How to Plant a Kentucky Shade Flower Garden
Comprised of USDA plant hardiness zones 5b through 6b, Kentucky is a southern state that enjoys a humid subtropical climate. Planting a shade flower garden is an excellent way to take advantage of a shady spot in your home landscape. Shade-loving flowering plants such as lady's mantle (Alchemilla mollis), columbine (Aquilegia x hybrida) and Christmas rose (Helleborus niger) are attractive choices that are well-suited for cultivating in shady Kentucky gardens. Careful planning, site preparation and planting practices will help to ensure the success of your shade garden. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Peat moss
- Well-rotted compost
- Perlite
- Shovel
- Garden fork or tiller
- Garden hose
Instructions
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Select a suitable planting location for your shade flower garden. Look for a site that receives no more than three hours of direct sunlight per day and offers moist, well-draining soil that is rich with organic materials.
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Enrich the soil at the selected site before planting your shade garden. Layer 3 inches of equal parts peat moss, well-rotted compost and perlite on the surface of the soil. Incorporate the organic materials into the top 8 inches of soil until well-distributed using a shovel, garden fork or tiller.
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Plan the layout of your shade flower garden. Plan to plant taller plants, such as false spirea (Astilbe x arendsii "Rheinland") and sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum) toward the back of the garden with shorter plants, such as Chinese ground orchid (Bletilla striata) and lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis), at the front.
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Dig planting holes for your shade-loving plants that are 3 to 4 inches wider than the containers that they came in. Lower the plants into the holes and make sure that they sit at the same level that they were growing in their containers. Fill the holes with the displaced soil and tamp down the surface with the palms of your hands.
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Water the shade garden after planting your flowers to moisten the soil surrounding their roots and encourage them to begin establishing themselves in their new location. Provide 1/2 inch to 1 inch of water or consult the care information for each individual flower species in your garden. For best results, irrigate the shade flower garden in the morning; watering in the afternoon or evening may leave foliage wet overnight, which can invite damaging fungal diseases.
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Tips & Warnings
Spread a 3-inch layer of organic mulch on the surface of the soil around the flowers in your shade garden to suppress weed growth. Replenish the mulch as it decomposes to maintain a 3-inch layer.
Monitor your shade garden for insect pests and treat affected plants with an insecticide product if their health begins to decline. Contact your local agriculture extension office for more targeted advice, if necessary.
