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So many times I get
asked to suggest perennials for a shady spot, besides hostas, to help
lighten it up. Well, get your pencils and paper out…here are a few colorful
shady suggestions:
Lamium White
Nancy…wide spreading
clumping perennial with wonderful silver leaves, as well as white flowers
Lamium Purple
Dragon…great silvery foliage like
Nancy, but with purple
Snapdragon like flowers
Pulmonaria Silver
Shimmers (Shadow)…a low growing mounding perennial with this wonderful
silvery foliage that really stands out in the shade
Polemonium ‘Snow and
Sapphires’…commonly known as variegated Jacob’s Ladder…18-24 inches high and
wide, now this perennial really helps to light up that shade garden!
Brunnera ‘Jack
Frost’…another mounding perennial reaching around 18inches…light blue
flowers in the spring, but again, its this outstanding silvery foliage that
gives this perennial a prominent place in the shade garden.
Atherium
‘Pictum’…Japanese Painted Fern…perfect for the edge of the shade garden,
with the maroon stalks and silvery gray foliage.
And how about an
ornamental grass that loves the shade? This is Hakonechola, or Japanese
Forest Grass. It gets knee-high with this absolutely wonderful mound of
yellowish green foliage. Truly a standout in the shady section of the
garden.
So there you go…8 bright
selections for the shade, without mentioning hostas…which by the way, will
do also do a wonderful job brightening up your shady garden. We’ll look
more at hostas later on. |
