Evergreen texture and a careful color palette will revitalize your low-light areas
When designing in shade , many gardeners use too much unripe foliage without enough color . We recently faced a landscape challenge of plan a foundation planting for a umbrageous speckle in front of some lowly window , a vernacular design situation many gardener face . With a little design consideration and careful selection of some problematical plants well suited to Southern garden , we brightened a shady blot and got twelve months of interest .
Add low-growing evergreens as textural anchors
The window in this daub are broken , so plant choice in a post like this need to be low-pitched growing , unless pruning is your favorite pursuit . We chose a nativar , ‘ Rosa ’s Blush ’ blueberry ( Vaccinium darrowii‘Rosa ’s Blush ’ , Zones 7–10 ) as a low - maturate fine - textured background , with a taller ‘ Soft Caress ’ genus Mahonia ( Berberis eurybracteatasyn . genus Mahonia eurybracteata ‘ Soft Caress ’ , Zones 7–9 ) as a corner accent plant . These plants provide our evergreen base .
Choose an eye-popping central color
add together color is the next step . In little domain , using a special people of color palette helps keep the space uncluttered . For this layer we are prefer lime immature as the main colour . as luck would have it , lime hydrate green is very popular in the garden industriousness these days , so there are many selection . As accent plants we used ‘ Everillo ’ sedge ( Carex oshimensis‘Everillo ’ , Zones 6–8 ) , which is an airy , grassy , evergreen perennial . It acquire a mound of lime green foliation about 12 inches tall and a bit wider and grows practiced in bright shade . As fillers we used two type of heucherella ( ×Heucherellaspp . and cvs . , Zones 4–9 ) , because most have honest heat allowance than heuchera ( Heucheraspp . and cvs . , Zones 3–8 ) for Southern garden . ‘ Solar Eclipse ’ heucherella ( ×Heucherella‘Solar Eclipse ’ , Zones 4–9 ) is hydrated lime green and has red centers to the leaf . It grow best in morning Lord’s Day to shadow . Less than 12 inches magniloquent , it can go around to be twice as wide .
Tie in accent colors that contrast with your central color
We chose lavender , pink , and blue for our accent people of colour . ‘ Peach Tea ’ heucherella ( ×Heucherella‘Peach Tea ’ , Zones 4–9 ) has pink - color leaf . Both ‘ Peach Tea ’ and ‘ Solar Eclipse ’ are evergreen . They were planted in swathes to fill the blank with color . Limelight lady fern ( Athyrium otophorum , Zones 5–9 ) is our specimen works . This beautiful fern ’s novel leaves are a soft lime gullible with rose - distort stems . They catch the eye in the center of the design . This fern grow better in shadiness and can grow up to 2 foot marvelous and wide .
Our ground covers are three low - grow plants that blossom principally in the spring and other summer . Woodland phlox ( Phlox divaricata , Zones 3–8 ) has lavender - blueish flowers , ‘ Wanda ’ phlox ( Phlox‘Wanda ’ , Zones 5–10 ) produce lilac - pinkish efflorescence , and roof iris ( Iris tectorum , Zones 4–9 ) flower in bound with clean blue efflorescence .
A single container provides height and opportunity for change
to bring home the bacon the appearance of pinnacle without blocking the window , we used a improbable and narrow-minded container . Color is add to the bed without worry about seasonality , and the color in the container can be changed . right of all , no pruning is necessary in this blueprint .
— Jason and Shelley Powell own and manage petal from the yesteryear , a garden center in Jemison , Alabama .
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The lime green, pink, and blue of limelight lady fern, ‘Peach Tea’ heucherella, and roof iris, respectively, are three cornerstone colors to this design.Photos: Shelley Powell (left), TERRA NOVA® Nurseries Inc. (center), Jerry Pavia (right)
This “before” picture shows low windows in a shaded overhang, in front of which the garden bed needs to be planted.Photo: Shelley Powell
‘Soft Caress’ mahonia has deeply green leaves that will provide good contrast with brighter colors.Photo: Steve Aitken
‘Everillo’ sedge provides the kind of dynamic color that brings the look of a full sun garden to full shade.Photo: Shelley Powell
The reddish pink centers of ‘Solar Eclipse’ heucherella leaves (left) are echoed in the foliage of ‘Peach Tea’ heucherella (right).Photos: Shelley Powell (left), TERRA NOVA®Nurseries Inc. (right)
Baby blue woodland phlox brings some softness to the color palette.Photo: Bill Johnson
Composed mostly of evergreen plants, this garden will fill in and provide color and interest for years to come.Photo: Shelley Powell
