Many shade gardens don't get the color they deserve. Need to spice up your shady areas with a boost of color? Coral Bells are the perfect perennial addition for the fully shaded, partially shady and even the partially sunny spaces in your yard. Scroll through our slideshow below to view six gorgeous Coral Bell varieties that might just make your shade garden pop!
Growing an attractive shade garden may at first appear challenging for some. After all, successful shade gardening comes with it's own set of rules, and plants that flourish in sunny areas simply, well.....don't in shady ones. But don't be afraid of the shade. On even the hottest and most humid of days, a walk through the shade garden can help calm and cool your senses, and even help relieve stress. And while a shade garden may not pack the same powerhouse of color as their sunnier counterparts, shady nooks can be far from dark and drab. At Garden Supply Co, we have hundreds of beautiful plants for shade gardening that will provide interest and light in the shade garden through use of color, texture, and foliage.
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As you stroll through the garden center, you may have overlooked our quiet back corner under the arbor. Here you will find our huge selection of plants for shade gardening. And one quick glance will show you that shade plants can be far from boring. Quite the contrary, in fact. Shade plants can still provide the flowers you may crave, and provide interest through an amazing variety of foliage color and texture.
If it's flowers you want, impatiens and New Guinea impatiens will provide non-stop summer blossoms in a wide range of colors.
Impatiens- Garden Supply Co
Or there are many varieties of blooming begonias, including Tuberous, Dragon Wings, and the new Whopper begonia, which provides extra large flowers up to 3 in. (7 cm) across from spring through fall.
Begonia
There are also, of course, many fabulous flowering shrub plants that thrive in shade, including azalea, rhododendron, gardenia, hydrangea, just to name a few.
hydrangeas- Garden Supply Co
However, don't rely solely on flowers for providing interest in shady corners. Look for shade plants that have colored foliage or interesting textures or leaf shapes. Focus on foliage and plant in mass. Cultivate interest with foliage. Create harmony through mass plantings. When a single specimen is planted it tends to be lost in the shade garden. Since many flowers on shade plants are small and delicate, large masses are more effective.
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As you can see, there is a huge variation of foliage color and texture available on shade perennials such as Heuchera, with colorful foliage ranging from yellows, reds, purples, & black.
Caladiums- Garden Supply Co
Or Caladiums, grown for their bold long-lasting and colorful foliage. Color combinations include various shades of red, pink, white, green, and yellow-green, with prominently colored midribs and contrasting margins.
Coleus- Garden Supply Co
Coleus plants glow with color, from soft and elegant to deep, bold tones—perfect for shady yards, gardens and terraces.
Hosta- Garden Supply Co
Hostas are extremely popular, hardy herbaceous perennials grown primarily for their beautiful foliage. Leaves come in a wide range of shapes, colors, sizes, and textures and may be solid in color or variegated in different combinations of blue, green, white, and gold.
For powerhouse interest, contrast the elliptical long leaf of a Hosta with the feathery leaf of a fern.
Ferns- Garden Supply Co
Gardening in the woods should be a pleasure, rather than a challenge. The lack of a lot of sun can overwhelm or even frighten some gardeners instead of what it really is -- an excuse to grow a lot of great plants some would have never attempted before. For more tips on selecting the perfect plants for shade gardening, stop by the garden center. Our friendly experts are on hand seven days a week with answers to all your gardening questions.
Hello everyone and happy Thursday to you! Today I am excited to share a really beautiful and easy to grow plant with you all, the caladium.
The caladium originated in the Amazon jungles of South America. It is a summer bulb (tuber) that will thrive in hot temperatures like ours, and it's gorgeous heart-shaped leaves of red, white, pink, and green will paint your garden in color until the first cold nights. Caladiums offer a fabulous way to insert color and beauty without the use of flowers, providing continuous interest in the landscape well beyond a limited blooming period.
