Whatever the plot or the garden, there is always one or several corners on it, where the sun's rays practically do not fall, be it the shadow of a house or large trees. But do not worry about this. Flora is very rich in species, and you can always pick up shade-loving or shade-tolerant plants for the garden that will delight you with flowering and decorative leaves.
Classification of plants according to lighting requirements
Sunlight, water and good, fertile soils are the basic requirements of plants that guarantee their successful cultivation. But not all flowers and trees like bright sunlight, depending on this they are divided into three groups.
- Photophilous plants for the garden, their second name is heliophytes. They love open spaces and sunlight, but in shading they can die. This group includes the vast majority of garden flowers. Of the annuals: petunia, marigolds, lobelia, godetia, etc. Of the perennials, for example, daylily, rudbeckia, gaylardia, arabis, chistets. And also trees: Ginnal maple, western thuja, Manchurian nut.
- Shade tolerant plants for the garden. This group includes species that also love sunlight, but they only need 5-6 hours in the morning or afternoon. However, flowering may not be so plentiful and long. This group includes plants such as oak anemone, astilbe, alpine catchment (in the first photo), dicenter, peony, scilla, etc.
- Shade-loving plants for the garden. These species prefer to grow in nooks where there is almost no sun. They, as a rule, differ in leaves of saturated green color. First of all, these are ferns, hosts, lilies of the valley, medunica, digitalis, etc.
Shade-tolerant conifers for the garden
Evergreen trees and shrubs always give the garden a special charm and delight the eye throughout the year. All of them have an amazing aroma that not only improves mood, but also disinfects the air. There are a lot of species of conifers, they vary in size, shape of the crown, exactingness to the soil and lighting. Many plants do not like the bright sun, and young specimens, without exception, require some shading at the first stages of growth. The most popular among gardeners are the following varieties of shade-tolerant conifers:
- Canadian spruce, ordinary, prickly, Serbian and Entelmani;
- Siberian fir, balsamic, Canadian, plain;
- yew "Revenance" and Canadian (pictured);
- tuyevik drooping (Japanese);
- echiniformis;
- microbiota cross-pair.
All conifers are quite unpretentious, but some require abundant watering and shelter for the winter. Many decorative species grow quite slowly, which allows them to be used on alpine slides, in group plantings.
Choose shade-tolerant shrubs
Shade-tolerant plants for the garden of this group can be purely decorative in nature or also bring practical benefits. In addition, there are decorative shrubs decorative and deciduous and flowering. Let us dwell on the most popular and common.
- Dogwood ordinary - a highly ornamental shrub, used for group plantings and the creation of hedges. In the spring it is covered with yellow fragrant flowers collected in umbrella inflorescences, and by autumn bright fruits.
- Lilac is a universal shrub that grows up to 5 meters in height. It has high frost resistance, drought resistance, grows with high gas contamination. It prefers sunny places, but also feels rather well in partial shade, however, flowering may not be so plentiful.
- Weigela is an ornamental shade-tolerant shrub, flowering is plentiful, begins in mid-late May. Suitable for creating hedges, planting under the crowns of large trees.
- Elderberry (red and black, Canadian) is a decorative plant at the time of flowering and fruiting.
- Jasmine (Chubushnik) - shade-tolerant, unpretentious, winter-hardy. In summer, it is abundantly covered with flowers with a thick, strong aroma.
- Spirea. There are various varieties blooming in spring and summer, inflorescences can be of different shades (from white to purple).
It should also be noted the following shade-tolerant plants for the garden, included in the group of shrubs and having decorative leaves: privet, boxwood, euonymus (winged and warty), Tunberg barberry.
Shade-tolerant trees in the garden
If you want to choose not fruit trees for the garden, but decorative ones, then it is worth paying attention to several types. One of the most popular trees for landscaping is maple. Large dissected leaves are especially beautiful in the fall, when they acquire a bright color. There are a lot of types of maple: field, holly, silver, white, sugar, Japanese. The tree forms a beautiful spreading crown and grows quickly enough . In near-stem circles, it is quite possible to plant shade-tolerant flowering plants for the garden.
