showing the length of blooming time. This chart is very helpful for gardeners aiming to have different perennials in bloom throughout the growing season, or trying to coordinate the blooming times in a particular bed. If you are looking for information about reliable, hardy perennials, this is an excellent reference.

The next recommendation for northern gardens is called Perennials for Alberta, by Donna Dawson and Laura Peters. Although it’s given a regional name, it is an excellent reference for anyone dealing with a cold climate. The structure of the book is very similar to the previous book. The first section contains general perennial care information. There is a good discussion of the different ways perennials can be propagated, with lists of perennials that are best for each method. The bulk of the book is devoted to 2 page descriptions of each perennial, accompanied by a number of photos of each. General growing tips and recommendations for varieties help you choose the best plants and keep them growing. The way the book is organized makes it easy to scan through, making lists of appropriate plants before a trip to the garden centre, or looking up the best way to care for an impulse purchase after you get home. This book might be named for a particular province in Canada, but the information would be useful for any garden with cold winters.

Best Garden Plants, by Donna Dawson and Laura Peters includes not only perennials, but also trees and shrubs, roses, bulbs, vines and grasses. It covers a fewer number of species of each type, so it only discusses the more common plants. They concentrate on the most hardy and reliable examples in each category. This would be particularly useful for anyone who is new to gardening, or new to gardening in a cold climate. Each plant has a 1 page description and coloured photos. This is a smaller, general reference, an introductory guide for gardening in a cold climate.

All 3 of these books will help you choose plants that have a better chance of survival in a northern garden.

You can see the plants that grow well in my zone 3 shady garden on the My Garden Plants page.

Do you love reading good gardening books? Some books focus on the specifics of plants, giving detailed cultural information that help you choose your next plants and be better prepared to keep them alive. Others are full of inspiring design ideas, focusing on the overall picture. Here are 2 good shade gardening books I own, one of each type.

The first book is called Making the Most of Shade, by Larry Hodgson. This book is particularly valuable for the great detailed information on a wide variety of shade plants. The book is well organized, concentrating on perennials, including separate sections for grasses, bulbs, ferns and climbing plants. Each one gets its own 2 pages of comprehensive facts and a coloured picture. The information about the length of bloom time is particularly useful and often missing from other books. If you knew that a blossom is only around for 1 week, you might not plan an elaborate colour scheme around it. There are also top lists of plants for various conditions, discussions of the factors specific to shade and a general outline of design considerations. Another benefit is his honest appraisal of many plants. Many gardening magazines rave about all new introductions, but I appreciate knowing potential drawbacks in advance. This is an informative book that lends itself to repeated browsing.

My other favourite book on this topic is called The Natural Shade Garden and is written by Ken Druse. It focuses on designing the shade garden and is full of large inspiring pictures of garden beds, woodland scenes, terrific foliage texture combinations and beautiful plant details. This book also includes helpful lists of suggestions for different situations. The book captures that wonderful complex yet serene woodland environment that I would love to bring to my own yard. The author encourages you to think of the natural structure of the woodland, with the forest floor, middle layer and overhead canopy. There are detailed discussions of special shade gardens such as water gardening, rock gardening and container gardening. Photo collections of different gardens bring the ideas to life. This book helps you envision the type of garden you would like to develop in the shade.

I’ll be writing about other garden book categories in the future. I have some good books for gardening in northern/cold climates and some inspirational garden style books.