Ferns – NANCY WITH THE LAUGHING FACE

August 6, 2022

Reliable Shade Perennials for Hot Dry Summers

When we think about drought-tolerant plants, shade perennials rarely come to mind. In fact, we tend to think of shade plants as being especially reliant on water since many are native to moist woodlands, but although these plants certainly appreciate regular rainfall, they can survive long periods without it.

Typically, the well-watered areas where these plants thrive in spring become exceedingly dry by late summer. To make matters worse, where plants grow under the shade of large trees or shrubs, light rain showers are unable to penetrate the canopy of leaves, making some shaded areas the driest in our gardens.

Despite these harsh growing conditions, many shade perennials cope with hot and dry summers as well as their sun-loving cousins, so let’s take a closer look at a few of these remarkable plants and learn how we can help them beat the heat!

HOSTA

Hostas, also known as Plaintain Lilies, are stunningly beautiful foliage plants with broad leaves in varying shades of green, blue and gold, as well as many with contrasting borders and other variegations. Because of their bold appearance, they make excellent landscape plants for large areas, but what makes hostas really stand out amongst other shade plants is that they bloom abundantly in summer!

Hosta flowers are as different in size and appearance as the plants themselves! Some gardeners cut the flower stalks off, preferring their hostas purely as foliage plants, but many hosta flowers are quite beautiful and even fragrant, and the bloom season stretches over the summer months into early fall. With enough different hostas, you can potentially have blooms all season long.

Hosta Lancifolia (Photo by Nancy Marie Allen)

The hosta known as August Lily blooms in late summer with large white flowers that are both striking and sweetly fragrant. One such variety is ‘Aphrodite’ which is just another plain green-leaved hosta until those flowers emerge, turning it into a ‘scentsational’ exotic beauty. If you’re considering this variety, be sure to plant it where you can appreciate its perfume whenever you pass by.

One of my favorites, old-fashioned Hosta Lancifolia is another fragrant late summer bloomer with abundant lavender bell flowers of delicate appearance. One in full bloom is a sight to behold!

BRUNNERA

Brunnera, Siberian Bugloss or False Forget-Me-Not is one of the most useful plants for lighting up dark shade. It blooms with tiny blue flowers reminiscent of Forget-Me-Nots in early spring but it’s the striking silvery foliage that makes this plant a season-long stunner.

Brunnera is enchanting with tulips and late-season daffodils in the spring and makes a stellar companion for other shade plants which are only enhanced by its glowing leaves. In the photo above, you can see how Brunnera combines beautifully with a Blue Angel hosta and variegated Solomon’s Seal.

By late summer, when there is little flowering in the shade garden, silver and gold-foliaged plants such as Brunnera add glamor and much-needed contrast to what can be a sea of green. Light Up Your Garden with Silver and Gold Foliage has more about using these plants in your garden design.

Over time, Brunnera can spread to fill vacant spaces which also makes it valuable as a groundcover. Some popular varieties include ‘Jack Frost,’ ‘Silver Charm,’ and ‘Diane’s Gold.’

SOLOMON’S SEAL

Polygonatum or Solomon’s Seal is an extremely versatile plant that every gardener should get to know. With arching stems reaching two to three feet, this tall beauty makes a strong architectural statement whether used as a companion plant in garden beds or planted by itself en mass as a groundcover.

In spring, Solomon’s Seal is covered with tiny white bell-shaped flowers on the underside of the stems which are sometimes followed by small dark berries that are a treat for birds. The foliage remains fresh looking all season long, and is especially striking with white variegation. Polygonatum odoratum ‘Variegatum’ is one such variety with the added bonus of fragrance.

Solomon’s Seal in full sun with Asters and Lamb’s Ears (Photo by Nancy Marie Allen)

Although Solomon’s Seal is typically used in shade gardens, it can also be grown in full sun as a vertical accent. In addition, these plants turn a lovely shade of gold come fall, providing us with three seasons of interest to enjoy.

AJUGA

Ajuga, also known as carpetweed or bugleweed, is one of the best mat-forming groundcovers for sun and shade gardens alike. A vigorous spreader via stolons or horizontal roots, ajuga quickly forms colonies of close-packed rosettes, making it nearly impervious to weeds. Here in New England, escaped plants from long ago often appear in lawns and are only noticed because of their lovely blue or white flower spikes in May.

Although ajuga will grow in full shade, half a day of sun intensifies the colorful foliage, especially in those varieties with purple shading. The spring flowers are quite showy but not very long-lasting, so ajuga is best planted for its eye-catching foliage which stays colorful through fall.

