Shade-loving and shade-tolerant plants for summer cottages: their types and features. Shade-tolerant and shade-loving perennial flowers for the garden Annual flowers for shady places

14.11.2019

What flowers can be grown in the shade? - This question is relevant for any amateur gardener. In a garden full of trees and shrubs, it is sometimes difficult to find open areas for flower beds that will be illuminated by the sun throughout the day.

According to the requirements for illumination by sunlight, garden plants are divided into light-loving, shade-tolerant and shade-loving. We have prepared a small list of popular shade-tolerant and shade-loving perennials. These perennial flowers are suitable for planting in shady and lightly shaded areas of your garden. They tolerate shade well.

Shade-tolerant perennials can be grown under the shade of trees and shrubs, in the shade of the house. They can grow and flower with more or less direct sunlight.

Host "Cadillac". Photo: Hardyplants.

Perennial flowers for lightly shaded areas of the garden

These perennials prefer partial shade. They will grow well in partial shade. These flowers love the sun, but they need only a few hours of direct sunlight a day. Penumbra is when the area is exposed to the sun in the morning or afternoon, approximately 6 hours during the day.
Of course, in sunny areas, flowering in these perennials will be more abundant and longer than in the shade.

astilba (Astilbe Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don)	oak anemone (Anemone nemorosa L.)	Alpine catchment (Aquilegia alpina L.)
Dicentra is magnificent (Lamprocapnos spectabilis(L.) T.Fukuhara)	Dicentra is beautiful (Dicentra formosa(Haw.) Walp.)	Primrose Julia (Primula juliae Kusn.)
Japanese primrose (Primula japonica A. Gray)	Peony (Paeonia L.)	Scilla (Scilla L.)
Stonecrop large (Sedum maximum(L.) Suter.)	corydalis noble (Corydalis nobilis(L.) Pers.)	Caucasian ash tree* (Dictamnus caucasicus(Fisch. & C.A. Mey.) Grossh.)

Photo : Øyvind Holmstad, Karlafg, Juan José Sánchez, dalbera, Danny Steven S., KENPEI, Meneerke bloem, Poco a poco, Axel Kristinsson, Bjoertvedt, Rolf Engstrand, Hedwig Storch.

Perennial flowers for shady areas of the garden

Almost every garden has shady areas under the crowns of old trees. What to plant in a shady garden?

Not all plants can grow under trees. Under the canopy of old trees, only species resistant to root pressure get along. Therefore, it is worth planting flowers with a superficial root system under the trees.

Most shade-tolerant plants are spring flowering. Nature itself has taken care of them: they bloom when there are almost no leaves on the trees, and they have enough sunlight.

From shade-tolerant plants, one should not expect abundant long-term flowering, large, double flowers. Shade-tolerant plants are decorative, primarily due to their foliage and appearance (habitus). Therefore, a shady garden is mainly a decorative leafy garden.

These perennials are suitable for planting and growing in shady areas of the garden. They tolerate shade and lack of sunlight well. They can be grown under the canopy of trees. Fill in areas of your garden that the sun rarely sees with them. And then a beautiful shady garden will grow on your site all summer long.

Badan thick-leaved (Bergenia crassifolia(L. Fritsch)	Periwinkle (Vinca minor L.)	Volzhanka common (Aruncus dioicus(Walter) Fernald
Saxifrage shadow (Saxifraga umbrosa L.)	Saxifrage wedge-leaved (Saxifraga cuneifolia L.)	May lily of the valley* (convallaria majalis L.)
Lunar resurrecting (Lunaria rediviva L.)	Lungwort (Pulmonaria L.)	Hellebore* (Helleborus L.)
Digitalis* (Digitalis L.)	Ferns* (Polypodiophyta)	Noble liverwort (Hepatica nobilis Mill.)
Snowdrop* (Galanthus L.)	Soldanella mountain (Soldanella montana mikan)	hosta (hosta Tratt.)
Astilboides lamellar ( Astilboides tabularis (Hemsl.) Engl.)	Darmer thyroid ( Darmera peltata(Torr. ex Benth.) Voss)	Rogersia horse chestnut leaf ( Rodgersia aesculifolia Battal.)
Fragrant violet (Viola odorata L.)	Epimedium or Goryanka ( epimedium L.)	Spike cohosh* or black cohosh* ( Actaea spicata L.)
Podophyllum thyroid ( Podophyllum peltatum L.)	Pachysandra apical ( Pachysandra terminalis Siebold & Zucc.)	Lady's slipper ordinary or real slipper ( Cypripedium calceolus L.)

