Coping with shade is a concern many homeowners and businesses must deal with
in their landscapes.
Fortunately, Earth
Wood and Flowers Landscapers understands how work with, and actually take advantage of these conditions when they arise
in the landscape.
We would like to share
this information about how to cope with shade in your landscape and offer some possible solutions for these areas.
Most gardeners consider full sun to be six hours or more of direct,
uninterrupted sun per day; beyond that, all definitions fail.
To some
gardeners, three to six hours of sun is "partial sun" and less than 3 hours of sun is "light shade".
What about landscapes that get no direct sun, yet plenty of light filters through
the overhaging branches over a long period of time?
Some people call
this "dappled shade" and while such a site is certainly "shady" it may receive enough light to allow some
sun-loving plants to thrive.
No direct sun means you have deep
shade.
For the sake of simplicity, any landscape that does not get full
sun will be considered a shady area.
The degree of shade will likely
change from spot to spot and season to season. As you work in your shade garden, you'll soon learn what can and can't
be grown there.
No plant will grow in total darkness, but a great
many will grow with only a faint glimmer of natural light. These plants are the ones that should be focused on and used
when designing your shaded areas.
Many shade gardens are naturally cool
and moist. They are usually surrounded by deep-rooted trees and copious amounts of natural mulch from fallen tree leaves.
Their soils a normally rich, deep, and easy to dig.
These are the easiest
shade spots in which to garden, as shade plants thrive under such conditions. In such places, plantings can be made
directly into the ground with little preparation.
Other shade
gardens are also cool, but dry rather than moist.
These are filled
with shallow-rooted trees and shrubs that soak up every drop of rain. The soil is often poor and hard-baked, depleted
of nutrients by gluttonous roots.
These areas can represent quite a
challenge, and digging is difficult.
If you carefully cut away
sections of root clogged soil and replace it with good humus-rich earth to nurture a special plant, the invasive roots of
nearby trees will soon be back.
Perhaps the greatest disappointment
to the new owner of a shady yard is the lawns that are difficult to grow beneath them.
The lawns grow quickly at first, needing frequent mowing, but they are sparse and subject to die-back.
These lawns generally require regular over-seeding to retain even a semblance of thickness.
Some homeowners believe that fertilizing or watering abundantly will help, but this usually does not
help much.
The only way to get a reasonably-healthy lawn in a shady
spot is to use lawn seed mixes designed for that purpose.
These
mixes contain a larger percentage of shade-tolerant grass species than regular lawn grasses. But even with special lawn seed
mixes, results are often mediocre in truly shady spots.
Lawns and shade,
simply do not mix.
It is often because of poor lawns that many people
stumble upon the concept of shade gardens in the landscape.
They
start by replacing part of the lawn first with one plant, then another, and soon find their yard looking better than ever
even though little green grass is left.
It is sometimes possible, although
perhaps not easy, to increase the amount of shady light in a shady landscape.
If overhead foliage is dense, you might be able to remove a few overhanging branches or maybe even the total removal
of selected trees to bring in more sunlight.
This may allow for you
to at least bring in enough light for you to be able to grow a favorite plant.
Here are 3 basic ways to beat root competition in a shade garden:
However, remember to keep the health and well-being of the trees as a priority, don't disturb to much
too fast.
#1
Dig down into the soil and insert a solid barrier, such as a plastic barrel with the bottom
taken off, to keep the roots out. Fill the barrier with good soil and plant this area as desired.
#2 Plant in
containers. Pots, trays and flower boxes set on top of the soil will stymie even the most invasive roots. This
is often and ideal way to introduce annuals into the shade garden.
#3 The final method is to install berms or raised beds,
filling each bed with at least 12 inches of top-quality soil.
Do
not do this over the entire surface of the area all at once. The sudden change in soil depth can smother the roots of
nearby trees.
Instead, add raised beds gradually, in sections,
over a number of years.
Once the new soil has been added, make
sure your water regularly as need. If not, the water-starved trees will soon send new roots upward in search of water,
clogging up the new beds.
Here is a list of suggested list of plants that will work in your shade garden depending on zones and lighting conditions:
Shade-Tolerant Perennials:
Anemones
Astilbe
Balloon Flower
Bergamot
Bergenia
Bishop's Hat
Bleeding Heart
Bowman's Root
Bungleweed
Siberian Bugloss
Creeping Buttercup
Cardinal
Flower
Chanelon Plant
Black
Cohosh
Columbine
Corabell
Crane's Bill
Daylily
Dichondra
Foxglove
Globeflower
Goat's Beard
Goldenstar
Goutweed
Hosta
Ladybells
Leopord's Bane
Ligularia
Toad Lily
Lily-of-the-Valley
Liriope
Gooseneck Loosestrife
Lungwort
Dead Nettle
Pachysandra
Periwinkle
Plume Poppy
Primrose
Rodgersia
Christmas Rose
Headow Rue
Self-heal
Speedwell
Turtlehead
Yellow Waxbell
Violet
Shade-Tolorent Shrubs:
Abutilon
Amelanchier
Jananese Andromeda
Azalea
Banana Shrub
Boxwood
Camellia
Alpine Currant
Daphne
Red Osier Dogwood
Gardenia
Oregon Grape
Michigan Holly
Hydrangea
Inkberry
Kerria
Mountain Laurel
Drooping Leucothoe
Dwarf Myrtle
Sweet Olive
Japanese Podocarpus
Reeves
Skimmia
Rhododendron
Snowberry
Summersweet
Common Witchhazel
Amercian Yew
Shade-Tolorent Vines:
Bittersweet
Creeping Fig
Honeysuckle
English Ivy
Ducthman's Pipe
