In summers soaring temperatures, shade gardens are hot properties: Its easy to beat the heat in the dappled light under the trees./ppGreat shade gardens have a lot going for them. Theyre inviting and relaxing, perfect places for a secluded garden seat, a patio for entertaining, a striking piece of garden art or a cooling fountain. The plants that thrive naturally in shade add texture and richness to a garden./ppHostas come to mind, of course, but an astonishing variety of plants flourish in shade./ppPeople come to me and say, I dont have sun anymore, and I say, Oh, you are lucky such an opportunity, says Gwen Wheeler, president of the Heartland Hosta Shade Plant Society. /ppWheeler admits to an uninhibited indulgence in hostas in her garden in Blue Springs (she has about 350 varieties), but she isnt simply planting rings of hostas around trees and lining her garden paths with big, leafy specimens./pp We have shade perennials in our garden that many people dont know exist, she says. /ppThe combinations make her garden sing./ppTo make a pretty shade garden, think of the space as an environment, says Joann Schwarberg, a landscape architect who lives in Johnson County. Youre trying to evoke a feeling, not trying to see how many varieties of plants you can put in. For me, its more about what they do for the space./ppGardens in sun can be relied upon for great splashes of color roses, daylilies, iris or a cottage-garden tumble of cheerful zinnias, marigolds, cosmos, and other summer flowers. In shade, the palette is different, and the mood is, too. /ppIn shade, its more about shadow and texture and nuance and 70 shades of verdant green, Schwarberg says. Its a completely different way to plant./ppWhen Carmen and Bob Martinache moved from Fort Leavenworth to Oak Grove in Jackson County in 2005, they planned and planted their shade garden before they turned to the sunnier parts of their yard./pp Their six-acre property, which they call Rock Bluff Gardens, is on a significant slope and includes a couple of acres of woods. They built a retaining wall on the slope, brought in truckloads of topsoil, and then laid a flagstone path through the developing shade garden. They picked a place for a small fountain and defined the border of the shade garden with a split-rail fence./ppCarmen has about 50 different hostas. She grows them with ferns, shade-loving ornamental grasses, handsome colonies of variegated Solomons seal, frosty White Nancy lamium and golden creeping Jenny. /ppSedums, hardy plumbago and lilies of the valley spread willingly to cover the ground around the hostas and other perennial plants. /ppThe shade garden is my favorite, she says. It is so peaceful. Shade is a delight./ppThe Martinaches designed their garden themselves. They use big flower pots as strong sculptural elements in their shade garden, raising them up on boulders to give them even more presence among the exuberant plantings. Carmen grows about 20 different early-blooming clematis on the fence rails, taking advantage of spring sun before the trees leaf out. Oakleaf hydrangeas flourish along the garden path./ppKansas Citys older neighborhoods are full of opportunities for fantastic shade gardens, says Laura Assyia, a garden designer and co-owner (with Tia Browning) of Earth Expressions./pp Our clients, if they have a shade area, want us to enhance it, Assyia says. She loves the sparkle of variegated plants: boxwood, osmanthus and columnar Silver King euonymus are three of her favorites. Variegation is huge, she says. It really brightens up a shady spot./ppBeautiful flower pots filled with shade-loving tropical plants and a few bright impatiens also dress up shade gardens. It draws you to that spot, Assyia says, and makes it a place where you would like to spend some time./ppIn her garden in Overland Park, Assyia has grown her own shade./ppIt was once a plain suburban backyard and its now a shade mecca, she says. /ppShe plants chartreuse and deep burgundy coral bells for their texture and color, and uses hostas as accents. The big white blooms of Annabelle and oakleaf hydrangeas are luxuriant and graceful; variegated euonymus seems to draw light into the dark corners, and a fountain bubbling out of a boulder splashes quietly near the patio. When she wants to get outside, even on hot days, she simply walks out her back door and into the shadows./pph3Not all shade is equal/h3/ppThere are big degrees of difference