Photo : Salvor Gissurardottir, H. Zell, Epp, Jerzy Opioła, Hectonichus, Hans B., Hedwig Storch, Wildfeuer, Jebulon, Meneerke bloem, Jonas Bergsten, Redsimon, Zdeněk Pražák, Qwertzy2, nestmaker (Rbrausse), Wouter Hagens, Jerzy Opioła , Fritz Geller-Grimm, brewbooks, Andrey Korzun, Sten Porse, Algirdas, Manuguf.

______________
* Poisonous plants. They require great care and compliance with safety measures when in contact with them. If you have small children, then you should stop growing these plants in your garden.

Most shade-tolerant plants are primroses. They bloom in the spring, when the trees do not yet have dense foliage, so they have enough sunlight to bloom.

Shady corners of the garden favorite place rest in the sultry summer, so the desire to decorate them is natural. And someone wants to arrange a beautiful flower garden under the trees growing on the site, or plant plants in the shade of a fence or buildings. For this, shade-tolerant and shade-loving representatives of the flora are suitable.

Demanding for light is one of the criteria by which plants are selected for planting in a shaded area. Flowers and shrubs that are in dire need of the sun will not be able to gain strength there or will die completely.

Other plants may be:

shade-tolerant, that is, preferring penumbra.
Shade-loving, growing well with minimal lighting.

This must be taken into account when planning landings. Ornamental-deciduous species usually like shade, although there are many beautiful flowering exceptions. When selecting plants, it is important to pay attention to preferences in the soil and its moisture content.

What plants to plant in the shade (video)

Popular Shade Tolerant Ground Covers

Crawling on the ground like a green carpet, ground cover plants will become excellent neighbors to higher inhabitants of the garden, will help decorate the soil around trees and shrubs, decorate the slopes of an alpine hill and fit into a rockery composition. Moreover, many of them perfectly survive the lack of sunlight.

tenacious creeping

A plant often found in forests, which has become a garden plant with light hand flower growers. This is a perennial with spreading shoots on the ground. Blooms early - in May. The inflorescences of the tenacious are spike-shaped: small blue or blue flowers are collected in axillary whorls. Such "candles" rise above the ground by 7–12 cm. Many ornamental varieties have been bred with fantasy coloring of leaves, thanks to which the tenacious looks original and noticeable, despite the small height.

tenacious creeping

Saxifrage

This is perennial, less often it is a two- or one-year-old. When planted alone, it forms green cushions, usually 5 to 20 cm high, in rare cases reaching 70 cm. Flowers with 5 petals, painted in pink or pink, rise from lush greenery on thin legs. White color. The main advantages of saxifrage are its unpretentiousness(the plant is frost-resistant and grows without problems on poor soils) and a long flowering that lasts all summer.

Gallery: shade-tolerant plants for the garden (25 photos)

European hoof

Another option for decorating the soil in a shady corner of the garden is a hoof that grows up to 30 cm in height. It has pretty leaves, the upper side of which is glossy, and the lower side is matte. Blooms in spring with heat setting, maroon bells.

European hoof

Cuff

Cuff attracts attention primarily with its airy flowers, filling the garden with a honey scent in June and July. The multi-lobed leaves of the plant in many species have a silvery omission from the underside of the leaf. In the conditions of the middle lane it winters well, but for better preservation, the cuff bushes are still recommended to be mulched with peat.

sphagnum moss

AT wild nature is a swamp dweller, but due to its high decorativeness, it is also used in garden compositions. Traditionally white and gray, but there are red, pink and red specimens. The height of the stems ranges from 10 to 20 cm, from which branched shoots depart in bunches.

All these plants do an excellent job with the main task: to decorate the surface of the soil with pretty greenery. Despite the small height, they definitely will not go unnoticed.

sphagnum moss

Choosing shade-tolerant flowers for the garden

If in some corner of the site there is not enough sunlight, this does not mean that there is no place for beautiful flowers. At least 5 plants are ready to fill the shade with their colors.

Dicentra

People often refer to her as a "broken heart" because of the characteristic and very unusual shape of the flowers. They are literally suspended in the air on long peduncles. The voluminous dicentra bush grows quite large in size: up to 1 m in height.

Doronicum orientalis

The plant has bright yellow flowers, similar to daisies. Doronicum begins its flowering, which lasts more than a month, at the height of May. There are terry and dwarf varieties.

