Shade Loving Plants You Can Grow!

March 04, 2020

Shade Loving Plants You Can Grow!

Hi, Sweet Friends,

Spring is coming soon and now is the time to start deciding what the best plants are to put in our shady garden. We get a lot of water and mud runoff in Spring and early Summer so location and temperature have to be considered.

Because of the vast amounts of water, I have to rethink the yard as I planted when we first moved in. I made a border around the yard with Lambs Ears, Roses, and Blue Flag Iris. They looked beautiful, however, many of the plants were covered in mud by Summer Time. A shame I did not have prior knowledge before planning out this border garden, but I won't have the same problem with the shade gardens! There are two locations I'm going to be focusing on, one is part sun/part shade and the other is full shade.

Shade Loving Plants
Because we reside in a partly desert location, I have sought native plants that I can grow that will do well for our area. The Native Plant Society of Colorado suggests,
"Guidelines for obtaining Native Species:
•Check with local nature centers or experts for recommendations.
•Read labels on “wildflower” mixes to verify they don’t include noxious weed species. A complete list of the Noxious Weeds of Colorado can be obtained from the Colorado Department of Agriculture’s Weed Management Program. Also, check with your County Extension Agent.
•Ask for plants by their scientific name as common names may vary.
•Buy from reputable nurseries; ask about the origin of seed and plants. •Seed/plant gathering from public lands is typically prohibited (this includes the National Park Service). Special use permits are available from the US Forest Service & the Bureau of Land Management."-Plant Society of Colorado

The Denver Post suggests:
"One secret to planting ornamentals in shade is to plant in layers. Start with ground covers like sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum), periwinkle (Vinca) and dead nettle (Lamium). Add a middle layer of plants with different textures and colors, like Siberian bugloss (Brunnera macrophylla) with a variety of hostas. Finish with a taller layer of light-colored flowers, like astilbes or columbines." -Denver Post

Here are some sources for you to check into for Colorado Residents:

Colorado shade-loving perennials Archives - Lifescape Colorado

"Plants that thrive in shady spots include begonias, columbines, bleeding hearts, lily-of-the-valley, white wood aster, and phlox."

Top 10 Perennials to Grow in Colorado | Gulley Greenhouse ...

Best plants to grow in dry shade in Colorado - The Denver Post

Under Pines:

"Perennials that can overcome these challenges include Denver gold Columbine (Aquilegia chrysantha), creeping mahonia (Mahonia repens), kinnikinnick (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), and wintercreeper (Euonymus fortunei)."

Veggies also love shade like:
"Lettuce, spinach, kale, chard, and Asian greens prefer morning sun and afternoon shade. So do herbs like basil, dill, parsley, chives, oregano, and thyme."

Shade Plants: Make Low-Light Gardens Pop With Color ...

"Filtered to Partial Shade - Garden Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla)

For dappled shade, it’s tough to beat the Dr. Seussian hydrangea. The shrub is easy to grow, needing little fussing beyond watering, occasional feeding, and light pruning once a year. Yet it pumps out big clusters of popcorn balls—in shades of pink, blue, and white—that can reach 10 or more inches across. For really large clusters, grow H. arborescens ‘Incrediball’ -- its 12-inch heads open lime green, turn snowy white, then age to pale green on plants to 10 feet tall." -Sunset

Best Perennials for Shade | Better Homes & Gardens

Hostas are among the showiest and easiest-to-grow shade perennials. They also offer the most variety of any perennial plants for shade. Choose from miniatures that stay only a couple inches wide or giants that sprawl 6 feet across or more. Look for leaves in shades of green, blue, white, chartreuse, and gold, with many cultivars being variegated. Some hosta flowers are very fragrant. Hostas are hardy in Zones 3-8.(Plant with Bleeding Hearts)
Top Picks: 'Blue Mouse Ears' offers silvery-blue leaves and stays 1 foot wide; 'Frances Williams' offers thick, blue-green leaves edged in chartreuse and grow 2 feet wide; 'Sum and Substance' offers chartreuse leaves and grows 6 feet wide."-Better Homes & Gardens
I'll list the plants that I'll be using and then do a follow-up post so that we can see if the planning was as good as I'd hoped.
*We are moving again! Another adventure in gardening awaits. Stay tuned! See you in the next garden space!~ CJD.Sign

Enjoy!

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