Ajuga ‘Black Scallop’ (Photo by Nancy Marie Allen)

Ajuga grows well just about anywhere including dry shade under trees, on slopes, in containers and between stepping stones. Some newer varieties to try are ‘Chocolate Chip,’ ‘Burgundy Glow’ and ‘Black Scallop,’ all with stunning blue flowers in spring.

Hay-scented Fern (Photo by Nancy Marie Allen)

FERNS

Ferns add elegance and airy movement to any garden and, since they’re non-flowering, it’s all about those graceful, and sometimes colorful, fronds. Although ferns in general tend to be moisture lovers, our native Lady Fern, Eastern Wood Fern and Hayscented Fern tolerate hot and dry conditions better than most. In the photo above, Hay-scented Ferns grows in full sun!

Additionally, I’ve found that Japanese Painted Ferns hold up well through hot dry summers, especially when planted closely with companions that shade the soil and help hold in any moisture. These unusual ferns add striking color to any shade garden and I highly recommend giving them a try!

Japanese Painted Fern showing burgundy ribbed fronds (Photo by Nancy Marie Allen)

The key to success with keeping shade perennials happy through the dry summer months begins with planting. Always amend your soil with plenty of organic matter such as compost or leaf mold before you add any plants. In this way you’re mimicking their natural woodland habitats where leaves accumulate and slowly break down over years, continuously feeding and enriching the soil.

Keep in mind that most shade plants enjoy some morning sun with afternoon shade. Also, as I mentioned above, placing plants fairly close to one another helps shade the soil and retain valuable moisture. Once planting is completed, mulch your plants each spring with a layer of fine shredded bark.

By following these tips, you can be assured that your shade perennials will thank you with beauty and vigor for many years to come!

July 11, 2020

The Serendipitous Garden

Some of the sweetest garden vignettes are not planned – they happen by chance! And it’s those unexpected but delightful scenes that give gardening its magic.

A deep purple Drumstick Allium is the perfect companion for pink Hollyhock Mallow

If you’ve had a garden for a number of years, you already know what I’m talking about, for at some point every year there are plants that willingly volunteer themselves for duty. The most common are flowers that have self-sown from previous years’ plantings, but seeds may also be carried by birds from a neighbor’s yard or blown on the wind from a wildflower patch down the road. However these plants find our gardens, it’s always a pleasant surprise when they bloom in a companionable way!

Rose Campion in shades of white, blush and bright pink has a long bloom time and *readily* self-sows

Rose Campion, Daisies, Yarrow and Black-eyed Susans are some of the plants that enthusiastically spread themselves around the yard every year. In the photo below, wild Black-eyed Susans look like they belong next to the mahogany ribs and silvery fronds of a Japanese Painted Fern. Unplanned and unexpected, these two garden companions bring out the best in each other!

Japanese Painted Fern and wild Black-Eyed Susans enhance each other’s colors

Sometimes plants happen to like certain conditions in our gardens and take up permanent residence in unusual places. Along the stone wall surrounding our vegetable garden, native ferns have found a perfect home! Amazingly, these plants grow in fulI sun all day but manage to get enough moisture from the rocks surrounding them to thrive.

Some enchanting color combinations also happen by chance. Many times we place one plant next to another without really knowing if the colors will work together. Color in our gardens is not always dependable in that plants may have a different look when planted in full sun as opposed to part shade, or when viewed in the soft light of morning or at dusk. We may plant seeds or bulbs expecting a certain hue but ending up with something altogether different. All of these variations can make or break a garden’s color scheme, so when colors perfectly harmonize, sometimes it’s just a lucky accident.

Blue Peachleaf Bellflower, Pink Grapefruit Yarrow and Purple Drumstick Allium blend harmoniously

Last fall, I planted a group of drumstick alliums in a garden with other summer bloomers in shades of blue and pink. Since I’d never planted them before, I wasn’t at all sure about the color and how it would look with my other plants. Earlier this month, I was delighted when not only did the rich purple of the alliums make the perfect color companion to my other perennials, these whimsical gems also started attracting honeybees like crazy!

Honeybees can’t get enough of these sweetly scented alliums

Our gardens are constantly changing and each year is different from the last. One thing we can rely on, however, is that beautiful and unexpected things will happen – delighting, surprising and rewarding us for being devoted gardeners!

October 14, 2019January 22, 2020

A Garden Design for Shade

September and October have been very busy gardening months for me so I’d like to share some of what’s been keeping me outdoors and digging up my yard!