Doronicum orientalis

Clematis

Very beautiful blooming liana, undemanding to lighting. In floriculture it is used for vertical decoration. The main wealth of clematis is its large flowers all kinds of colors: starting with white and ending with dark purple.

Colchicum

Or, as they call it, colchicum. It is a bulbous plant about 20 cm tall that blooms in autumn. When in contact with colchicum, you need to be careful, because it is poisonous.

Lily of the valley

A modest and well-known lily of the valley willingly grows in the shade. Its snow-white bluebells usually appear in May. This is a perennial plant, undemanding to care.

In order for plants to have abundant flowering, they need to be fed. special fertilizers. In hot weather, they will need watering.

Flowers for shady areas of the site (video)

Shade-loving ornamental shrubs and trees

If a herbaceous plants reign on the lower tier of a shady corner, then the upper one is made up of trees and shrubs. Some of them do not suffer from a small amount of light while maintaining decorative characteristics.

Hydrangea

Hydrangea is loved for its puffy hats made up of hundreds of small flowers. Abundant flowering lasts in July-September. To give the shrub a beautiful shape, it is usually cut in the form of a ball. It should be noted that in dry weather, he will need abundant watering.

Hydrangea

Spruce

There are various ornamental varieties of spruce. Some of them are creeping, shrub-like and even with falling branches, which looks very attractive. Even a spruce planted in the shade is actively growing. If desired, you can do pruning, giving the tree the shape of a cone or pyramid.

Holly

The holly holly, whose leaves are crowned with sharp thorns, is known as a Christmas plant in Catholic countries. Among gardeners, holly is famous for the fact that grows even in strong shade. The plant shows itself in all its glory in winter and autumn: against the background of green foliage, small berries turn red. This is true for those who want to enjoy the garden all year round.

Rhododendron

A beautiful shrub whose double flowers reach a diameter of 4 cm. The leaves are lanceolate in shape, dark green with a glossy sheen. When planting a rhododendron, you need to know that it does not tolerate cold winds and waterlogging of the soil. The plant prefers acidic soil, therefore, peat is added to the earth with a neutral alkaline balance.

Yew

The evergreen yew endures any adverse conditions except stagnant water. The plant lends itself well to formation, so it is often used to create figures or green hedges. Yew is suitable for both single and group planting, becoming a green background for other plants.

Ornamental trees and shrubs need care, as do herbaceous flowers. For example, the application of nitrogenous fertilizers will be beneficial for foliage growth.

Shade-tolerant fruit trees and berry bushes

Those gardeners who wish to use shady areas to harvest fruits and berries can plant certain crops. The harvest of most trees and shrubs suffers greatly from lack of sun, but there are those among them who endure shade.

Barberry

This tall bush arnica is notable for its foliage, which can be yellow, green, purple. Not far behind in beauty and sour barberry berries, rich in vitamin C. The plant lends itself perfectly to shaping, and dwarf varieties are used for borders.

Cherry

One of the few fruit trees, which tolerate penumbra relatively well. A little more demanding on the lighting of cherry plum and plum. But a crop from a shady area will still be inferior in taste to a crop grown under a sufficient amount of light.

Blackberry

This is a very tall shrub, the woody shoots of which often grow up to 2 m in height, which must be taken into account when planting next to a flower garden or vegetables. In the middle of summer, blackberries are covered with white flowers, and in August, almost black berries with a sour taste appear in their place.

viburnum

Kalina is one of the plants loved by the people. An extremely unpretentious tall shrub, the branches of which are covered with carved leaves. The special charm of viburnum is given by its scarlet berries collected in bunches. They remain to decorate the bush until late winter.

Dogwood

dogwood blooms in early spring, attracts bees to the site for a month. For the whole summer, he decorates the garden with green foliage, and in autumn - with red berries, from which delicious and healthy jam is obtained. The only drawback of dogwood is its love of warmth., so the plant needs to be covered for the winter.

To make fruits and berries larger and tastier, it is recommended to use potash fertilizers for feeding - this slightly compensates for the small amount of sun.

Flower bed plants for the darkest places in the garden

Some plants can be called the most "resistant of the resistant", because they grow even where there is very little sunlight. And it does not worsen their appearance!

