Low light is not the only problem facing the gardener with mature shade trees. Tree roots take up space in the top soil and they rob the surrounding earth of water and nutrients, creating a gardener's nightmare of dry, infertile shade.
By choosing the right plants, you can still grow a garden in dry shade. Mulches of straw, bark, or leaf litter are not the only option above the roots. By choosing mixes of shade-loving perennials and under-story trees, you can fashion a free-form flowerbed.
One such under-story tree, which enjoys partial shady conditions, is the Carolina Silverbell, Halesia Carolina. It is an uncommon tree, native to much of the Eastern and Southern states. It is rare to see it in garden landscapes. Why such a beautiful tree has escaped attention is a mystery.
Maybe in our rush for instant landscapes, we don't find the Silverbell showy enough. Silverbell flowers are delicate. They dangle from the branches of the previous year's growth. A flowering dogwood growing nearby a young silverbell tree can overshadow the delicate flowers of the Silverbell. However, wait until the Silverbell grows up.
Dogwoods, with their large flat bracts of white or pink, are much showier in the landscape and open their blossoms at about the same time and in the same conditions as the Silverbell. Dogwoods are for the public side of your garden. They show off from a distance.
The Silverbell should be near a patio or deck, wherever you can get up close and personal to enjoy the glorious show. Its mature height is between 20 and 40 feet. It will take some sun, but prefers at least part shade and needs moist, acid soil.
Plant your Silverbell near, but not under, a tree. It is a quick developer and swings blossoms when it is very young. The flowers become pale green seed capsules in fall. It even has beautiful bark for the winter landscape. As it matures, it will wake up springtime with a magnificent cloud of white. There is really nothing to rival it when it is well grown and in its glory.
There are several striking shade plants that are shallow rooted and will settle into a dry, shady area. Plant hostas, variegated Solomon's seal, heucheras, tiarellas, and hellebores in drifts, spreading the flowerbed from under the Silverbell tree to the next tree in your landscape. The foliage of autumn fern (Dryopteris erythrosora), and bear's breeches (Acanthus) contrast with each other nicely in the shade.
Japanese painted fern, Athyrium niponicum, has to be the easiest fern to grow in any garden, zone 5 or warmer. Try it in all colors. It hybridizes easily. You might come up with a brand new foliage color like the South Carolina gardener who found 'Ursula's Red.' You would be hard-pressed to rival those on the market, like the Japanese Painted Ferns 'Burgundy Lace,' 'Silver Falls,' and 'Apple Court.' They all thrive on the shady side.
Less common but worth finding are epimediums, daphne, sweet box (Sarcococca), sweet shrub (Clethra), and cinnamon fern. Use shades of green under trees in your garden to create a cool and inviting landscape, even in the heat of summer.
Lamium 'White Nancy' will travel through beds of bold, white and green leaved caladiums. Swaths of annual impatiens can provide color. A hellebore community grows larger each year from seedlings self-sown in the patch. Wild gingers (Asarum) grow low to the ground, multiplying by rhizomes. Even the large leaves of elephant ears can adapt to the dry shade. A shade garden will cover up the brown mulch with tints of foliage in green, white, or red and pale or bright flowers. Fall is the perfect time to plant trees, shrubs, and perennials. Watering them their first year will relieve transplant stress and help them settle into their new home. A garden can grow in the shade, gloriously.
by Anne K Moore
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