Very often for landscaping use beech and hornbeam, they have garden varieties and forms. They look great not only in group, but also in single landings, and the crown can be easily trimmed and shaped.
Fruit trees and shrubs growing in the shade
Not many fruit trees and shrubs are able to grow and give a good harvest in the shade, they still need the sun. Of the most resistant species to a lack of light, it is worth noting raspberries and blackberries, since their natural habitat is forest thickets and moist ravines, they tolerate partial shade well. You can also plant barberry and gooseberries, which will be good neighbors mentioned species. The first shrub is winter-hardy, grows quickly and gives a good harvest of berries, which have a specific sour taste. Gooseberries (pictured) are also characterized by very valuable fruits that are used to make jam and stewed fruit.
Now picking shade-tolerant fruit plants for the garden is much easier, because the varieties are constantly updated. You just have to choose the product according to your wishes. Contact the nurseries directly, as the markets often do not sell exactly what is stated on the packaging.
Herbaceous shade tolerant perennials for the garden
If your garden mainly consists of shady corners, then this is not a reason to refuse to plant flowers. Perennials include plants that winter in the soil for many years, while the aboveground part dies annually, and the roots remain alive. The main advantage of shade-tolerant perennial flowers is the decorative foliage.
From the earliest spring, your garden can decorate bulbous primroses. At this time, the trees have not yet blossomed their leaves, and light penetrates unhindered into all corners of the garden. These can be early-blooming tulips, crocuses, woods, hazel grouse, daffodils, muscari.
Of the perennials that will bloom all summer, we recommend ordinary peonies (for partial shade) and wild peonies, aronnik, adonis, frankincense catchment (aquilegia), daylily, hosts. Also, do not ignore the biennial flowers: digitalis, mallow, and forget-me-nots.
Shade-tolerant annuals in the garden
These plants can diversify any flower bed or flower garden. The number of species and varieties is not enumerable. Even for a shady garden, you can easily pick up about a dozen different annual flowers. Here are just a few of the most unpretentious and common types as an example.
- Ageratum - a low plant literally forms a carpet of blue inflorescences, flowering continues from early summer to late autumn. Prefers partial shady places.
- Kobeya is an annual liana that weaves a green carpet around the entire surface of the support; large bell-shaped flowers of various shades appear throughout the summer.
- Cosmea is a beautiful annual growing actively by self-seeding. It is quite high (about 1 m) and grows rapidly, which allows filling empty spaces with this plant in a short time.
- Levkoy (photo above), plants of different sizes depending on the variety with spike-shaped fragrant inflorescences.
Nemesia and mimulus are also noteworthy.
Horizontal landscaping of shady garden areas
To do this, use shade-tolerant climbing plants for the garden (they are also called vines). Do not forget that if you choose perennial species, they will need strong support, since they are gaining a fairly large mass. This is especially true for semi-wood varieties. The most famous is a girl’s grape, or parthenocissus (pictured). Liana grows to a height of 15 meters, while undemanding to soils and does not require additional care. The only difference is that in a very shaded area the leaves may be slightly smaller and not so bright.
Quite often they are used for vertical gardening clematis, but it is suitable for a warm climate with mild winters. This is a rather capricious creeper, prefers sunny places, although slight shading is also possible. It is also worth noting such plants as kirkazon, wood pliers, princes.
Shade-tolerant ampelous plants
It is difficult to imagine a gazebo, terrace or patio without beautiful bushes of flowers hanging their green lashes from hanging planters. Ampelic shade-tolerant plants for the garden are not numerous, in comparison with their sun-loving relatives, but still they are. In particular, lobelia, blooming with many pure shades of blue and blue. In partial shade it will feel quite good, the main thing is to provide it with fertile soil and regular watering.
Much less often you can find bacola, dichondra and strange nolin. Despite the complex and unfamiliar names, these plants are quite unpretentious and in a short time form thickets densely strewn with bright flowers.
Choosing decorative shade-tolerant plants for the garden, do not expect them to bloom profusely, large and double inflorescences. All of them are valued primarily for the decorative appearance of the leaves.