Planting In Shade: The Fabulous Flowers and Foliage Shade Pre-planned Garden

Here are three additional pre-planned gardens for shady in-ground plantings and container gardens.

• The Serene Shade Pre-Planned garden uses a mix of perennial groundcovers, taller upright growers and an ornamental grass to create a bright, blooming assortment of perennials to color-up shady areas of your yard.
• The Under a Tree Pre-Planned garden uses ornamental grasses and groundcovers to cover shady ground.
• The Shady Oasis Container Garden is perfect for planting a container with blooming perennials that come back year after year.
• The Made for Shade Collection provides three of our toughest and most resilient groundcovers for difficult, full shade or part shade conditions.

Often, shade becomes much more of a factor in the home landscape over time.  Those newly planted trees and large shrubs get big; and after 10 or 15 years, sunny areas are now in the shade.  Because a landscape is really never finished, this provides an opportunity to replant with shade loving plants and create a new look in your yard.  

There are different types of shade conditions created by buildings as well as large shrubs and trees. It’s always instructive to study a shady spot by identifying the overhead path of the sun during different parts of the day and during different seasons. (You may be surprised that some shady locations get some fairly strong early morning or late afternoon sun.) Find out what type of shade conditions you have. Is the area in deep shade, morning sun/afternoon shade or dappled shade?  The deeper the shade, the more limited your plant choices will be.

Most trees are deep rooted and suitable for under-planting with shade loving plants. But some trees may not be a good option as an overhead companion for shade-loving plants.

• Maples, willows and poplars/cottonwoods have dense, shallow roots which can be too difficult to dig through. Planting under these trees may require constructing a raised bed around the base of the trees with about 8 inches of new soil placed over weed barrier.
• Walnuts (all types) release chemicals into the soil that act as natural herbicides, thus eliminating competition from plants growing under and around them. Don’t plant under or around them.
• Large conifers (evergreen trees) are also tough as the shade they cast is very deep and the overhead branches absorbs most if not all the rain and snow that fall on them, creating an extremely dry soil. When planting under big conifers it’s essential that irrigation be used to provide sufficient water for your shade garden plants.

It is extremely important when planting under trees and large shrubs, that the planting holes be nice and wide and free of fine fibrous feeder roots. Removing feeder roots from the planting hole is essential so that new transplants can establish their roots with minimal competition. Also make the effort to enrich the soil adequately with ample amounts of Yum Yum Mix and a good quality compost mixture.  This will also help the new plants to get off to a great start by providing the nutrients necessary for establishing strong roots.

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