Video: How to Design a Shade Garden

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The trick to designing a shade garden for plants is knowing which flowers need shade and which can thrive without. Create a shade garden to protect flowers with tips from a gardening specialist in this free video on plant and flower care.

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jesse.hardeman May 08, 2011
Good Site, well cone and good information.

Video Transcript

Hi this is Yolanda Vanveen from vanveenbulbs.com Next we are going to talk about how to design a shade garden. so we have areas in our garden that are really shady and we want to turn it into a garden area and we don't know what to do and how do you design it and how do you pick the right plants and what should I do with my area that is shady I want a garden there? So my first rule of thumb is if you have a shade garden and you have ferns and hostas or weeds coming up then it will be a great location for a shade garden because everything is growing there well as it is anyway but if you have a shady area that is full of moss and nothing is growing at all then you have probably got too deep a shade and probably nothing is going to grow well there. Because if it is too shady plants won't grow there either. They need at least a little bit of light. Another trick you can do is if you've got big trees and there is no light coming in and nothing is growing you can always cut aside a ring of the bottom branches and all of a sudden you have got some light coming in and everything will do well. So before you even design your shade garden you have got to decide if it's a good location for things to grow. So you've got some ferns growing naturally there then you have got a great area. So it is always good to add a little bit of fresh dirt or soil in there for your plants to grow so always select good compost or potting soil too. So before you even design it make sure you have good soil in that area even if it is just covering up the pine needles that were there already, it will make a world of difference. Also you have got to make sure that you can water that area because a lot of times the shade gardens don't get water in the winter time because they have got the trees and you are not watering so you have got to make sure if you have a shade garden that you can get water to it because it will need some water in the Summer and the Winter for it to survive really well. So once you have got all those factors considered then you can start selecting your plants and different shade plants will do well in different conditions and as long as you have got good soil and you are watering it well almost any shade plant will grow there. So I just search the internet or go to different websites or talk to your different garden experts in your area or different garden centers will give you lots of ideas and start setting groups of plants in your shade areas. I always like to do three in an a triangle and different clumps of things that will bloom at different times of the year. You can always use snowflakes that love the shade that bloom in the Spring and mix them with white traditional Cala Lilies that bloom in the early Summer and then you have got Fuschias and then hostas that bloom for the Fall so you can get all types of different flowers that are going to be gorgeous in your shade area. Water features are great for shade too because they don't get as much algae if they are in the shade because they are out in the hot sun. They do also have a problem with leaves falling in them but if you are going to control a water feature I have found that the shade is the best area. So don't forget some art work or some statues and some rocks and some birdhouses and any kind of other interesting things that you can add to that area. Remember it is your shade garden and it should be a reflexion of you so when you are designing it don't be too strict. Gardening is like throwing a party, mix a bunch of plants together and let them have a good time and that way you can enjoy your shade garden for lots of years.

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How to Design a Shade Garden

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