Arizema

original plant, attracting attention original flowers in the form of callas of various, often fantasy colors: white with pink, green with burgundy. The height of arizema grown in the garden usually reaches 50 cm.

astilba

Lush astilba bushes can grow up to 2 m. But this plant is remarkable not in size, but in panicle inflorescences. The flowering period is in June and July.

Fern

The beauty of ferns lies in their openwork green leaves. In the wild, the plant is located on the lower tier of dense forests, so the shade is familiar to it. There are also ground cover species of ferns that cover the ground with their lace.

Fern

tiarca

Tiarca inflorescences are panicles of white, pink or purple. The most common tiarka is heart-leaved, with leaves in the shape of a heart.

hosta

The plant has leaves collected in lush rosettes and often variegated with all sorts of shades of green and white. Hosta is very unpretentious so it won't be a problem.

These plants can be planted in the most secluded corner of the garden.

What vegetables can be planted in the country in the shade

Shady places on the site are suitable for growing vegetables. Here are some of them that grow well in such conditions:

root crops (radish, beets);
members of the legume family;
cruciferous: cabbage and broccoli, as well as cauliflower and Beijing.

The shade is also suitable for perennial onions and leafy plants like sorrel, rhubarb, lettuce. You can also plant fragrant mint, tarragon, creeping thyme or cilantro: spicy herbs will certainly be needed in the kitchen.

Shade tolerant plants for the home

Flower growers are faced with a lack of light not only in the plots, but also in the house. What plants should not be afraid to put in the far corners of the room?

Aspidistra, which is called "cast iron flower" for its amazing durability. It is a plant with several leaves on long petioles.
Chamelodorea, resembling a palm tree with its airy leaves.
Philodendron. Liana, stretching up to 2 m in length.
sansweria("Mother-in-law's tongue") is distinguished by tall, long leaves that have a dense structure and are pointed at the edges. Sansveria has a variegated color and often a yellow border around the edges of feather-like leaves.
Anthurium- a flowering plant of various colors.

To houseplants feel good and develop, they need to find a suitable pot and soil; and ensure proper care in the future.

sansweria

Examples of a combination of shade-loving plants in landscape design

How to create a harmonious composition from flowering plants? You need to analyze each "candidate" and its features, and try to create the perfect flower garden. Here are some of the good examples:

green fern in one corner of the flower garden and the host in the other will be a wonderful green background for the flowering tiarka heartifolia. If you add a small stone or snag to the composition, this will add spectacularity to the flower bed.
Cuff and hoof will be good neighbors on the alpine hill.

Of the greenery, the first thing to do is, of course, hosts (or the second name is funkia), ferns, ivy and some cereals. Spectacular host bushes have a wide variety of shapes (they are oblong, ovoid, round) and leaf color: green, gray, blue, variegated, yellow, striped. And, in addition, in the second half of summer, bell-shaped flowers of white, lilac or purple appear. Shade-loving hostas feel great under trees where there is enough moisture. But in the sun their leaves burn.

Not every house or cottage has an ideal location relative to the cardinal points. And very often it turns out that part of the garden, or even the whole, is located on the north side and is in full shade for almost the whole day. Others in the garden already have large trees and vine trellises, which give an excellent harvest, but close the sun to the plants of the lower tier, and practically nothing grows under them. But you want beauty - and admire the flowers, and cover the bare earth with juicy greenery.

Help out in this case. shade-loving plants for a garden that lives and thrives even in the almost complete absence of sunlight. And if the shadow is openwork and not constant, then the names in the list of such flowers and herbs will expand significantly.

Flowering and green perennials
If you briefly list the most hardy perennial plants to the lack of sunlight, then these are:

astilba

A very successful plant for shady corners will be astilba, which from June to August blooms with paniculate inflorescences of various colors: white, cream, pink of all shades and purple-red. Caring for astilba involves a sufficient amount of moisture, so abundant watering is needed during the dry period. For the winter, the stems should be cut off, and the roots should be covered with a layer of dry leaves. The fact is that the growth buds of astilba are located close to the surface of the earth, and in order for these shade-tolerant perennials to please the owners of the garden next year, they must be protected from frost. In the spring it is necessary to feed the bushes with complex fertilizers.

Anemone oak.

Anemone (Anemone) - varieties - columnar, felt, buttercup, oak. Graceful perennial plants with spectacular flowering. Most spring-flowering anemones are ephemeroids; by summer, their growing season is over. A separate group consists of autumn-flowering species and hybrids. They are mainly used as flower bed plants and for rock gardens.

