Posts Tagged ‘Plant combinations’

Hydrangea, Hosta & Aruncus in a shade garden setting

Here’s a  garden plant combination for the shade garden that is a real eye-catcher!

Hostas are a terrific shade perennial to use as a foreground planting to flowering shrubs such as Hydrangeas.

The large rounded Hydrangea flowers play well against the delicate, lacy creamy white flowers of Goatsbeard or Aruncus.

Aruncus is an imposing upright shade perennial that thrives in a moist setting.    It grows up to 5 feet tall.  I like using Aruncus to give height in my shade garden and often will use this perennial in place of a shrub.

Use light colored plants such as Brunnera & Hosta to brighten up dark areas in the shade garden

For a low maintenance shade garden, select plants that are more widely adaptable to various degrees of light and soil conditions and are easy to grow and maintain.  Here’s a list of our top 12 favorites:

Astilbe

Add a zesty flower color you won’t find in other shade plants.  Visions is not only more drought tolerant than other varieties (It still needs plenty of water) it is the most fragrant of all Astilbes.

Brunnera

You’ll get beauty in flowers and 3 seasons of interest with shimming silver foliage of Jack Frost Brunnera – our hands down favorite and recent 2012 Perennial Plant of the Year Winner.  Brunnera competes fairly well with tree roots and is highly deer proof.

An array of Heuchera help line a pathway where light transitions from sun to shade. Some sun during the day help to bring out the luster in their foliage

Heuchera

Heucheras are one of the most diverse and colorful shade perennials.  Plant as a groundcover, intersperse between other plants.  (One of my favorite combination is Heuchera Southern Comfort with a blue hosta – oh, la, la!)

Hostas

The Arnold Schwarzenegger of all shade plants. Easy to grow in tough situations where other shade plants fail.

Hostas & Ferns create a cool and calming effect in my shade garden

Hostas grow well under a wide range of trees & shrubs and tolerate a variety of soils. They will grow bigger with amended soil & good drainage. There is nothing like a combination of sizes, colors and shapes for a WOW effect.

Hellebore

An iron clad deer-proof plant that tolerates dry shade once established. Stunning late winter blooms. A super groundcover offering  a year round carpet of evergreen foliage.  You’ll won’t want to miss the all new Winter Thriller Hellebores.

Ferns

Their elegant and fine texture of ferns pair well with Heucheras, Brunnera & Hostas. They need consistent moisture to do well and is a must have for any shade garden.

Hydrangea

This much-loved flowering shrub is a favorite for many gardeners. Hydrangeas add a much needed height to the shade garden while providing year round beauty.

Ornamental Grasses

Carex & Hakonechloa our the favorites providing season long interesting. Both deer proof and tolerant of moisture.

Pulmonaria

The fuzzy silver spotted leaves of Pulmonaria are not appealing to deer while

Pulmonaria Raspberry Splash fuzzy silver spotted leaves deer don't like but stay handsome spring-fall

brightening up dark spots. Not for the dry garden.

Tiarella (Foamflower)

This little known gem is gaining in popularity.  Foamflower has exaggerated leaves that remain colorful spring-winter. Its slow running habit makes an ideal groundcover.

Shade gardening can be just as beautiful as a sunny perennial garden and often with much care and you’ll get to appreciate the best thing about shade – a perfect place to unwind after a long hectic day.

Need more inspiration?  Check out our Shade Perennial Garden Collections

L-R Salvia May Night, Dianthus Firewitch, Viola Etain

I have been putting garden plant combinations together for 25 years. I like to say I come from the school of  “trowel and error” learning a lot along the way.  Here is one of my favorite early spring to early summer perennial combination for a sunny to part shaded spot. Since we get a ton of questions on this subject, we thought we’d share our  gardening ideas with you as frequently as we can on our blog.

This spring-early summer perennial combination includes electrifying blue spikes of Salvia May Night with fragrant pink flowering Dianthus Firewitch and early spring flowering, vanilla scented Viola Etain.

Here are a few other ideas:

Salvia with Pink Knock Out Roses

Dianthus with blue foliage Festuca

Violas at a base of your favorite shrub

What are some of your favorite spring-summer plant combinations?

The leaves of Hakonechloa fall nicely in one direction along this shaded pathway

My friend Jayne is gardener in Minnesota  (Zone 4) who has been in LOVE with Hakonechloa and growing it as a shade ground cover for  as long as I can remember. There are few grasses that are both deer proof & elegant yet impart an exotic, almost bamboo look that provides up to 9 months of interest!  The two varieties that we are both pretty fond of are Aureola & All Gold which do a bang up job livening up any shade garden. There is a new variety called Fubuki which I’m anxious to try this year.

Adding blue pottery creates maximum contrast & energy in this small space

Line a Shaded Pathway.  Use Hakone grass along a shaded pathway where  their leaves fall in one direction.  The above picture shows a pleasing shade perennial combination with dark foliage  Actaea or Cimicifuga.

Create Contrast! The narrow foliage of Hakonechloa with the bold, rounded foliage of Hosta makes this combination interesting!

Add blue! Put some quick finishing touches to your garden design by adding blue pottery placed next to your plants.

Create Contrast! The narrow foliage combines elegantly with the bold, rounded foliage of Hostas.

Raise it! This gardener raised this container - to better appreciate the arching leaves!

Raise It! Elevate your containers on the shaded patio or garden where you can appreciate the cascading foliage.

Shaded Entryway.  Place Hakonechloa pots along a shaded patio entryway. This softens the entryway in addition to being more welcoming to guests.

Hakonechloa is a wonderful shade plant to add to the garden. I hope you  enjoyed a few garden design ideas. I’m anxious to hear about yours!

Garden Tip:  Hakonechloa will have a brighter appearance if it receives some morning or filtered sun.

We’ve got more valuable garden tips on how to have success growing Hakonechloa coming next!

The cascading foliage looks elegant & softens this patio entryway

Spring Trio of Color

As 2010 winds to a close, we look forward to spring and hope it is right around the corner! My, how time flies when we’re having fun!

You can easily brighten a shady corner of your garden with this trio of colorful shade perennials. You’ve got the brilliant strawberry-peach foliage of Heuchera Georgia Peach combining with the silvery-veined foliage of Brunnera Jack Frost. We used Heuchera Frosted Violet to pull everything together. Early spring brings the added bonus of bright sky-blue flowers sitting atop Brunnera Jack Frost.

The beauty of this colorful Shade Garden Collection is that it remains stunning for over 8 months in the shade garden or patio planter.

Heuchera Georgia Peach in Summer

This image shows Heuchera Georgia Peach in all its summer-time glory. Of all the new Heucheras hitting the market & confusing gardeners, I strongly feel that Georgia Peach has risen to the top & is a phenominally strong grower in the garden.

Her leaves are a stunning strawberry coloration ALL season long, giving over 6 MONTHS of continual color.

Brunnera Jack Frost with Summer foliage

Here’s a picture of Brunnera Jack Frost with its bright summer foliage of silver and green-veined leaves. The foliage remains brilliant all spring, summer, & fall!

Even the deer won’t touch this rugged shade plant!