Northern Shade Gardening

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 there is 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. There are photos of shade perennial leaves with descriptions here.

Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern) with broad leafed plants

The Athyrium ferns add delightful lacy foliage to the shadows in the garden. Their foliage adds movement to the garden, swaying in the breezes. The finely divided fronds of ferns look especially nice next to large, solid leaves. These ones are all hardy, and thrive in the shade.

In this photo, the Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern) are planted with Pulmonaria ‘Majeste’, Brunnera and Hosta ‘Francee’. Their fresh green colour looks good with silver leafed plants.

Athyrium filix-femina are wonderfully robust ferns for the garden. These are the second ferns to unfurl in spring in my garden, right after the Matteuccia struthiopteris (ostrich ferns). However, the fronds of the lady fern last longer in the fall. The lady ferns continually unroll new fronds through the summer, making substantial clumps. They are very easy to divide.

My lady ferns came to the garden of their own accord, showing up as tiny ferns in the spaces between my patio stones at my last garden. I had no other ferns at the time, so they must have drifted in. I haven’t had any self spore since then, but the groups have grown, and I’ve divided them to form new plants.

Athyrium filix-femina 'Lady in Red' full fronds

Athyrium filix-femina ‘Lady in Red’ are an especially attractive version of the lady fern, with darker red stems. These contrast nicely with the lighter green foliage, and give them a little pizazz. These have been very hardy in my garden, and they are up reasonably early in the spring too.

Athyrium filix-femina comparison with 'Lady in Red' on right

Above is a collage of the two ferns side by side.You can see the midrib of the A. filix-femina on the left is green, while the midrib of  ‘Lady in Red’ on the right is a dark red. This red colour is most pronounced on new growth.

Athyrium niponicum 'Pictum' a few fronds

Athyrium niponicum ‘Pictum’ (Japanese painted fern) is a very slow plant to come up in spring in my garden. It sends up a single frond quite late, and then tentatively, a few others. I moved these plant last fall to a site with a bit more  morning sun, hoping that it would bulk them up. Perhaps the move set them back, so we’ll see next year.

Athyrium x 'Ghost' (ghost fern) new fronds

I particularly admire the light silver fronds of Athyrium x ‘Ghost’ (ghost fern), with the contrasting red coloured midrib. These ferns form a good sized clump, and their light colour shows up well in the darker areas of shade. They make a great background to show off other plants in front of them. They are more robust then the painted ferns, but not quite as vigorous as the lady ferns.

Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern) June

All of these Athyrium make great garden plants for the shady areas. The variations in colour of their foliage and midribs add variety to the garden, while the lacy fronds of these ferns add a fine texture.

You can read more about my hardy ferns in this post, about fern combinations in another post, and see photos of new fiddlehead ferns in this post.

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 is even 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 is fun to see how the plants work together, whether the plant shapes, flowers and leaves look good collectively, and fit their space. Have you been redoing any beds? How do you plan a new area?