Shady plants that grow in shade! You have many options to incorporate into your shady areas for attractive colors all year around! This is a great way to bring color into your flower garden and really liven up that boring shade corner of your backyard. These are a few ideas for landscaping with flowers that grow in shades. They are sure to spark some interest in your flower landscape.
Shade loving plants such as morning glories, azaleas, and honeysuckle are perfect for adding color to any area of your garden. These will compete for nutrients with more traditional shade loving plants. In order to keep these microclimates looking beautiful you will need to shade them throughout the summer. Some shade-loving annuals can do this easily by being planted to the back of the garden. Make sure you water well during the hot part of the day and wait for them to go into a dormant stage before watering again.
Perennial plants are an option for shade loving plants that are not in season all year round. Choose annuals that are in season for the whole year, as they will bloom more intensely. A perennial herb such as rue, for example, blooms in the spring, then produces a huge show during its annual life cycle. Planting it in the fall will ensure it blooms right through the winter.
Not all flowers that grow well in shaded areas are in season all year round. There are varieties that can be harvested as cuttings in the spring, then planted in the garden. Look for varieties that tolerate part shade, full shade or a combination of the two. You will want to plant annuals that do not need much attention throughout their entire life cycle. You may want to consider some varieties that have a short “coming up” period so they come up quickly, and some that take a longer time to flower.
You may choose a plant that grows well in shade but does not like direct sunlight. Examples of this would be the hibiscus. Hibiscus usually only blooms for a couple of weeks in the spring. They can be harvested at the end of their flowering season and can be replanted in the garden the next year. If you decide to plant them in the fall, however, they will need about two weeks of cool weather before you can begin planting them. Some varieties of hibiscus can actually handle frost, so this is not something you need to worry about.
Many shade tolerant plants like clematis, pansies, lily of the valley and blue blossoms of the violet can be grown year-round under most conditions. One of the downsides to these plants is that they are rarely planted in the full sun. This means that they do not get their required vitamins from the sun’s rays, as required by the plants that grow in shade. This deficiency in nutrients may cause them to become sickly or even die.
Most perennial flowers are going to do well in the full shade of a window, although there are many that will do well in partial shade. Perennials that are used as borders, however, should only be planted in partial shade for at least one growing season. You will find that some varieties, like the marigold, will grow well in full shade up to a certain point and will then do better in the sun. Other plants that are normally part shade also do well in full sun, but you will have to make sure that they get enough sun to be able to thrive.
The life cycle of many varieties of herbs and vegetables can vary depending on their location. Most perennials and biennials will grow a full cycle in about three years, whereas some varieties will grow a short life cycle in as little as two years. Some examples of plants that grow in the life cycle of a few years are the spicebush, which will take two years to bloom; the mint, which will bloom for a longer time; and the basil, which will bloom for a shorter time. You can also look for information about the life cycles of various plants online.