My favorite shade plants: flowering, easy-care perennials.
Before I had a blog, I had a garden.
I used to do things like go to Master Gardener lectures.
About plant pathology.
And conifer identification.
And intro to entomology.
For fun!! (But also because I paid absolutely no attention in eighth-grade science.)
So this is a departure from anything house-renovation related, but the shade garden is just coming into bloom, and I really can’t pass up the opportunity to impress you with my horticultural photography.
Here are my favorite shade-garden perennials! (don’t miss my favorite sun-loving flower for cutting.)
Hellebores is by far my favorite shade plant… it loves deep shade, and has thick, dark, evergreen leaves… It’s the earliest-blooming plant in my garden, AND it flowers for nearly two months.
The rest are the usual shade-dwelling suspects, but you can’t beat them for reliability, AND their willingness to be divided!
They love shade, are incredibly hardy, come back year after year, AND are totally maintenance free!!
- Hellebores
- Solomon’s seal
- Wood poppy
- Liriope
- Hosta
- Fern
- Pachysandra
- Bleeding heart
All perennial… They are the easiest plants you can grow! Ignore them! They’ll love you!
Click any photo to open shade garden slideshow.
Wait? What?
What’s that you say? DEER?
The destroyers of all that is green and tasty? The eaters of hosta and lilies and rhododendron and ANYTHING ELSE?
Oh, THOSE deer.
Allow me to MAKE YOUR SPRING and recommend Deer Stopper.
I went to a garden lecture last year, by the horticulture guru at Mt.Cuba … a native-plant conservation-center…where they too have DEER. Eating all their tasty native plants.
And the guy who is in charge of the woodland plants said that he has tried EVERYTHING. And this ACTUALLY WORKS. And smells GOOD. Which, is almost too good to be true.
My mom ordered some, because she has the hungriest deer EVER… so I’ll update you with her verdict… but just reading the Amazon reviews is heartening.
Anyway… now for the good stuff.
All gardeners have a favorite tool… mine was beyond old… literally, it was Paul’s grandfather’s and it was the BEST.
It was weirdly skinny, which you wouldn’t think you’d want in a hand shovel, but it totally converted me. If you’re using a bulky trowel? You’re missing out on a truly superior gardening experience.
Then it broke in half, while I was death-matching my neighbor’s wisteria that sprouts in my flowerbeds all summer.
So I went looking for a replacement…
And? If you’ve ever wondered what $50 worth of garden trowel looks like? This is it.
If shiny is NOT what you look for in YOUR garden tools? Well then, you are missing out…
Since I was there… and got sucked in… and lack impulse control… I also bought the Sneeboer transplanting trowel.
When they came, Paul opened the box… he picked them up, and said—wow! These are nice!
Then he looked at the invoice and said— YOU SPENT $100 on shovels?
And I was like—oooooh… SO PRETTY…
Also? Seriously? They have added-value, because they double as weapons.
If anyone attacks me while I’m gardening? They will be SURPRISED.
I have to say that I didn’t actually need the bigger trowel, because I use the narrow one for EVERYTHING. Digging, weeding, splitting, cutting roots… it is literally the ONLY tool I use.
I’m fairly sure that if I needed to, I could use it to chop down a tree.
It’s THAT good.
So I emailed Garden Tool Company, and asked them if they would give one to my readers…
And because they are awesome, they said yes!!
(Don’t worry, I’m also emailing Neiman Marcus.)
(And Paris. Incase the Parisians are tired of it.)
April 24, 2013 @ 12:31 pm
Do you think the Hellebores would survive being potted? Because I’ve got a shady pass through that could really use some brightening up.
April 24, 2013 @ 2:32 pm
Anything in a pot, plus winter, equals uncertainty… Like any potted plant, probably your biggest issue is weather/water… and eventually restricting the roots… and they’re always going to need more attention than their siblings that acclimate to in-ground planting… especially during the winter when the pots dry out…
Try it with one, and see how it does overwinter… I’ve personally had stuff in pots do fine, and others of the same, die right next to each other… there’s a myth that hellebores are picky and hate to be moved, but my personal experience is that they’re plenty hardy and mine have survived a couple re-arrangements.
April 24, 2013 @ 11:27 pm
Ha ha! those are nice trowels. Unfortch, I have thus far resisted the twitter time suck, so I will allow others to “reap” the benefits of your post. 🙂 Fun idea!
April 25, 2013 @ 12:56 pm
I can write 4,000 words, no problem… but the challenge of 140 characters of sheer wit is harder than it seems. (And probably why I can never think of anything to say.)
April 25, 2013 @ 10:41 am
I love gardening… AND Gardening Tools. Lee Valley has been my friend over the past 5 years ! This trowel looks nice and I would love to win it ! Thanks !
April 25, 2013 @ 12:57 pm
Good luck! I know your garden would love it!!
April 25, 2013 @ 1:15 pm
I personally would love to hear any information you have on gardening whatsoever. Particularly on shade-loving plants. And ones that bloom all summer. And things that come back by themselves. And anything you can’t kill (though in my case I know there is no such plant). I am humbled by the fact that you already have an abundantly-flowering garden, and I am just starting to plant things (I thought I was early this year!), and I live south of you. Although my strawberry plant has already come back by itself. It has two flowers! But it will never have any strawberries. That’s how it goes with things I plant.
