Creating a Lush Shade Garden

Imagine a dry, hot summer day when the one thing you long for is some relief in a tranquil spot in the shade.  Or walking down a winding garden path and spotting a small lush area of greenery housing an intimate dimly lit bench.  You sense a touch of mystery in the middle of the day as you proceed to linger in the shady nook and take a deep breath of fresh air.

As much as we long for sunny days, shade provides us with meditational respite.  A garden in the shade heightens and soothes our senses in a way that other types of gardening are unable to do.  A shade garden calms us with its serene beauty, subtle colours and interesting shapes.  Instead of bright, bold colours, shade plants offer us soft pastels and iridescent whites.  In addition, shade gardens are also easier to maintain than gardens requiring significantly more sunshine and have fewer weeds and pests.

Before you can begin designing your shade garden, you must first decide what type of shade you have by keeping track of where the sun is and what sort of shade it creates for different times of day.  There are different types of shade that are essentially categorized as open shade, thin shade, medium shade, full shade and dense (heavy) shade.  Open shade is the lightest shade, on a scale of light to dark, and is the easiest to work with.  An open shade area is one that receives about 3-6 hours of sunlight in a day.

Thin Shade  is next in intensity and is usually found under branches of trees.  This type of garden should receive an hour or two of full, unobstructed light every day.

Next comes medium shade, which is an area with reflected sunlight.  This area should be in the shade for approximately 4 hours of the day.

Full shade is generally found under the leaves of mature plants, which allows very little sunlight to filter through the leaves.  Finally, there is dense (heavy) shade found under mature evergreens or between buildings.  Areas such as this tend to be dark, cold and dry and not conducive to permanent gardening.

Once you have decided what type of shade your area experiences you can stay out to find the right plants that will flourish there.  You must bear in mind that shade changes as the seasons do and as your garden matures.  Therefore, be prepared to move plants around and have some fun with your garden.

There are a myriad of shade loving plants that can produce a lush garden.  Some plants that are ideal for medium shade areas are rhododendrons, daylilies, wax begonias, oakleaf hydrangea, wood anemone, fuchsias and impatiens.

Plants best suited for fully shaded areas are ones that you can find in the woods, such as wild ginger, wintergreen, hellebores, trailing arbutus, pachysandra, ferns, hostas and violets.

The beauty of a shade garden is its informality and diversity of plant material.  For example, the following are types of foliage with variegated or coloured leaves that prefer some degree of shade. 

Different vines, perennials and bulbs also add variety to a shade garden.  The following are a few examples of what works well in a shade garden:

VINES

PERENNIALS AND BULBS

Other types of planting work very well in shade garden, depending on what your need are you can venture into annuals and biennials and even ground cover. Here are a few examples of these plants for your reference:

ANNUALS AND BIENNIALS

GROUND COVERS

One of the greatest areas for experimentation is with colour.  You can organize your planting so that you have colour all year round.  Here are some examples of plants that you may incorporate in your garden to give you seasonal colour:

PLANTS FOR SPRING COLOUR

Perennials and Bulbs

Shrubs and Vines

PLANTS FOR SUMMER COLOUR

Perennials and Bulbs

Annuals and Biennials

Shrubs and Vines

PLANTS FOR AUTUMN COLOUR

Perennials and Bulbs

Shrubs and Vines

PLANTS FOR WINTER COLOUR

Finally, to add architectural structure to your shaded area, use plants in layers at differing heights.  Here are some examples of plants you can use to achieve a magnificent garden of diversity in appearance:

UPRIGHT SPIKY AND VERTICAL PLANTS

BUSHY, BRANCHED

MOUNDED PLANTS

LOW AND SPREADING

Take advantage of all of these plants and create a lush garden of a wide variety of plants.  You will be pleasantly surprised at what you can do with colour and shapes.