Alpine catchment

The lack of sunlight is well tolerated by all varieties and hybrids of watersheds.

Their extraordinary, moth-like flowers bloom in May-June and delight the eye with all sorts of colors, as well as the complexity of the buds. Aquilegia propagates by sowing seeds directly into the ground, and later by self-sowing.

Dicentra is magnificent

Of the known garden plants shady corners of the garden and flower beds on the north side can be decorated with such an ornamental plant as a dicentra, which is often also called a "broken heart". It blooms in May-June with very original heart-shaped flowers on long arcuate peduncles - up to 80 cm. The main species has a pink-white color of flowers, and varietal plants can be pure snow-white. There are also shorter shade-loving species dicentras - exceptional and beautiful. They are unpretentious, but love fertile soil and a sufficient amount of moisture. You need to propagate it either by dividing the bush in spring-autumn, or by root cuttings that appear in spring. After flowering, the aerial part of the dicentra dies off.

Dicentra is beautiful

Primrose Julia

Japanese primrose

Peony

Scilla

Stonecrop large

corydalis noble

Caucasian ash tree

Perennial flowers for shady areas of the garden...

Badan thick-leaved

Bergenia cordifolia - prefers light, nutritious, well-drained soils. With frequent transplants, he gets sick. Faded flower stalks are cut off. Dead leaves are removed in spring. It is frost-resistant, but it is better to cover with leaves.

Periwinkle

Periwinkle small - its flowers resemble phlox flowers, blooms continuously from May to September. In shading, flowering is not very abundant, but the plant grows well and is decorative throughout the season.

Volzhanka common

Volzhanka is a perennial up to 2 meters high, thanks to carved leaves it is decorative throughout the season. Volzhanka blooms with white or creamy fragrant panicle inflorescences in June-July

Saxifrage shadow

Saxifraga (Saxifraga). Saxifrage family.

These are shade plants. large genus(about 370 species) perennials growing on rocks and talus in the mountains of the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere. These are low (5-20 cm) perennials with a dense basal rosette of leaves and an erect peduncle bearing a loose brush of star-shaped flowers. Leaves, mostly wintering, determine the decorativeness of this plant.

Saxifrage wedge-leaved

May lily of the valley

May lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis) - grows well on nutritious, loose, moist, slightly acidic soils. Responsive to organic fertilizers. Doesn't do well in spring. Systematic mulching with humus. The plant is aggressive, so excess shoots are cut off. Young plants bloom for 2-3 years.

Lunar resurrecting

Lungwort

Digitalis

ferns

Noble liverwort

Noble liverwort (Hepatica nobilis) - grows on moist, loose, fertile soils. Before planting, leaf humus or compost should be introduced into the soil.

Snowdrop

The name of this shade-loving plant is known to everyone. Snowdrop is a small-bulbous undersized shrub 10-20 cm high, blooming with snow-white flowers in early spring. The flower is bell-shaped, from two rows of leaves - 3 outer white ones surround 3 inner ones, with a cut along the edge and a green spot, the leaves are lanceolate.

Snowdrop (GALANTHUS). Amaryllis family.

Soldanella mountain

Astilboides lamellar

Darmer thyroid

Rogersia horse chestnut leaf

Rogersia - queen shady garden, a perennial plant about 1.5 meters high. Thanks to beautiful large leaves, it is decorative throughout the season. Large panicle inflorescences bloom at the end of June and can be white, cream or pink, blooming for a little over a month. Thanks to creeping rhizomes, Rogersia grows quite quickly.

Fragrant violet

Fragrant violet (Viola odorata) - prefers moist, loamy soils; on dry soils, the flowers become smaller and flowering stops. Does not tolerate fresh, organic fertilizers. The bush is divided every 3-4 years.

Epimedium or Goryanka

Growing conditions. Shaded areas with loose, well-drained, lime-rich soil. Drought-resistant.

Reproduction. Segments of rhizome with a renewal bud in early spring (before the leaves begin to grow), but more reliable at the end of summer. Delenki are planted shallow (2-5 cm), after 20-40 cm, based on further growth. These plants have smooth, hairless leaves of juicy green or dark green color. Their habitats are located in light penumbra (lack of sunlight from 12 to 16 hours), or in complete shade.

Voronets spiky or Voronets spiky black

Podophyllum thyroid

Podophyllum (PODOPHYLLUM). The barberry family.

