Home » Plants & Animals » New England Gardens » Shedding Light on a Shady Proposition

Shedding Light on a Shady Proposition

© Diana Morgan

Every gardener complains about the challenges of gardening in shade. As I see it, the problem isn't finding plants that thrive in shade, it's bringing luminescence and color to the shade garden. How does one achieve that special light that glows outward from the gloom?

Shade gardening guru, Ken Druse, describes shade in the Introduction to his 80 Great Natural Shade Garden Plants as "this most gentle atmosphere". Plants that tolerate shade tend to appear dainty and frail. Because of this, shade gardens often take on an informal, delicate, and nearly wild, beauty that transforms the landscape. Texture and form become more important than bold color. Shade associates with moisture and delicacy to form an almost tropical lushness impossible to capture in virtually any other garden setting here in northern New England.

Many of the shade-loving plants available at today's garden centers owe their existence to a woodland heritage. Despite the seeming fragility, their native origins provide a legacy of toughness that enables them to successfully survive our harsh winters. The adaptation to shade also protects these plants from the equally cruel heat of a New England August.

Choosing colors that arent absorbed by darkness is the trick to bringing light to a shady garden. Variegated, white, yellow or chartreuse flowers and foliage lighten the darkest corners. These gentle colors glow from the inside out, even at dusk, with a radiance that's both soothing and uplifting.

Every gardener is familiar with the old cottage garden standard, bleeding heart. As much as I love this great old beauty, there's a new cousin in town that's even prettier. A newcomer to eastern markets is Dicentra formosa, "Alba" or white bleeding heart. Clusters of white flowers, more delicate than the pink variety, rise above yellow-green ferny foliage. Hardy to Zone 3, this bleeding heart also blooms all season long. It tolerates light to full shade and prefers an organic soil.

A plant for the back of the garden, Cimicifuga racemosa, snakeroot, stands a majestic 5-8 feet tall with long fingers of fuzzy white flowers. When fully open they resemble bottlebrushes. This native New Englander blooms late summer, is hardy to Zone 3, and enjoys moisture-retentive organic soil. It prefers light to dappled shade, but can tolerate full sun.

Ferns are also a standard shade garden plant and one of the easiest to grow. Their exotic foliage lends a tropical feel to any space. One the most beautiful of all is the Japanese Painted Fern. A silvery overlay accents glowing pale green fronds, forming a striking contrast with the deep bronze stems. This graceful beauty is hardy to Zone 4, requires light shade, and a moist soil with plenty of organic content.