So, anyway, more plant advice, please!
Sadly, I will not be able to enter the contest for the lovely trowel, because I don’t use those newfangled technologies. But it’s OK – I never win anything, anyway :).
April 26, 2013 @ 11:37 am
I have to say the shade garden a-requires NO care, now that it’s in… and b- blooms earlier than everything else… but will also be the first to dry up/die/look terrible by August… That’s the blog post you won’t see.
I took a small-fruit farming class… and the only thing I remember about strawberries is that you can NEVER ever ever plant them where tomatoes are/were… and that the kind you can buy at Home Depot are crap and useless.
April 26, 2013 @ 8:57 pm
I have to have this trowel!!! I love to garden and this would make me HAPPY as I dig and pull and yank and….well you get the picture. If I don’t win, I have to buy one. I love your blog, you are a riot. How are your kitchen plans coming along? I think of you as my hubby toils away building our cabinets.
April 27, 2013 @ 9:40 am
Funny how shiny things make everything nicer!!! Even weeding… maybe I should try it in an evening gown!
Paul and I have both been busy with real-life stuff, plus trying to get garden in… so kitchen isn’t progressing at all!! We went to a few kitchen places, but no plan is “speaking” to me… so I’m ignoring it (to Paul’s irritation).
April 29, 2013 @ 9:46 am
Wow, so IMPRESSED with your blogging feats and sophisticated entry button and stuff! Not sure when you find time to garden in between all of that but I know your garden is perfectly gorgeous, ’cause I can just tell . . . .
Also glad to hear about Neiman Marcus and the car . . . .
April 29, 2013 @ 1:37 pm
I have to say my garden was WAY better prepared last year… this blog is seriously getting in the way of actually growing anything!!
Also, the giveaway program was so easy to use… it practically set itself up! Now all I need is a free Mercedes.
April 29, 2013 @ 3:38 pm
Well that is all very interesting about the giveaway program. Incidental to your house, garden and life topics, you are such a wealth of blogging-related information!
April 29, 2013 @ 6:05 pm
If the internet were just slightly LESS magical, I might get something else done!!
April 30, 2013 @ 12:34 pm
I love the easy, peasy nature of zinna’s that you describe — now I just have to get past my snobbery for wanting more elegant flowers in my garden. Don’t worry, I’m learning from your mistakes, (ha, being a grown up sucks!) and conclude that we most likely share some genes, cos I would (and have) totally swanned in and said this. must. go. on a number of occasions and situations. Oh the chuckles we could share on how well those decrees went down.
But seriously, there aren’t ANY roses you would recommend to make my snobby foofy heart go flutter and sigh (and are low maintenance)? I know, I ask for the world, but why not, I’m worth it, right?
April 30, 2013 @ 2:19 pm
Oh the decrees… it’s why they love us, right?
The only roses I never had any issues with were also the ones that had NO scent… which is pretty much the worst trade off in the world!!! The worst ones for disease were of course the ones that smell best!
I totally forget the names of anything… it’s been eight years since I ordered them… and now that I don’t battle them every year, I’ll see them at this time of year, and be like oooo, pretty… and then sternly remind myself I’ve been there, and I’m not going back!
I DO know that some people never have any issues at all!! I’m just not one of those people. Maybe a dryer climate would be better? Our summers do get super humid!!
May 17, 2013 @ 5:36 am
I, too, have many hungry deer that would devour my hosta. My solution was to give my neighbor a 50′ row planting of my hosta in their back yard (my son planted it for them). Now the deer graze on their yard and leave mine alone.
May 17, 2013 @ 6:01 pm
This actually made me laugh out loud… I’ll suggest this to my mother. It’s the only thing she hasn’t tried—moving the buffet.
May 5, 2014 @ 9:33 pm
Ahh, those look like extra special and hard working tools. I won’t hold my breath on the car 😉 but I’ll sure try for this giveaway! Thanks for the tips on the perennials and deer stop.
October 3, 2014 @ 12:24 am
I make my own deer repellent. They are notorious for getting into okra and eating the young leaves. After trying all kinds of store brands including the stinkiest stuff on the market, I took a jar of my own hot canned cheyenne peppers, took out 25 of them, boiled for 5 minutes, seeped another 10 poured the juice into a empty gallon jug and filled the rest with hot water. I let it sit for a good 3 days and then poured into a cheap spray bottle and wet those plants really good. It worked. You have to spray after every rain but it’s cheap and well worth it. I wonder how they would like my jalapenos next year?
May 4, 2015 @ 1:09 pm
Love you for sharing your gardening knowledge – I don’t take classes because I can’t sit still for an hour. I will buy Deer Stopper on my next trip to town. I use Liquid Fence, which works fabulously, but I think switching off once in a while helps. Keep those suckers confused! Until now, I have not had anything to switch off to. Liquid Fence smells worse than the worse smell you can imagine – I mean, really, you could drop dead if you put your nose close to the open bottle – so the nice smell of Deer Stopper would be a bonus. I agree about the narrow garden spade. Mine isn’t that narrow, but it’s the only one I use.
December 22, 2015 @ 9:49 am
Is there such a thing as an EVERGREEN with flowers that blooms in the shade?