Fairly tall (up to 70 cm) shade-loving plant from broad-leaved forests. Attracts attention with beautiful dark green separate rounded leaves (up to 30 cm wide, 15 cm long) on long petioles, large (up to 5-6 cm in diameter) snow-white flower. Plum-shaped orange-red fruits are original.

Pachysandra apical

Pachysandra apical (Pachysandra terminalis) - prefers moist loams. Decorative from early spring to late autumn. During the summer, the appearance of the cover does not change. Grows fast. Does not require special pruning.

Venus slipper ordinary or real slipper

These plants have smooth, hairless leaves of a luscious green or dark green color. Their habitats are located in light penumbra (lack of sunlight from 12 to 16 hours), or in complete shade.

On a suburban area in places with insufficient light, it is best to start seedlings of shade-loving plants for a perennial garden. Landscape designers claim that the shadow formed as trees grow has a different character. It can be scattered, thick, or change depending on the season and time of day. But all the darkened corners are demanding special care. There is an opinion that plants need a large amount solar heat and light, but in reality everything is completely different. Nature adapts, and today you can find shrubs, ornamental grasses that prefer darkened areas to open sunny spaces. All of them have their own characteristics and are remarkable for their unusual, non-standard beauty of shape and shade.

Perennial shade-loving plants are great for areas with a lot of trees and a lack of sunlight.

Shadow lovers: who is it?

There is a huge variety of shade-loving crops that are used to decorate the countryside. They can be classified by type as follows:

By development and growth period:

annuals - those that reach the peak of development during one season;
perennial - those that will decorate the space in front of the house for more than one season.

By variety:

herbs are large group, which is used to decorate the general background;
flowers: they differ in brightness and contrast, the peak of development is the formation of an inflorescence, they are used for decorative design, do not exceed 15-30 cm in height;
Shrubs: can reach heights of several meters, are used to create hedges or as an accent.

Aquilegia has a wonderful aroma and does not require careful care.

Shade-loving perennials are distinguished by the fact that:

perfectly tolerate low temperatures;
at the onset of the first cold weather top part dies or simply dries up;
as soon as the first rays of the sun warm the earth, the top will come to life again.

Attention! All cereals, flowers and shrubs, which are classified as shade-loving, are distinguished by violent formations (although they are mostly dull and discreet) and a lush leafy hat.

To maintain the attractiveness of the suburban area, it is necessary to use such plants that will replace each other when the season changes. Experts say that there is nothing better than grouping different varieties, which differ in development time. So the landscape will constantly play with new colors.

Before planting, you need to select and prepare a place. After all, it is the location that will affect the quality of the foliage. Moreover, it is necessary to understand that the plant will occupy the allotted territory for at least 5-10 next years.

Among other preparatory measures, there are four main ones:

removal of weeds;
removal of the root system of weeds;
creating a nutrient layer with fertilizers and minerals;
loosening and digging the soil.

These manipulations will be quite enough to make the new inhabitants of the garden feel comfortable.

Back to index

Shade tolerant grasses and ornamental grasses

From different types astilba you can grow a chic flower bed.

In the garden, decorative cereals are used for decoration. With their help, they line the general background and form the basis for the implementation of any design solution. All cereals are characterized by the following features:

require minimal maintenance;
unpretentiousness;
resistance;
minimal feeding with mineral fertilizers is required;
lay the "carpet" for at least a few years.

A garden in which herbs and cereals are used for decoration will be beautiful in late autumn and even in winter time of the year.

Today there are over 10,000 different ornamental grasses. Under this name it is customary to understand the families of cereals, rushes, aroids and cattails. If we talk about decorative types, then it should be understood that they are perceived by a person differently from ordinary ones. First of all, the emphasis here is not on brightness, but on abundant flowering and elegance of form.

Back to index

shade-loving flowers

Shade tolerant perennials are the best way for cottages or estates that have a large number of shaded areas. It is best to decorate these spaces with perennials that are not whimsical to external environmental conditions and care. The following varieties are considered the most popular:

Forest hyacinth grows well in the root system of trees.

Aquilegia. A very unusual flower with a fabulous aroma and attractive appearance.
Astilba. It is often used to decorate gardens and flower beds, but few people know that this species is suitable for growing in shaded areas and corners.
Brunner. It develops over a long period of time. It will please the eye with creamy inflorescences and small blue flowers. Leaves painted in a silvery-bluish color will look very attractive against the general background.
Forest hyacinth. Has a graceful appearance and sweet aroma. In its natural habitat, it grows near the root system of trees.
Rogersia. It absolutely does not tolerate drought. Grows tall large arrows. Requires additional watering from the gardener.
Lily of the valley forest. Feels great in the shade of trees. Blooms for a short period.
Zhivuchka. It is notable for the fact that it can bloom from the beginning of March and continues to bloom until the end of November.
The host has the widest color palette.

