Hoopes

Play in the shade

From hostas to orchids, myriad plants can thrive in Northwest with little sun

SARAH JACKSON, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published Saturday, March 16, 2002

OLYMPIA -- So you move into a new place and what do you find?

Your biggest garden bed sits on the north side of the house, totally shielded from sunlight.

Well, you think, veggies are out for that spot.

What were the bed-builders thinking?

Then again, maybe you have a deep, dark forest for a back or front yard. This is Western Washington, after all.

Or maybe you have a shady apartment balcony.

Either way, you have a challenge. You must learn about some garden-variety shade plants.

Luckily for you, scores of natives, annuals and perennials will be more than happy to sit tucked beneath cedars. They thrive without hours of sun. They produce colors and foliage you can't believe -- all in the protection of shade.

But then what is shade?

There's full shade, partial shade, dappled shade, medium shade, deep shade.

Depending on the time of year -- and deciduous leaf activity -- shade can vary greatly. Yet you need the right plant for the right place.

Master Gardener Emelyn Ann Hauser, who lives south of Tumwater, said shade gardening and woodland gardening -- one of her specialties -- is more art than science.

"There may be a few people who would actually create a shade garden," Hauser said. "A lot of it is kind of an artistic experimentation. You become more aware as you plant. You move them and you find out."

Then, Hauser said, it's a see-what-works situation.

If you're planning to develop a shady area or an area of northern exposure this spring or summer, here are a few ideas -- from the standard to the exotic -- to get you started.

Hostas

Though you may have to fight off slugs to keep them pretty, hostas -- leafy perennials available in lots of varieties -- can add color to your sun-challenged areas.

Planted more for foliage than their usually small flowers, hostas display everything from huge, blue-gray leaves to variegated yellow, green-trimmed leaves.

They're perennial but usually fall back and need a haircut in the winter.

Hauser, who also put together a shade garden at the Dirtworks demonstration gardens in Olympia, has a few quite successful hostas in her yard.

"They do really well, but the problem with hostas is they die down in the winter, but in the summer they're just absolutely incredible."

Impatiens

If it's flower color you want and you don't mind investing in annuals, look no further than impatiens, or "imps" if you're hip to the gardening scene.

Their colors -- from bright reds to soft oranges and lavenders to light pinks and deep fuchsias -- dazzle with small, roselike blooms.

Impatiens will enchant your shade -- on the ground or in north-facing window boxes.

Kay Hoopes at the Bark and Garden Center in Olympia specializes in annuals.

Hoopes cautions that the New Guinea variety of impatiens -- which feature deep, purple foliage -- needs sun.

Green-leafed varieties, however, enjoy shade.

When planting season hits, not until June or later, there's always a rush on imps.

"I can't keep it stocked," Hoopes said of the nursery's impatiens area, "impatiens for the shade, petunias for the sun when the season's going."

Annuals

Many varieties of begonias also thrive in shade to offer lovely, rich blooms.

Hoopes also recommends coleus, an annual that offers a variety of foliate color -- from deep burgundy to bright lime green.

Plectranthus, often used as a houseplant in the winter and a summer ground cover or container plant in the warmer months, is a close relative of coleus that can be grown in shade.

Plectranthus offers pretty foliage with green and white leaves or yellow with light green. Hoopes likes it in hanging baskets.

"It cascades way down," Hoopes said, "a couple of feet."

Hoopes said shade gardeners could mix plectranthus -- accented with scalloped leaves -- with ferns and impatiens.

"You can always mix in ferns," she said, "and there's so many varieties."

Ferns

Speaking of ferns, Erica Guttman with the Native Plant Salvage Project highly recommends native ferns -- perfect shade dwellers like many of the Northwest's forest-floor species.

"The sword ferns are common in our area," Guttman said, "but, really, they're like instant landscape because they're so big and, really, they're beautiful for year-round color and they're great for birds."

Deer fern, however, is one of Guttman's native favorites.

"It has two different kinds of fronds," Guttman said. "It just has a little more interest than other ferns."

There's a dark green fertile frond and then a black, comb-like frond on a slender stem.

"It's just neat," Guttman said.

If you're looking for something that's good in the shade and exotic, you might search for Calypso bulbosa, what Guttman says is the Northwest's native orchid, which might be difficult to find.

