A shady part of the yard can become a garden you want to visit, rather than a place that only receives another layer of mulch. Start by watching where the light falls and how the soil feels. Dappled light beneath tall trees offers different possibilities from deep shade under a dense stand of evergreens.
What sort of shade do you have?
Tall hardwoods can cast broken light onto the ground, making a pleasant setting for a path and a place to sit. Under trees, though, the canopy is only half the story: roots also compete with new plants for water. Look at what is already growing before choosing more. In a dense thicket, selective clearing or careful removal of lower limbs may let in more light, but decide which trees are worth keeping before cutting. The slow, section-by-section approach in Finding the Positives in an Overgrown Space is helpful here.
Which plants give the shade garden structure?
Shrubs can frame a path or seating area. Viburnum, boxwood, hydrangea and azaleas are possibilities; each has its own light, soil and moisture requirements, and some flower less in deeper shade. Choose a variety for the conditions you actually find. You can also build the garden from the ground up, beginning with a few groups of understory perennials and seeing how they do before filling every gap.
Hostas, ferns, astilbes, heucheras, foamflowers and hellebores give you a range of foliage and seasonal flowers. They are not all equally happy in dry shade. The site’s fern guide explains why fern varieties should be chosen for the moisture in a particular spot. Annuals can add color while longer-lived plantings get established, without committing the whole space to a single design at once.
How do you make room to enjoy it?
Walk through the area before you draw the path. A place to pause gives you a reason to notice spring growth and the changing pattern of shade; a path also lets you tend plants without stepping on them. Where there is no shade yet, smaller trees such as Japanese maples and dogwoods may be part of a future garden. Their eventual size and site needs matter, so use our tree-choice guide before deciding where one should go. Nature’s Friends Landscaping can help evaluate the space and plan plantings that suit it.
