| To plant some shade landscaping effectively | | | | plants and the type of moisture they need before |
| research is needed for shade tolerance plants. | | | | planting new flowers and shrubs. The moisture |
| Shade landscaping will work in a dim backyard that | | | | needs of the new plantings need to match the |
| has many areas that do not receive much sun. | | | | needs of the surrounding plants when it comes |
| Planning ahead before planting is the key to | | | | time for watering. |
| success. | | | | Ferns are shade tolerant plants that do not |
| When a plant dies in our dim backyard it is | | | | require very much maintenance. We do need to |
| because it was probably a plant that could not | | | | plant them in a well drained area but they should |
| handle all the shade. Usually when we visit a | | | | not be allowed to get too dry. They are excellent |
| garden nursery we forget to consider that what | | | | plants for a border; they like to be near streams |
| we need are shade loving plants and we end up | | | | or ponds, and are great accent plants. The |
| purchasing plants that need more sun than our | | | | Autumn Fern is a wonderful plant for shady areas |
| yard has to offer. We need to figure out which | | | | that you want color and interest; these plants will |
| areas of our landscape get the sun and how | | | | add a new color for every season. |
| much it gets per day.Once we determine that our | | | | When choosing flowers for our shade landscaping |
| plant buying will become a lot easier. | | | | there is some that do well with only four hours or |
| Our landscape requirements will change over time; | | | | less of sun: Annuals such as Globe Amaranth and |
| what was sunny two years ago has now become | | | | Nicotiana thrives with only 4 hours of sun with |
| very shady. Many of us have been living in our | | | | purple, pink, red, or white flowers; the Glove |
| houses for 15, 20 or even 30 years and many of | | | | Amaranth also comes in magenta, while the |
| those shrubs and trees have given us plenty of | | | | Nicotiana also comes in yellow or green flowers. |
| shade. Our sun loving plants are having a difficult | | | | Perennials such as Forget-Me-Not requires full or |
| time staying alive so we need to move them to | | | | part shade and has bright blue flowers with yellow |
| a better area and we need to have some shade | | | | centers; The Columbine needs 4 hours of sun and |
| tolerant landscaping planted in that area. We still | | | | has red or pink flowers; The Hardy Geranium |
| have a choice here by trimming back the trees | | | | wants to have partial shade and comes in the |
| and shrubs to create more sun or plant shade | | | | colors of purple, pink, red, white, or blue; Coral |
| landscape plants. | | | | Bells need full shade and their colors are coppery |
| We also need to remember that some of the | | | | orange to black and also a deep purple to |
| areas in our landscape may receive full sun in | | | | chartreuse; The Bleeding Heart needs partial to full |
| summer but during the spring and fall they will | | | | shade with shades of purple, pink, red, and white |
| receive more shade due to a lower angle of the | | | | blossoms. Biennials such as Foxglove require 4 |
| sun. In these particular areas we can plant flowers | | | | hours of sun with pink, purple, yellow, white, or |
| or shrubs that do not require a full days worth of | | | | red flowers. |
| sun. | | | | When choosing shrubs, there are some that |
| Some of our large shade trees are a valuable | | | | enjoy partial shade such as the Butterfly Bush |
| resource and by pruning away the diseased, dead, | | | | with four hours of sun with pink, red, white, |
| or poor structured limbs will not only improve the | | | | purple, and yellow flowers. The Red Twig |
| health of the tree but also the beauty of our | | | | Dogwood; requires partial shade but will tolerate |
| landscape. This will give us more sunlight and the | | | | full shade and has white blossoms in summer and |
| opportunity to plant flowers that need little | | | | its leaves turn to purple in fall. The Oakleaf |
| sunlight. The roots of our plants are always | | | | Hydrangea: does very well in partial shade and its |
| competing for moisture, some shade plants work | | | | blossoms are white in spring, which will fade pink |
| well with low moisture and some need moist | | | | in summer and brown in the fall. |
| shade areas. We need to consider all nearby | | | | |