in what kind of shade you have, says Don Archer, a garden designer who works mainly in Kansas Citys older neighborhoods. /ppMost shade gardens in our area are dry shade: the trees are so big and so dense that they compete with other plants for moisture and nutrients in the soil. In dry shade, plants will need more attention to watering. In moist shade on the north side of a house or at the bottom of a slope there is more moisture available and less competition./ppSolomons seal, coral bells and hostas all grow well in dry shade, once they are established, Archer says. Korean azaleas (A. poukhanense) and Herbert azaleas are very tough and durable really rock solid, he says; witch hazels, which are known for their fall or winter blossom, are also hard-working shade-garden shrubs./ppMany plants do particularly well in high, light shade or in about four hours of sun./ppExperiment, Archer says. /ppIts trial and error, he says. We try to push the limits./ppGrass is a challenge. You can grow turf in just about any situation if you are willing to reseed two or three times a year, Archer says. Ground covers may be a better choice. He likes the ground cover Mazus reptans (it needs some sunlight and moisture), small ferns and English ivy. Vinca minor is drought-tolerant and spreads relatively quickly, but it can be prone to root problems in moist areas; bugleweed (Ajuga) is susceptible to crown rot./pph3Design for comfort/h3/ppWhen you think of a shade garden, you feel cool, says Joann Schwarberg, a landscape architect who lives in Johnson County. Its all about that visceral feeling of cool and woodsy and comfortable./ppHere are a few of her observations about gardening in shade:/ppbull; Choose plants with interesting textures and forms./ppbull; Keep it simple. Instead of planting 50 different things, choose just a few and repeat them. It helps the design hang together./ppbull; I use hostas like throw pillows, Schwarberg says. Plant them as though they had spread naturally through a woodland: not in masses or rows, but here and there./pph3Top hostas/h3/ppCarmen Martinache grows more than 50 different hostas in her garden in Oak Grove./ppThese are her favorites:/ppbull; span class=”bold”Sagae/span grows 2 to 3 feet tall and wide. The leaves are a handsome blue-green with a creamy variegation. This is one of the all-time most popular hostas, according to the American Hosta Society./ppbull; span class=”bold”Thunderbolt/span has blue-green leaves with a flash of gold at the center; the variegation turns creamy white in summer./ppbull; span class=”bold”Blue Mammoth/span is one of the largest blue hostas; clumps of puckered, light-blue leaves can grow to 5 feet wide./ppbull; span class=”bold”Night Before Christmas/span has somewhat narrow green leaves with splashy white centers. Clumps grow to about 20 inches tall and 2 to 3 feet wide./ppbull; Great Expectations is known for its showy variegation; the puckered leaves are golden in the center and edged with streaks of green and blue-green. It grows to 2 feet high and wide./ppHostas should be watered while they are becoming established; they also need moisture in spring, when their leaves emerge, but then they are surprisingly drought-tolerant. Their leaves shade the soil, which limits evaporation and keeps weeds under control. Dont worry about dividing them, says Gwen Wheeler, president of the Heartland Hosta Shade Plant Society./ppTheres no reason to divide a huge clump unless you are moving and you want to take a piece with you, she says. If you have an 18-year-old Sum and Substance, it might be as big as a table, with huge leaves. They just cant do that if you keep dividing them./pph3 span class=”bold”Resources/h3/pp span class=”bold”bull; Earth Expressions:/span a href=”mailto:earthexpressions@kc.rr.com”earthexpressions@kc.rr.com/a/ppbull; span class=”bold”Joann Schwarberg, ASLA/span: a href=”mailto:joann@jschwarberg.com”joann@jschwarberg.com/a/ppbull; span class=”bold”Don Archer Garden Design:/span on a href=”http://www.facebook.com/pages/Don-Archer-Garden-Design/109537055821752″ target=”_blank”Facebook/a/ppbull; span class=”bold”The Heartland Hosta Shade Plant Society:/span a hef=”http://www.heartlandhostas.org/” target=”_blank”HeartlandHostas.org/a, The clubs next meeting is planned for Sept. 22; Doug Beilstein, president of the American Hosta Society, is scheduled to speak.
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