The thing I really love about gardening is that if a design doesn’t work, you can always change it. This autumn I decided to rearrange and enlarge my shade garden, a smallish space that included a birdbath, ajuga, bleeding heart, hostas, ferns, brunnera, a clematis and cimicifuga (bugbane) planted together in a tiny tapestry of color and form. (In the photo below the old-fashioned pink bleeding heart has already gone dormant and the purple clematis isn’t visible) I had originally planted the bugbane off to one side of the birdbath on the right and placed two large hostas behind it but after a few years this large plant overwhelmed the hostas, hiding them from view, and limiting the morning sunlight they received. I had to rethink my design and reposition these plants to enhance their beauty and create a more pleasing vignette. At the same time, I wanted to expand the overall size of the garden using plants I already had on hand.

The original shade garden (Photo by Nancy Marie Allen)

Once the weather cooled off in mid-September I dug up the cimicifuga, separated it into three clumps and repositioned these in back of the garden. Although these plants and most of the green lady ferns have already died back and are not visible in the following photos, they will create a tall backdrop for next year’s garden. The large ‘Royal Standard’ hosta (which you can see behind the birdbath above) was relocated to the space vacated by the bugbane where it will receive the extra sun needed for abundant blooms. A ‘Gold Standard’ hosta was moved to the left and a little behind the brunnera to brighten up that darker area. After moving these plants to their new homes, the stage was set to add more shade plants and expand the existing garden.

*Variegated Solomon’s Seal will add a vertical accent and glimmer of white behind the blue brunnera while golden hostas and Creeping Jenny will draw the eye in (Photo by Nancy Marie Allen)*

On the far left side where the shade from a hemlock kept the lawn from growing was a similar sized area just right for planting with more shady beauties. In the spring I’d incorporated some compost into the soil and added some Sweet Woodruff to quickly fill in and cover ground. A layer of mulch kept it moist over the hot and dry summer months. Now, I worked filling the space just to the right of this groundcover with more compost and shade-loving plants. A white ‘Bridal Veil’ astilbe, some variegated Solomon’s Seal, a small white-edged hosta and ‘White Nancy’ lamium were added to the garden while more Japanese painted ferns were repeated, marrying the old design with the new. I continued by spreading the dark purple rosettes of ‘Black Scallop’ ajuga and tendrils of bright ‘Creeping Jenny’ in the foreground to define and soften the curvy edge. When all the perennials were in, I added 50 critter-proof bulbs of allium ‘Cowanii’ for striking white accent blooms in late spring and early summer.

Next spring the newly planted left side of the shade garden will fill in with Sweet Woodruff, Japanese painted ferns, ‘Bridal Veil’ astilbe and more hostas (Photo by Nancy Marie Allen)

Although most of the plants are now beaten and bedraggled from several cold nights, you can still imagine how the garden will look next year when each month will bring something new! It’ll be stunning in spring with the blooms of pink Bleeding Heart, the deep purple flower spikes of ajuga, the delicate blue sprays of brunnera and the white flower clusters of Sweet Woodruff; even the Solomon’s Seal will be sporting tiny white bells along its tall stems. As the season progresses, the feathery white plumes of the astilbe, along with the white flowers of the allium bulbs and ‘White Nancy’ lamium, will share the stage with the purple ‘Arabella’ clematis. Summer will bring spikes of hosta blooms in shades of white and pale lavender while the towering cream-colored wands of the cimicifuga will take up the rear. Behind the stone wall, three new Pieris planted in May will slowly join with the mother shrub to form an evergreen and deer-resistant hedge behind the shade garden, uniting it with the woodland beyond.

Pieris shrubs edge the woodland behind the shade garden (Photo by Nancy Marie Allen)

The varied shades of blue and purple in the foliage of the ajuga, the Japanese painted ferns, the ‘Looking Glass’ brunnera, and large blue-leaved hosta are enhanced by the sunny greens, golds and accents of white also repeated throughout. Even when little or nothing is blooming, the many colors, textures and forms of the shade plants themselves will keep this garden looking lively and bright!

Creeping Jenny behaves best in pots (Photo by Nancy Marie Allen)

A word of caution! Golden Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia ‘Aurea’) is an aggressive spreader and considered invasive in many areas. I like to use it in pots and planters where it’s easily contained and nicely fills the role of ‘spiller’ with its trailing habit. However, in the garden, this innocent-looking plant with its tiny bright leaves can spread like wildfire! Each year, I keep it in check by removing large segments and pulling it back from crowding other plants. I’ve found that the ‘Black Scallop’ ajuga, another vigorous spreader, seems to hold its own next to Jenny since its thick mat of rosettes prevents other plants from easily taking hold.

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