3. DRESS THE GARDEN IN LAYERS

Shade lends itself to layering. From the tree limbs high overhead to the groundcovers beneath your feet, the shady yard offers multiple tiers on which to grow an extraordinary number of woodland plants.

If your naked yard is already shaded, the first layer, or canopy, is in place. Tall shade trees provide the bare essentials, and you either have them or you don't. The gardener's challenge is to clothe the ground in style, starting with the understory (small, usually flowering trees), and ending with the "bling."

Space understory trees, such as hybrid dogwoods and Japanese snowbells, throughout the garden to anchor views. Rely on shrubs to cover some ground; a ratio of five or seven shrubs to every tree is about right. The herbaceous layer brings out the gardener's fashion sense, with ferns, hostas and woodland grasses mixing and matching with the colorful flowers of Lenten rose, phlox and primrose.

Accessorize tastefully with an occasional vine clamoring up through a shrub and with small clumps of lycoris bulbs or martagon lilies to personalize the ensemble. A rare Japanese woodland peony provides the ultimate "bling," a classy (and expensive) bauble that will make your shadeless gardening friends envious.

Rays of sunshine filter through the trees in Herb and Marty Summerfield's Allison Park garden.

 

< PREV    NEXT >