If I plant something that needs to be babied and given extra TLC, it’s just not going to happen. I know me and I know how busy life can get. Days will go by before I realize I forgot to water, and here in the hot summer months that means certain death to a plant! So over the years anything that gets planted needs to thrive on its own. I try to plant it where I think it will get the right amount of light and water and then the rest is up to the plant.
Before planting anything you want to give your plants a good head start by amending the soil with compost. Go all organic if you can, your plants will thrive if the soil is in good condition. This one step alone will make a huge difference between a mediocre plant and a lush thriving plant.
Add organic material from your kitchen, vegetable cuttings, fruit peels, coffee grounds, egg shells. All of these organic items will improve the quality of your soil. Adding a layer of organic compost from your favorite nursery is another easy way to improve your soil. Ideally you want to work it into your soil, but even a top dressing of compost will be beneficial for your plants. The nutrients from the compost will leach into your soil over time and improve it.
Over the years I have found the following plants to be very easy to grow, and you can count on them to produce beautiful blossoms or foliage and they will thrive with little or no extra attention. Plant them where they will get the right amount of light and water and they will pretty much take care of themselves and delight you with colorful blossoms year after year.
Potato Vine (Solanum laxum)
Adding height to your garden makes it so much more interesting and provides a touch of drama in the garden. Adding a simple trellis and encouraging a vine such as this potato vine to grow up and over it will definitely add some pizzaz in your garden, and it’s one of the easiest ways to do it.
In some parts of the country, potato vines are a weed, they are vigorous growers and will cover a trellis in short order. They do best in frost free zones and one of the best features of this vine is that it is an evergreen plant that blooms profusely from early spring to late fall.
Don’t let the dainty appearance of this plant fool you, Potato vines are a very hardy plant and super easy to grow.
Azalea
Azaleas are the backbone to any colorful garden. It’s a common plant, and for good reason. They bloom profusely and add a bright pop of color to the garden. It’s an evergreen plant, and produces a full flush of blossoms each spring in bright vivid colors. They thrive in a shady setting and you can count on them to brighten up your garden every year for a few weeks.
Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla)
No shade garden would be complete with out a hydrangea plant or two or three. They are thirsty plants and will need more water than most of the other plants in your garden. They also need just the right amount of shade and sunlight to really thrive. I didn’t have much luck when I first planted hydrangea in my garden.
It took me a few tries but once I found the perfect spot, my hydrangeas really took off and became the showstoppers of my garden. Before I planted them in the perfect spot, they struggled and never produced many blooms, it was very disappointing.
You can count on hydrangea being the stars in your summer garden. They grow into a rather large shrub and are covered with large flowers that will last for several weeks in the heat of the summer months.
Most gardeners strive for blue blossoms, but I think the pink blossoms are equally as beautiful in the summer garden.
Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum)
Japanese maples are one of my favorite trees. They do best in filtered shade, like the dappled shade produced by the canopies of larger trees. Not only do they stay much smaller than other trees, they have the most beautiful fall foliage of any tree. Most varieties will turn a deep garnet red in the fall that will delight you for several weeks each fall.
Star Jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides)
Star Jasmine does surprisingly well in a shady environment. It blooms profusely in late spring and fills the air with its intoxicating scent. This plant is drought tolerant and virtually indestructible. It’s a lovely evergreen plant with dark green leathery leaves. The only drawback is that it has a very sticky sap, so you just need to keep that in mind when you are cutting this vine back.
Forget-me-nots (Myosotis)
Forget-me-nots are an old fashioned plant that are a surprisingly lovely addition to the spring garden. It is a herbaceous perennial. Each year this plant comes up in the spring and produces a sea of small blue blossoms. Once the plants have finished blooming, it goes to seed. Pull up the plants, shake the seeds around in your garden, and new plants will come up in your garden the following year.
Herbaceous perennials are plants that die back all the way to the ground each year with the first frost and reappear again every spring.
Hostas
Another lovely herbaceous perennial that grows well in a shady environment. The flowers it produces are not the star of the show, it’s the leaves of the plant are what are truly spectacular about this plant. The only drawback with them is that snails love them so it’s important to keep them under control or they can destroy the lovely leaves virtually overnight.
Shade gardening doesn’t have to be boring, you can easily create a lovely, lush garden with just shade plants. Look for plants that are evergreen so that you have beautiful plants in your garden all year round. Fill in with some herbaceous perennials and a few colorful annuals and your garden will delight you from early spring until late fall when the first frost hits.
What are your favorite shade loving plants? How do you bring color to your shade garden? Please let me know if you have any tips to share for successful shade gardening!