Plants for a Shaded Garden | At Home With P. Allen Smith

Are you one of those people who love a garden, but complain, because you don't think you
have enough sun, and you have way too much shade to have anything beautiful? Huh, let
me prove you wrong. You know, if you have a shady area in your garden, you're probably
always scratching your head and going: What am I gonna plant here? Grass won't grow. Certain
plants won't grow. There's seems to be a limited plant palate. If you're lookin' for color,
you think: Well, the Annuals that I can plant are pretty limited. You can do Palladiums,
you can Begonias, you can do Impatiens. But what about a shade garden that comes back
every year? But you always have the bones of a garden. That what's there is going to
last, in the way of shrubs, in the way of Perennials and ground covers. You know, a
garden doesn't have to be full of color to be a beautiful garden. There are other aspects
of it that can give it lots of soul, such as texture. Let's walk over here and take
a look at some Perennials you might wanna consider that'll come back every year in your
garden. Now I said, Perennials, but we'll get to those in just a minute. I think it's
important to think about the structure of a garden. And even in a shade garden, you
need forms that will create garden spaces and pull the eye in certain directions. You
know, one of the great shade plants is the Hydrangea, and there're so many to choose
from. And, you know, when you talk about shade, there are different types of shade. There's
light shade and really, really dark shade. If you get a little bit of light in, the range
of plants that you can grow is really, actually, pretty wide. Azalea's love shade. Many Susquehanna
Camellias love shade. Other types of Camellias. Also, Rhododendrons of all types. Certainly
Hollies and Boxwoods. So there are all kinds of things that you can plant to give your
garden some structure that will always be there. Now let's talk about those Perennials,
meaning: Plants that will come back, year after year, after dying back, once they get
cold. And let's start with Hosta. Now I grabbed a couple of ferns to illustrate something
for you, as I approach Hostaland. Now let's talk about this classic Perennial. Just look
at the range of Hosta that you can see in this garden center. Hostas can be very tiny,
up to really ginormous Hostas. There's one called, Empress Wu, which has leaves that
are this wide. Really, very impressive. So if you're looking for texture and a bit of
color contrast, you can go with some these that are slightly variegated. The broad leaf
of the Hosta is perfect to use with ferns. And I picked up this fern, which is one of
my favorites, is one called, Autumn Fern. The reason for that is that it has this beautiful
bronze coloring to the prawns of the fern. This particular cultivar is called Brilliance.
And just look how beautiful Brilliance is or this bronze color is next to this chartreuse
Hosta. So with color like this, why do you really need blooms. And remember, these two
plants are very perennial and they're gonna come back, year after year. And this is just
scratching the surface, when it comes to ferns. There's so many to choose from. One of my
favorites is Maidenhair Fern. And another one is Royal Fern. And why don't we take a
look at some Heuchera, because these are great Perennials, where there's been a lot of advancements
made in the breeding of them. That's right, they do breed plants, and they come out with
some outstanding varieties. So just take a look at this small section of Heucheras or
Coral Bells. You've got chartreuse here. You've got some that almost are pink to terra cotta
in color. These have a silvery, almost iridescent color to the leaf. Back to some that are very
terra cotta in color. These almost are bronze-like. And just look at these: I love this color.
This will go gorgeous with any sort of pink flower. And then back to another type, which
is a chartreuse variety, that has bit of a pink vein to it. You see, Heucheras, are a
Native American plant, where they've done a lot of crossbreeding to get all these interesting
colors and veining patterns in the leaves. Which just adds one more lovely plant to the
palette of plants that we can use in our shade garden that will come back, year after year.
And let's not forget about ground covers, because they're very reliable. And very beautiful,
some even bloom, like this old classic called, Vinca Minor. This one's called, Bowls Blue,
and it has a beautiful blue flower. Or this Mondo Grass, which is beautiful in Asian-style
gardens. It also comes in a color called, Black Mondo, which is really, really dark
green. And one more for you to consider is Strawberry Begonia, one of my favorites. It's
old fashioned, has beautiful leaves and a gorgeous little, delicate flower. And, of
course, you don't have to have any plants at all, if you have a shade garden. You could
have a water feature like this. But that's a whole other subject. If you're enjoying
following these ideas about style and how to make your outdoor living spaces more beautiful,
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