6 Lovely Perennials for Shade That Will Seduce You
Do you have a shady spot in your garden? An old established tree might take up an entire corner of your yard or a neighbor’s tall house might create a big cool shadow. You might feel discouraged and unsure what to do. Well, don’t worry because you can still grow a lot of colorful plants. If you mix in some fresh compost in the area and occasionally water, you can make several perennials for shade very happy. Here are six of my favorites. Georgia Peach Coral Bells Heucheras are wonderful…
A Fantastic Evergreen Shrub for Winter Interest
Leucothoe shrubs (pronounced “Lew-kohth-oh-wey”) are wonderful plants that offer evergreen structure and pretty color to a garden all year. They have a mounding form with branches that shoot from the base before drooping for a lovely shaggy structure. With insignificant flowers, these blueberry relatives instead feature easy-care maintenance and stunning foliage. All cultivars like part or dappled shade. They do have weird common names like “dog hobble” and “black laurel” and “fetterbush,” so I prefer their botanical name “Leucothoe.” Here are several cultivars I recommend that most gardeners in the…
What Happened to My Skimmia? From Stately Shrub to Plant Skeleton
Skimmia japonica is a lovely broadleaf evergreen shrub — except when your dog goes the bathroom on it. Then it turns into this, a yellowed sad skeleton. It used to be stately and lush, a perfect plant for deep shade, but that all changed. A Pretty Green Scheme I planted this skimmia in an effort to contrast with the variegated dogwood growing behind it. For years it worked perfectly. The deep green leaves of the broadleaf evergreen mounded horizontally against the upward vase shape of the light-colored dogwood. But then…
How to Garden in a Shaded Sunny Border
I have this tricky garden area on the eastern boundary of my yard. It has a huge oak tree. It has a lawson cypress. The trees shade out an eastern and southern exposure until about two o’clock when the hot afternoon sun blasts through. Then all hell breaks loose. It’s the most difficult area of my yard in which to garden. A shaded sunny border. A Heavy Wet Soil Baked in the Sun Part of the problem is a massively tall oak tree grows along the fence in this part…