"There's a really special plant," Guttman said of the rarity, mostly available only from seed. "It's tiny and it smells incredible and it's hot pink. I can't even describe it. It's incredibly gorgeous."

Huckleberry

Now, if you aren't in the mood to play plant detective, try thinking native perennials.

Gary Kline, owner of Black Lake Organic Nursery and Garden Store in Olympia, said natives make some of the best shade plants.

"We sell quite a bit of huckleberry," Kline said. "It's very attractive."

Evergreen and red huckleberry plants provide summer and winter interest with purplish-blue berries on the evergreen huckleberry and red berries on the deciduous red huckleberry.

Kline also recommends Oregon grape, a suitable evergreen shrub for shady situations with jagged purplish, red and green leaves.

Vine maples, too, do well in the shade, Kline said, for great color in the fall and foliage in the spring and summer.

"Vine maples," Kline said, "will give you some reds to contrast with the dark background in those shaded areas."

Salal makes a great shade ground cover, and snowberry -- with its white berries and shrubby, delicate twigs in the winter and lush foliage and small pink or white bell-shaped flowers in the spring -- can also add interest to your shade garden.

Evergreens

Last, but not least, don't forget the other shade-tolerant evergreen shrubs -- the rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias, gorgeous flowering wonders in innumerable varieties.

Depending on type, some such evergreens can thrive in shade, especially natives, though some varieties prefer filtered sunlight.

Master Gardener Gene DiDonato, who is the ornamental shrub and tree man at Bark and Garden Center in Olympia, said he has a rule for rhododendron, azaleas and camellias in the shade.

Generally speaking, the wider the leaves, the better the plant will do in the shade. Otherwise plants tend to grow sort of "leggy" as they reach for more sunlight.

If it's smaller evergreens you're after, DiDonato recommends Sarcococca, an evergreen shrub with an incredible fragrance.

"They'll take full shade," DiDonato said. "They bloom in February and March."

Variety

Dave Baird, co-owner of Fairie Gardens in Tumwater, said many shade garden plants will bring spring beauty as well as winter, fall and summer interest.

Hellebores shrubs -- many with deep, purple foliage and early spring blooms -- make good shade plants, Baird said, adding: "I'm trying to make my gardens famous down here for my hellebores display.

"They've been actually blooming now for over a month," Baird said, "and they'll show interest for two and half more months."

Really there's no end to the shade plant options, Baird said.

Just explore, he said, from pulmonaria and corydalis to violets, sedges and honeysuckles to epimedium and euphorbia.

Varieties for shade abound.

Actually, Guttman wishes she had more shady areas in her Olympia yard for low-maintenance, native shade dwellers.

"Some people say shade is a problem," Guttman said, "but I really look on shade as an opportunity."

Sarah Jackson writes for The Olympian and can be reached at 360-704-6871 or sajackso@olympia.gannett.com.

Classes

If you're planning ahead, you might be interested in two free, local workshops on shade and woodland gardening coming up this spring and summer:

- May 12: David Baird with Fairie Gardens in Tumwater will offer "Creating a Woodland Paradise -- Shade Gardening with Ferns, Grasses, Herbs and Perennials" from 2 to 3 p.m. Please call ahead to reserve a space at 360-754-9249.

- June 13: The Master Gardeners will offer "Shade and Woodland Gardening" with Emelyn Hauser at 6 p.m. at DirtWorks in Olympia. Call 360-786-5445 for more information.

Resources

- Slugs and Salal's Shade Plant List: www.slugsandsalal. com/plantdb/listshade.html.

- "Gardening in the Shade" by Harriet Klamroth Morse (Timber Press, 1982).

- "Grow Your Own Native Landscape: A Guide to Identifying, Propagating and Landscaping with Western Washington Native Plants" by Michael Leigh (Native Plant Salvage Project, 1997). Call 360-786-5445.

- "Gardening with Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest: An Illustrated Guide" by Arthur Kruckeberg (University of Washington Press, 1982).

- "Shade-Loving Spring Bulbs" from HGTV.com: www.hgtv.com/HGTV/ project/0,1158,GALA_project_30016,FF.html.

- "Stars of the Shade: Hydrangeas": www.sunset. com/Premium/Garden/1999/ 05-May/Hydrangeas0599.html.

- Fairie Gardens of Tumwater: http://home.attbi. com/~daveherbs/index.html.

- Plantasia Nursery and Display Gardens in Olympia: www.plantasiagardens.com.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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