All of the varieties listed above are among the most persistent and hardy. They can be grown both indoors and outdoors.

Attention!

In places with an increased level of shading, all varieties of primroses will bloom for a long period.

Moreover, they can be planted directly under shrubs and trees.

Back to index

shade-loving shrubs

The tenacious can bloom for a long period from March to October.

The garden is another opportunity to feel like an artist. Each gardener can feel like a designer and create an unrealistic picture from a combination of flower groups and shrubs. When choosing the latter, it is necessary to take into account not only them decorative features, but also the nature of the development of the root system. This is necessary in order not to harm the development of young trees in the future.

Shade-tolerant plants are considered the best option for the design of areas located near residential buildings, and for the formation of hedges. The most popular options are yellow acacia, silver sucker, exochord and euonymus. In order to organize the garden plane as efficiently as possible, it is worth planting shrubs in shaded spaces that will bear fruit in the future. These include viburnum, cultivated currant, hazel, barberry and hawthorn.

Conifers will look very effective in the garden. They are unpretentious and easy to care for. They are also much easier to transplant than any other types of shrubs. Perfect option to decorate the site - juniper and thuja.

Attention! Tolerates a lack of sunlight hybrid varieties and watersheds. They differ in incredible shape and color. The foliage of some shrubs can be colored in the manner of a zebra or leopard.

A garden is a composition of trees, shrubs and flowers. But often it is the latter that get only the remnants of the sun. Luckily, there are many plants that can or want to thrive even in heavy shade. Skillfully using these properties, you can create a shady garden with your own hands, skillfully filling the “dark spots” with luxurious or exquisitely restrained compositions.

Do you know your land

To make the plants feel comfortable and delight the eye with juicy foliage and bright colors, you need to know the type and acidity of the soil, the degree of shading. Perhaps these are the three fundamental successful growth of your green pets.

Clay or loam: what's the difference

Don't judge soil by its color. It depends not only, as is commonly believed, on the amount of clay, but also on the incoming minerals. You can learn for sure about your mother earth in the truest sense of the word effortlessly.

Moisten a small lump of earth and roll a flagellum or sausage out of it - whoever you like, roll it into a ring. The thickness of the product should be slightly more than 3 mm, and the diameter should be 2–3 cm. Now we carefully look at what happened and find out the type of soil.

Sandy soil will not succumb to rolling or twisting. It is poor and requires the application of compost and powdered peat.
A fragile ball is a sandy loam, which also needs to be enriched.
The ringlet, easily disintegrating if you try to take it, is a light loam.
Ring with cracks and fractures - medium loam.
A solid lace, but the ring is cracking - heavy loam.

Note!
Loams are "warm", retain water and fertilizer well, but need constant composting and mulching.

The ring without flaws is clay, the soil is very heavy for the roots. Rain makes it an impenetrable swamp, and drought makes it rock solid. Green manure, compost and mulch will gradually saturate the clay with "vitamins" and make it looser.

Note!
If you really want to plant lilies, and there is only a place in partial shade on clay, this is not scary.
Experienced gardeners guarantee that there will be fewer flowers, but they will please the eye longer.

Dig a hole into which a 5-liter bucket of sand-peat mixture or black earth will enter. The poured mound should rise 15–20 cm above the ground. The seat is ready.

Sour, not sour - guessing by currants

From the school curriculum, it is known that there are several levels of soil acidity:

strongly alkaline (up to 9 pH);
alkaline (8–8.5 pH);
neutral (6–7 pH);
slightly acidic (pH 5–6);
acidic (from 4 to 5 pH);
strongly acidic (less than 3.5 pH).

An acidic environment is avoided by earthworms; the activity of bacteria is reduced in it. As a result, the soil is compacted and poorly passes air and moisture. Information in in general terms, but it gives an idea of what the root system of your pets will develop.

Many cultures prefer neutral and slightly acidic conditions. Although such gourmets as rhododendrons, camellias, heather cannot live without "sour".

If you decide to grow plants for a shady garden seriously and for the joy of posterity, you should buy litmus papers in an agricultural store - pH tests.

