If you have lots of Shady areas in your yard, you might not think that you can have a garden. This is not true! Actually shade can be a blessing, especially in Southern regions. Flowers appreciate a little shade and can benefit greatly from it. And anyway, who wants to pull weeds and tend a garden in the full, hot summer sun? Plus shade cuts down on the amount of water the plants need and the amount of weeds that grow.

Most flowering plants do need some sun, but there are lots that do very well with a little shade, and some that will tolerate mostly shade.

Before you plant a shade garden you need to know that there are basically 3 types of shade:

• Partial Shade - 3-6 hours of sunlight
• Light to Medium Shade - Maybe only an hour or two of sun, but enough filtered light (such as under a light canopy of trees)
• Full Shade - Not much sun at all (such as under tall mature trees or near a wall)

Also morning sun and afternoon shade is the ideal situation, because morning sun is less intense and the plants will receive the shade when the sun is the hottest in the afternoon.

When choosing plants, consider what style of garden you would like. You should choose plants that fit your location, environment and style of home, be it a formal English Tudor or a small Country Cottage. Also think about the amount of maintenance you want to do. Some good choices to start with would be:

Shrubs

• Azaleas
• Bayberry
• Dogwood
• Oakleaf Hydrangeas
• Winterberry
• Boxwood
• Heavenly Bamboo
• Holly
• Weigela
• Mock Orange

Flowering Plants

• Lily-of-the-Valley
• Bloodroot
• Bleeding Heart
• Jack-in-the-Pulpit
• Bluebells
• Lady's Slipper
• Snowdrop
• Violets
• Wood Sorrel
• Astilbe
• Columbine
• Daffodil
• Daylily
• Foxglove

Leafy Plants

• Hosta
• Ferns
• Lilyturf
• Coleus
• Mondo Grass
• Periwinkle
• Sweet Woodruff
• English Ivy
• Pachysandra
• Japanese Sedge
• Spotted Deadnettle
• Vinca
• Winter Creeper

Some of the above leafy plants also flower briefly, but for the most part stay green. There is also a wide variety of leaf colors in Hosta, Coleus and English Ivy to name a few, that can brighten up a shady spot. Also a good tip is, the color white, will make a shady spot look much brighter. Experiment a little with different leaf colors and textures as this will add a lot of interest. Sometimes you will need to move a plant several times before finding just the right spot. Gardeners do this quite often.

I hope this helps those of you who have lots of shade. It can be a challenge, but also quite rewarding. And the list of plants I gave is only a few of the many available. There just isn't enough room for them all. So look for those areas under trees where the grass just won't grow and turn it into a shade garden!