L. is interested in planting southern border of her back yard in Leeds. The area, conveniently located below a slightly terraced sloping lawn, has good baseline soil moisture and is relatively flat and stable. In our wooded grove, a small wooded hill of boulders and dense tree cover is constant fight against soil erosion.
It’s hard to see in the shade if everything is green and brown and green and brown some more, and L’s southern border is mostly shade (the trees haven’t leafed out yet in the images above; it is late April). I try not to plant much green in our wooded areas unless it has a form that will really stand out, like frilly hayscented fern against granite boulders. Otherwise: white, yellow, white, chartreuse, white, red, and also white.
There aren’t a lot of plants that flower in shade, and the ones that do have their moment of glory and then are done, so foliage is a medium for exciting textural contrasts that are interesting enough to rival flowers.
And since a garden is a garden and not a forest or mess of plants, it should invite and guide people. It needs paths and places to sit. Benches are nice in quiet, meditative spaces (there’s a cat cemetery in there). Adirondack chairs are great in shared spaces, so everyone has a place to set their wine glass down. And when I say ‘everyone’ I mean me.
So with that in mind, some suggestions for that space:
Goatsbeard is a good example of why white sparks drama in wooded settings, especially in those moments when the light hits just right. The cascading mess of tiny flowers on this native are a huge hit with pollinators.
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Variegated Solomon’s Seal is one of my absolute favorites. Elegant, arching form stands out in mixed plantings or massed. Sturdy. Drought tolerant. Good filler with cut flowers or with hostas or ferns in foliage arrangements. Teardrop-shaped white flowers. Soft golden color in the fall. Spreads consistently via rhizomes.
Native, non-cultivar asters–there are lots. Additional info here. They are largely shade tolerant, seed around, are top-tier sources of nutrition for pollinators. White/cream colored flowers have a bit of pink occasionally and work well in woodland settings, especially when backlit. A bit messy but that’s why it’s important to not over-scrutinize.
It’s like using the high-magnification side of a make-up mirror: don’t.
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Native geraniums and maidenhair ferns don’t look sturdy, but they are, and it’s amazing what maidenhair ferns will put up with outdoors when I have killed at least three as houseplants. They are native to our property and in ten minutes or so I’m going to go out with a pick ax (trust me) and carve some up for L.
Epimediums are another favorite of mine and I grow quite a few. I would go with one or both of these two varieties; they are all adorable but these tend to be less expensive (like hellebores, epimediums can be on the pricey side) and these spread more vigorously than some of the named/trademarked cultivars and are no less lovely.
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Early blooming daffodils and snowdrops are great, because watching the garden wake up in spring is a delight. Barrett Browning is an early-mid variety, but mine are fading now in May and the trees haven’t leafed out yet, so they will have time to recharge. I never planned on growing this many daffodils. It was a micro-obsession for a year or two. There is a cultivar adjacent to ‘February Gold’ I think called ‘Baby Moon’ which is white but it isn’t white *enough*. I’d love to find an very early variety that is blindingly white but I’ve moved on to being obsessive about plants I can grow in water and I’m devoting my efforts to spraying red spider mites off alocasia.
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Other go-tos (click to embiggen):