Your next steps:

From a depth of about 10 cm, take a lump of earth.
Clear of foreign objects.
Air dry.
Put the dried material into 30 ml of distilled water.
Mix.
When the earth settles, lower the dough into the water.

The paper strip will gradually change color. The instructions on the packaging will explain the level of acidity.

Other ways of testing will be almost from the realm of alchemy.

Acetic. Drop a little on a handful of earth. Bubbles hiss like when soda is extinguished - normal earth, there will be no reaction - sour.
Currant. Steam 3-4 blackcurrant leaves.
After cooling, mix the solution and dip the earth into it:

a reddened solution will indicate a strong acidification;
pink - medium acid;
green - neutral,
blue - alkaline.

shades of shadow

Depending on the time of the year, the foliage of trees, the length of daylight hours, and the activity of lighting, the degree of shading of garden plots depends.

garden flowers for shady places may require:

penumbra - 3 hours of direct sunlight in the morning and evening with a shadow on a hot afternoon;

full shade - about 3 hours of direct sun in the middle of the day and shade the rest of the time;

diffused light - throughout the day.

Old deciduous trees do not pass precipitation well, and the roots intensively draw moisture from the ground. A dry shadow is formed under them, where bulbous plants can take root.

In spring, it will be pearl snowdrops and blue sprouts dear to the heart, multi-colored columns of hyacinth inflorescences with an indescribable aroma, white and yellow daffodils with a sunny center, primrose rugs.

In partial shade, flowers with a diameter of up to 5 cm look spectacular anemone oak. It blooms from April to May. A miniature blue-white-pink blanda anemone appears from under the snow all at once - both leaves and flowers.

Autumn melancholy will be revived by pink and blue flowers of colchicum (autumn colchicum) and crocus. Colchicum is an amazing flower. The onion sleeps and develops underground, shooting with delicate flowers on a leafless stem up to 20 cm high only in autumn.

Headaches are areas with enduring dampness, where flowers for a shady garden will be in danger of rotting. This usually happens in places with a high horizon. ground water and clay soil or near bodies of water.

In damp penumbra, regardless of the soil, hearty houttuynia grows well. 30 cm high, the perennial is attractive with decorative foliage - a green middle and a yellow-red edging. It tolerates the winter of the middle lane well.

The perennial loosestrife monetizes well in shady places. Bright yellow flowers against the background of light round leaves look like a scattering of sunspots. The price of your efforts will pay off in a couple of years with the formation of a dense curtain.

Smaller is better, more beautiful

A sense of proportion must also be present with. Agree, a chaotic cluster of even rare beauty of flowers will not make the proper impression. Colors and volumes will "argue", and in an attempt to express themselves, they will only get lost in the motley chaos.

The design of your garden can be:

a continuation of the natural zone, when in the already established world order and look natural for a particular place. This is a periwinkle with shiny leaves and an abundance blue flowers, fragrant lily of the valley, hairy lungwort with multi-colored inflorescences, sprawling bushes of the Siberian brunner - discreet, but full of quiet charm.

decorated with flower beds that accentuate attention. For this purpose, it is impossible better fit hosta, eye-catching leaves of fantastic color - orange, yellow, blue, light green, bordered, contrasting pattern, spotted, speckled. With a height of 20 to 60 cm, hostas are suitable for rockeries and borders, in compositions with tall plants or as ground cover;
in deep shade, there are no equal ferns, which look interesting in a duet with hostas. Common ostrich with an elegant bunch of brownish leaves in the middle, male shield bush with leaves up to 1.5 m long, maidenhair stopiform (likes a milder climate);

with the inclusion of classical compositions. These include plants for shady corners of the garden, which have a constant decorative look- a colored sheet, a beautiful habit (appearance) and it is desirable that they be perennials. An open perspective favorably emphasizes the dignity of these landings;
as an option, try planting a thin-leaved mock orange. Its delicate aroma will successfully replace a cup of expensive Chinese tea with jasmine. At the time of flowering, it literally boils with snow-white foam, spreading over lush greenery. Another winter-hardy perennial is the milky-flowered bell, a tall bush with a diameter of up to 0.5 m, blooms in mid-July so luxuriantly that it is almost completely hidden under blue-lilac and white.

Summarizing

An ornamental garden is hard work and pleasant relaxation. Secluded shady corners become fabulous shelters under the shade of amazing plants. Listening to the "wishes" of green friends, you can bring to life the most daring projects.