Planting Shady Areas

Nearly everyone has a spot in their yard where they have trouble getting plants to grow. For most, it's a shady spot. But, the shade areas in you yard needn't be trouble spots if you understand the problem and are ready to employ some relatively simple solutions.

Naturally, the biggest problem for most plants is lack of light. We all know that sunlight drives photosynthesis, the food-making process in every plant. For many plants, light deficiency leads to death.

Low light can cause other problems as well. You've probably noticed the way an indoor plant leans toward a window or other light source. Although you may think it's "seeking" light, in fact this is due to the stretching of cells in the stems of the plant. The cells on the shaded side become elongated, pushing the plant toward the light.

A similar phenomenon can take place in a shady area outdoors. The stretching of cell tissue can leave the plant more prone to breakage and diseases such as fungal attack.

Areas that are shady because of large trees have an extra difficulty: water competition. Not only does the tree require large amounts of water to stay healthy; a thick canopy of leaves will shed rainwater; preventing it from ever reaching the ground where your underplanting's roots are. The cooling benefit of the shady area does not compensate for the lack of water.
Don't be overwhelmed by the list of difficulties because the solutions are simple.

First, and foremost, use adaptable plants (I'll list several suggested plants later). You can help the plants that are trying to grow under trees by heading up and thinning the trees. Try to keep the tree in balance by maintaining a proportional relationship between the top foliage and the trunk. A good balance is two-third foliage to one-third trunk. Thinning will also help the tree by decreasing its wind resistance.

Another suggestion is to fertilize the small plants or grass at half the suggested amount twice as often as stated. This keeps the top-most root zone as enriched as possible and eventually helps the tree, too.

If you've given up on grass, you can raise beds around the trees by bringing in topsoil to a maximum depth of about 3 inches. This is reasonably safe, although it could be hazardous to some trees such as beech and cherry. Definitely keep the soil away from the area immediately around the tree trunk (the buttress flair). Remember that the functioning roots range around the drip line (the area directly below the edge of the canopy), reaching from about 4 feet within the line to many feet beyond it.

Mulch to conserve water, and while we're on the subject of watering, I am going to surprise you now by saying you should water frequently to keep the upper surface of the ground moist to foster the needs of the small plants under the canopy. I know I always preach watering thoroughly but infrequently, but this situation is the exception to that rule. I've always been told that trees take barrels of water daily. Frequent watering gives the other plants a chance to get what they need also.

Water early in the day so the plant foliage can dry out, preventing fungal problems that can occur if you water in the evening. (Natural rainfall in the evening shouldn't be a concern - there's nothing we can do about it anyway, so - don't worry about it!)

Plants for shady areas include bulbs, perennials, shrubs and annuals. What you're looking for, in general, are special plants that function on less light. For example, most of the spring flowering bulbs do all their growing before the heavy leaf canopy really comes on.

Perennial shade-growers include columbines, bleeding heart, forget-me-not, lily of the valley, and hosta, just to name a few. There are wildflowers such as Dutchman's breeches, hepatica, iris, several of the rues and cardinal-flower type of lobelia, as well as the taller-growing plant called snake root, which do well in the shade. In addition, don't forget dog-toothed violets, trillium, jack-in the-pulpit, May apples and bloodroot. Do not collect these wildflowers from public woodlands, which carries a heavy fine in Ohio. Instead, buy them as seeds or started plants from your favorite garden center.

Good shrubs for the shady parts of your landscape include snowberry, Indian current coralberry, clove and Alpine currant, sweet shrub (calycanthus), hemlock and most of the holly family, as well as the Japanese yews. Don't forget broad leaf evergreens, such as azaleas, pieris, laurels, leucothoe and rhododendrons, too.

Ground cover can also work well in shady areas. In fact, ground cover such as pachysandra and myrtle would literally burn to death on a south-facing slope, in full sun. Euonymous, ivy and perennials, such as lamium, sweet woodruff and ajuga also make excellent ground covers for shady areas.

Annuals that do well in the shade include coleus, impatiens, begonias, fuschia, lobelia and browallia; again just to name a few.
There are numerous other shade plant in all categories, so check with your favorite garden center for specific varieties.

As another option, consider making a stone or wood chip path part of the shady area. You can even turn a trouble area into a lovely rock garden that will maintain a level of interest year-round. Boulders and smaller rocks bring a low maintenance aspect to a landscape. The best way to avoid high maintenance is to use the right plants and other elements in the right place. Shade areas do not have to be trouble areas when you work with Mother Nature and use plants that thrive in low light conditions.