Sunday, January 20, 2013

5 perennials for shade gardens

Which 5 perennials for shade gardens you would like to have planted in your garden?

The five choices described below are to provide you with a starting point to get some plants into the shade areas of your gardening projects. I hope these few examples will encourage you to investigate using more types of shade plants that you can choose from throughout this site.

Most flowering plants typically like quite a bit of sunshine but there are also a great number of plants that prefer shady conditions and will do very well in shade.
It's great that there are such a variety of plants that like either sun or shade because a garden that is either fully shaded or fully exposed to the sunlight all the time is rare. There are always different patches in gardens where the light levels change throughout the day and seasons, and it is possible to create a beautiful arrangement of flowers if you know their lighting preferences.

You can have a beautiful shade garden area to sit in when you want to shelter from that summer heat. In shaded areas of your garden you can relax, read your favourite book, enjoy a cup of coffee - gaze at the beauty of your flowers, listen to the sounds of birds, and watch the colourful butterflies.

Usually people prefer to plant taller perennials in the background, near the house, garage or trees, middle sized plants in the centre, and the shortest plants at the front or inner part of the plot.

But of course different variants are possible; just make sure your plants have their blooming periods at different times of the season.

Astilbe Plants

One of the easiest perennials to plant and maintain. It comes in three main colors: white, pink or red, and different varieties grow to twenty, thirty and forty inches in height. It looks amazingly beautiful if planted in groups and/or in different color combinations, and its fluffy spikes of flowers create a great effect.

Lily Of the Valley

This plant looks humble and beautiful in its simplicity. Its bell shaped white flowers will bring a special charm to your shade garden and fill it with a fragrance. It can be used for a ground cover as it grows only up to six inches. Besides that, it is not difficult to take care of this plant, basic requirements are sufficient.

Foxglove Plant

This is a tall plant as it can reach up to five feet in height. That is why foxglove plants are perfect for the back row in your flower arrangement. Its large spikes with bell shaped flowers will bring a splash of color to your garden, ranging from purple to white. Be careful though as this pant is poisonous. Make sure it is out of reach of small children and pets.

Virginia Blue Bells

As you can make out from the name of this plant, its flowers are bell shaped and lavender blue in color. The plant is medium sized and grows up to around two feet high. In spite of having such tender flowers, this plant is actually very hardy and requires very little maintenance.

Lousiana Iris

This plant grows about two feet tall and produces four inch blooms. It also has a long flowering period which makes it an attractive option to plant it in your garden. The flowers are purple with a kind of velvety effect and are exceedingly beautiful. For a better view it is recommended to plant these perennials in groups.

Of course, this list is very short and does not contain all the wonderful plants you can choose from, but these 5 perennials for shade gardens would make a perfect start or addition to your existing landscape.

2 comments:

  1. Oh, I like your choices! I've had good luck with Lily-of-the-Valley and Astilbe. I can't seem to get a good start on Foxglove, although I love it! The Bluebells grow wild out in the country, and I got some good views of Louisiana Irises last year when I was in New Orleans. Great combination of beauties mentioned here!

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