Northern Shade Gardening

Phlox divaricata 'Clouds of Perfume' (woodland phlox) plant

Phlox divaricata ‘Clouds of Perfume’ (woodland phlox) is covered in showy blooms in spring. The wonderful flowers are a bluish lavender colour, and make a focal point when they are in bloom. This plant does well in part shade or medium shade, but won’t bloom in deep shade. If you have a smaller monitor, you’ll have to click the top picture to see the whole photo.

I used it have the woodland phlox for a couple of years in deeper shade, where it had to compete hard with a willow. The plant survived at the same size, but never bloomed. Then I moved it to this medium shade area, where it gets about 2 hours of sunlight, or so, and it is very happy. The Phlox puts on a great floral display, and is about four times the size now.

Depending on the angle of the sun, the ‘Clouds of Perfume’ blooms can appear more bluish or more lavender, but they always look marvelous. Their name is more of a metaphor for beauty, than a description of their scent, since I never detect much of a fragrance.

Phlox divaricata 'Clouds of Perfume' and ostrich fern

I love the way the Phlox divaricata looks in front of this Matteuccia struthiopteris (ostrich fern). The lacy fronds make a great backdrop for the flowers, while their narrow vase shape gives lots of room at the bottom for the phlox. The plants spread out nicely over time, but not in an annoying way. It’s very easy to pull it back if you want to, and not insistent about returning. I’m happy to have the woodland phlox fill out the space here. The groundcover is gradually moving towards the edge of the Hydrangea shrub, and makes a good underplanting for it, since the Hydrangea is slow to leaf out in spring.

We had a number of frosts in May, and many of the leaves of this perennial turned a tan colour, I thought that it might die back, or lose its buds and not bloom, but it recovered just fine. There are so many new green leaves, that I can’t even see the damaged ones, and the plant is full of these beautiful blooms. This plant handles zone 3 and a cold spring very well.

Woodland phlox blooms for about three weeks in late spring, and as they fade, I always wish that the flowers would continue to enliven the garden. After the blooms are finished, I cut them and the flower stalks back. The foliage afterwards is short, around 15 cm (6 in), and although it has a nice green colour, it fades into the background. I planted some Heuchera in front of it last fall, to add interest for the rest of the season. I think this should work well, as the Heuchera has much showier leaves. I’m delighted by the splash Phlox divaricata ‘Clouds of Perfume’ makes when in bloom, so it’s definitely worth adding to the garden, but you might want something in front for the rest of the season.

Dicentra spectabilis 'Alba' (white bleeding heart) 5 hearts

The strings of white hearts, suspended from the stems of Dicentra spectabilis ‘Alba’ (white bleeding heart) add elegance to the shade garden. These medium sized perennials bloom from spring to early summer.

Dicentra spectabilis 'Alba' (white bleeding heart) new buds

Here the new buds are dangling under the stem in early spring. The white outer petals are still held tight against the bud.

Dicentra spectabilis 'Alba' (white bleeding heart) buds and flower

Now the first heart is open, and the other little buds are starting. The buds closest to the main stem start first, and gradually the whole necklace of hearts opens. These little white flowers look great in the shade, and last about 6 weeks. You can see a few lily of the valley flowers behind this plant, and a tiny peek of Brunnera blue. I also have some Epimedium in front. All three plants look good with white bleeding hearts, and their blooming times overlap, so they make a nice grouping together.

Dicentra spectabilis 'Alba' string of flowers

The bleeding heart foliage stays fresh through the summer in my garden, since it doesn’t get too hot or dry for it. In fall, after the frost, the leaves turn yellow, and stay colourful for a while before dropping.

Dicentra spectabilis 'Alba' (white bleeding heart) 6 hearts

These elegant perennials are about 60 to 90 cm (2 to 3 feet), making a nice sized plant for the middle of the border. My two  ‘Alba’ plants have a number of stems of hearts, that make a good show.

Dicentra spectabilis 'Alba' (white bleeding heart) 8 hearts

The pure white flowers are highly visible in the shade areas, and look graceful against the medium green leaves. These are one of those perennials that looks attractive at dusk.  As other plants start blending into the shadows, Dicentra spectabilis ‘Alba’ is glowing. Bleeding hearts are a classic plant for the shade garden, and this white form looks especially nice under the trees .

Iris new purple bitone pretty petals

I found a brand new iris growing in my garden, and it is gorgeous. It is a bitone bluish purple with beautiful striations on the falls. It must be a cross between the two unknown type of iris that I grow, that hybridized on its own. Hurray for pollinators.

Iris new purple bitone glowing interior

It is a gorgeous combination of light bluish purple standards, and dark velvety purple falls, with wonderful striations on the falls, and a golden yellow beard.  If I were going to design an iris, this is the type I would hybridize, and it grew all on its own in the garden. I’ve never had anything so beautiful magically appear in my garden- a gift from nature! The pollinators have been busy. I usually deadhead my iris, so one of them manged to set seed before I removed it.

Iris new purple bitone beard and striations

I love this closeup view of the golden yellow beard, with the snazzy deep purple zebra stripes on either side, and the soft light purple petals above. I’ve read that the markings are considered a fault on an iris, but I think it makes this more eye catching. It makes a great landing pad for a pollinator, with a come hither enticement, a come and get some nectar look.

I was just walking along as usual today, past the long section of yellow iris with the maroon coloured falls, and there, at the end was this stunning iris. I was so very surprised. There is a light bluish purple iris near there, but this was entirely different, and I had to examine it closely.  It appears to have a combination of the traits of my two iris. Both of the two iris were in the garden when I moved in, so I never knew their names, unfortunately.

my 2 iris

The bluish purple iris has the same colour on all of its petals. They are plain, with no markings, except the golden beard.  The solid purple is  a pretty colour, but not stunning. I only have one or two of them, which don’t seem to spread. The iris with the yellow standards and patterned maroon falls is very hardy, so I have divided it and planted it in many beds around the garden. I now have a couple hundred of the yellow iris, which thrive wherever I place them. I hope that the new iris  has inherited the vigour of the yellow bicolour iris, which will grow anywhere. Here is a previous post about these original iris

Iris new purple bitone top down view

This new iris has the same standards (upright petals) as the old bluish purple iris. However, the falls (downward petals) are a very deep, very velvety, dark purple, with  beautiful markings on either side of the beard. Those line markings are similar to the yellow and maroon iris. It’s possible that it is a cross with some neighbour’s iris, but it is situated right where my two different iris meet, and combines their traits in one iris,  only it turned out far more magnificent than either of them.

Iris new purple bitone pretty buds

The new iris  is 80 cm (31 in) tall, and the flower is  11 cm (4 in). Here are some more side buds about to open. The buds are tightly rolled dark blue tips. There are 8 buds on 2 fans, so there will be a number of gorgeous blooms to come.

This was the most delightful surprise I’ve had in gardening. It’s a brand new iris, with just the characteristics I would have picked, and it appears wondrously in my garden, in some of  my favourite colours.  I can’t wait for the rhizomes on this to spread. I will be dividing this up and planting it around the garden. There is more information about these iris in this post.

Iris new purple bitone inside flower

Have you ever had a wonderful surprise in your garden?

iris new puprle bitone angle view better