What are you doing with your shade? Two types of Woodland Beds
It's spring, and the ephemerals and other shade dwellers are looking enchanted! What do you have happening in your shade gardens right now? Are you looking for some ideas?
Photo to left is the beguiling Shooting star, growing in the shade of mature oaks and hollies. And below (in newsletter were) favorites Virginia bluebells and Golden goundsel, planted beneath a flowering dogwood but additionally shaded by tall oaks and a hickory tree in the backyard.
Shade can be challenging, for sure! In addition to the challenges of low sunlight, often there are also tree roots sucking the area dry. In these circumstances, I've often been able to get plants established by creating a mound or raised bed (see those old logs in the photo--they were my free, not-so-fancy woodland bed edging for this backyard garden). I incorporate lots of composted leaves into the raised area, and keep an eye on the water needs for the first year or two while the plants are establishing their roots.
Another frequently seen challenge: the dark, north side of a house where a downspout dumps a heavy flow of water into the area, but then the area also sits high and dry against the house and gets no moisture at all between rains. Certain ferns are well-adapted to this, as it is much like the natural situation of a steeply-sloped streambed, occasionally inundated but then very dry between rains because of the slope. (For help choosing the right one from among 8 excellent native ferns, see fern course sale, below).
Shade makes a great excuse for a Woodland Garden, where you can enjoy more native plants—to provide nectar and pollen, attract beneficial insects to your landscape, support caterpillars, and provide for birds.
Another great thing about many Mid-Atlantic native woodland plants, is that they tend to be well-adapted to returning in spring from under a litter of leaves. My large-flowered bellwort miraculously emerge every spring with no help from me--I just let the leaves fall in my woodland bed, knowing that these plants can accommodate that.
As long as you don't cut them back too much in fall, many native woodland species will return from under a few inches of natural leaf litter. White wood asters, for example, use their stems from last year to hold a place through the leaf litter, helping them find the sunlight when spring arrives.
Exceptions are next to fences or in corners where the leaves pile up excessively--here a gardener must intervene. Another exception are ground-hugging evergreen plants, which need access to sun in winter months.
When I design a woodland bed, after I've understood the site conditions, my first decision is on the style of the bed: is this a place for what I call a "front yard style" or a more "naturalized style" of bed?
"Front Yard" Style
Of course this can be used in the back yard, as well—the point is that it's for a higher visibility or close-to-the-house kind of place. The front yard style is a little neater and tidier.
SHORTER For a neater look, it's best to avoid the floppers and ramblers, as delightful as they can be elsewhere... So usually I am seeking plants that are lower in height. This might even mean choosing height-selected cultivars, such as coreopsis auriculata 'Nana' (which, despite full sun catalog listings, thrives quite well in shade).
CLUMPING For this style I sometimes favor clumping over running characteristics (e.g. 'Pierre,' 'Superman' or 'Allen Bush' instead of straight species Chrysogonum virginianum). These clumpers also tend to be less aggressive. (Tip: graduates of the Fern Course will know all about this.)
DRIFTS And when I arrange the plants, I'm going for drifts rather than diffuse. Drifts provide more mass to attract the eye, and an overall neater appearance even when the plants are not in their neatest of phases—repeating patterns are generally attractive to us.
FERNS & SEDGES The easiest way to have some evergreen appeal in winter and to prevent winter erosion, is to mix in the right evergreen ferns or sedges. (Psst!—did I mention the Fern Course is having a sale? See below!).
Naturalized Style
This is a more relaxed, very low maintenance look that we might love to put everywhere but that can give native plants a bad name for being "too weedy" if we use it where it's not going to be appreciated by our neighbors.
It might be appropriate for a shaded, no-mow slope. Or that back area in front of the woods. Or in the woods! Places that are appropriate for a more natural look.
LAYERED, and also TALLER This is a great opportunity for a layered bed, which can dramatically improve erosion control as well as habitat value. The lowest layer must be very shade tolerant and resilient, since they will have to compete with the plants that will be tall later in the season: native violets, wild strawberry, or straight species Chrysogonum virginianum, are examples.
RUNNING AND RESEEDING So many wonderful-but-exhuberant plants that are difficult to use in beds near the house are perfect for this kind of naturalizing bed: Aster/Symphyotricum divaricata (White wood aster), or Eupatorium coelestinum (Blue mistflower), to name a few. Just be careful to match your level of shade and how wet or dry the site is with the plants' preferences.
DIFFUSE, LESS CONTROLLED So here, even if you started with drifts, it wouldn't stay that way—the nature of these delightfully rambling plants will ensure that each year there is a different arrangement.
MATRIX OF FERNS OR SEDGES If you have a large area, using one of the large-area running ferns or an appropriately aggressive sedge can really hold the area together visually. It also helps guard against erosion if it's on a slope. And ferns and sedges tend to deter deer, since they are not a favorite.
Of course you will still have to think through your plant selection based on the site conditions AND your leaf management strategy—not all of these example plants will work at your site. But I hope this article wasn't too long, and gives you some ideas. :-)
Okay, one last thing: check out the native fern course special SALE, $15 off now until May 15! Use code MAY15 at the checkout.
Thanks for reading, and stay safe!
Chris