Some of us are lucky enough to have the perfect amount of sunlight in our gardens from spring to fall, but many gardeners have to deal with a mixed bag of brightness going anywhere from full sun to deep shade, sometimes within a single flower bed! The challenge for new and experienced gardeners alike is to find plants that will tolerate varying degrees of sunlight and still perform admirably.
DON’T BE AFRAID TO EXPERIMENT
The only area in my yard that gets full sun all season is a small plot reserved for vegetables. The rest of my garden beds, which include flowers, shrubs and herbs, enjoy varying degrees of sunlight.
Over the years, I’ve acquired a lot of perennials that supposedly tolerate partial shade and have found that some perform better than others, so I experiment by moving plants around to sunnier or shadier locations. In doing this, I’ve discovered that many full sun perennials do just fine with less-than-optimal sunlight while certain shade perennials can be surprisingly tolerant of quite a bit of sun.
WORK WITH WHAT YOU HAVE
My largest and most challenging flower bed in terms of changing light follows the foundation of the house on three sides and goes from full sun to full shade with everything in-between!
Early blooms of Daffodils, Hyacinth, Bleeding Heart and much more carpet my garden in April and May, but June is when this garden is at its sunny best with stunning Alliums, Peonies, Lady’s Mantle and Hardy Geranium. Other plants join in as summer heats up with Echinacea and Rudbeckia blooming in early July and continuing until September.
In the shadiest areas of this garden I’ve included a strong supporting cast of Ferns, Hostas, Brunnera, Solomon’s Seal and Astilbe which enjoy morning sun right through July. Some of these plantings I’ve overlapped and repeated so that there’s a sense of cohesion throughout the border.
Over time the abundance of light slowly diminishes and by mid-October, the sun quickly dips behind the tall trees that surround the property, leaving the garden with just some soft dappled shade as it ends another year. In spite of the drastic changes from spring to fall and light to dark, I’m still delighted by pleasing vignettes all season thanks to using reliably strong summer bloomers and combining them with lots of bold foliage, color, texture and form.
COUNT ON VERSATILE PERENNIALS
There are some plants that bloom over many weeks and I’ve come to count on these for season-long color. In fact, the lovely blue-violet hardy geranium known as ‘Rozanne’ is the longest blooming of all my perennials and one I keep spreading around for that reason. A true garden gem, ‘Rozanne’ is an excellent example of a versatile perennial that will tolerate going from bright sunlight to mostly shade and still bloom like crazy from June until frost!
Another one of my perennial favorites for bloom longevity is Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’ which lights up my garden like liquid sunshine from July to September. Even sun-loving Echinacea tolerates semi-shade and, although the plants are not as large or as vigorous as they would be in full sun, they hold their own and bloom until summer’s end. Autumn Joy Sedum is also remarkably shade tolerant and looks fabulous in all stages of growth, plus the dark russet seed heads are beautiful right into winter!
USE STRIKING FOLIAGE
Where flowers are absent or diminished due to encroaching shade, dramatic foliage plants can take a garden from humdrum to sensational! I especially love Hostas for their bold and striking foliage. They’re remarkably sun tolerant in spring and summer but it’s later in the season when I really appreciate their versality for, even without blooms, these plants can carry a shady border until frost. Golden and chartreuse varieties such as ‘Dancing Queen’ are particularly bright and contrast nicely with darker greens. Silver and frosted foliage plants such as Lamium, Lambs’ Ears, Japanese Painted Ferns and Brunnera also light up the shade while the varied hues of Caladiums add dazzling color!
INCLUDE FLOWERING ANNUALS
The list of flowering annuals for sun and/or shade is seemingly endless! I like to think of these one-season wonders as garden fillers since they easily tuck into small spaces and give the garden a lush appearance. Pick some contrasting or complementary colors to pair with your perennial plantings and enjoy non-stop blooms until frost! Annuals are also a great way to fill out a newly planted perennial garden while your other plants mature.
PAY ATTENTION TO GEOGRAPHY
Our geographic locations and hardiness zones also affect how plants grow and thrive in different levels of light. For example, a Hosta growing in the coldest regions of zone 3 will tolerate much more sun than one in southern zone 9. So, my experience with gardening in Northeastern Massachusetts could be very different from yours, even though we may grow the same plants.
EMBRACE MAKING CHANGES
The important thing to remember when working with a garden challenge is that you can always change what doesn’t work. Fall is the perfect time for us to do garden renovations, so don’t be afraid to experiment by moving a poorly performing plant to a better location or trying a new plant altogether. I’ve just added some ‘Heritage’ roses and ‘Six Hills Giant’ Nepeta so it will be interesting to see how they fare next year in this sun and shade garden.
Challenges can be blessings in disguise so embrace making changes and look forward to a garden that will only keep getting better!
All photos by Nancy Marie Allen
Lovely flowers, wonderful colours and great photos!
Thank you!