Caladiums are easy to plant and are wonderful as a ground cover or border, or in pots, hanging baskets and planters on your deck and inside your home. Mix several varieties in your landscaping for a colorful contrast. Look at some of the gorgeous arrangements of caladiums you'll find down at Garden Supply.
Caladiums can be grown as annuals, or may be over-wintered as tender bulbs. Remember that they are a hot-weather, summer bulb. The bulb will be damaged, causing dwarfed leaves, if the temperatures reach below 60 degrees for a prolonged period of time. Lightly fertilize every six weeks with the fertilizer you normally use (or 6-6-6 slow release fertilizer). In the fall, let the leaves die back, then before the first freeze, dig up the bulbs, leaving the leaves on. Store in mesh or paper bags between 65-70 degrees Fahrenheit. Or better yet, bring your potted caladiums indoors during the cooler months and enjoy their colorful foliage as houseplants. You'll not be sorry!
Caladiums make a wonderful addition for floral arrangements, too. Cut leaves will keep indoors for 2-3 weeks and are odorless and non-allergenic. Leaves should be soaked for 24 hours before using in arrangements.
Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope I've piqued your interest for adding color and interest in your homes and landscape through the use of bright and unusual foliage. And join me back here soon for more snippets from the garden.
Hello everyone and happy Sunday to you! All of us at Garden Supply want to wish you mothers out there a very wonderful Mother's Day. How fortunate we are to have these special women in our lives! If you are lucky enough to have your mom in town with you, plan on a visit today and let her stroll through the gardens at leisure. And if you're a mom yourself, take a few minutes to unwind here. It's so beautiful right now. I hear so many times from you how nice it is just to "come and wander around".... I agree! I am one of the lucky ones to have my mother visiting, and for Mother's Day this year, we spent our time together at Garden Supply. Of all the activities we could have planned for the weekend, we both chose to spend some quality time together strolling the gardens. The excitement of all the beautiful plants in bloom is absolutely contagious. Mom and I want to make a "Mother's Day Garden" in my backyard that we can watch flourish and grow in the years to come. I can't think of a better Mother's Day gift. Now I will have a constant reminder of Mom every time I look out my windows.
I would like to share with you our creative journey of this garden to perhaps inspire you if you have a similar area at your home that could use a little special touch. I am working with a border area up against the back foundation of my house. The area receives a bit of morning sun, but for most of the day, this zone is in the shade. So step one was to head to the shade plant area at Garden Supply, where there are so many gorgeous plants to choose from. We decided on Hostas as our main focus. Hostas are extremely popular, hardy herbaceous perennials grown primarily for their beautiful foliage. They are easy to grow, shade-tolerant plants. Leaves come in a wide range of shapes, colors, sizes, and textures and may be solid in color or variegated in different combinations of blue, green, white, and gold. The plants are low maintenance and with the huge selection of choices at Garden Supply, your options are boundless.
After weighing all the choices, we decided to go with a variety of hostas in a chartreuse-green color palette. Chartreuse foliage is highly visible, even from a distance, and brings light to low-light areas. Choosing a variety of cultivars brings some interest to the border, while sticking to a chartreuse color palette unites the border into a cohesive planting.
Our hosta selection included: Great Expectations, Stained Glass, Atlantis, Fragrant Bouquet, Guacamole, and Sum & Substance. We then decided on a few companion plants for our border to add more depth and interest, sticking to the shade area plantings at the garden center. We paired the hostas with the dark purple foliage of the 'Plum Pudding' Heuchera (Coral Bells) which do well in sun or light shade, and the light and airy foliage of the 'Cinnamon' Fern. The contrast of these 3 plants provides a ton of visual interest.
For my 20-foot border, we selected 9 hostas, 3 coral bells, and 4 cinnamon ferns. Allowing for adequate planting space, this was the perfect number of plants to fill the area.
I hope this has given you some ideas for those of you with similar planting opportunities in your yards. Come back and visit soon to see our completed Mother's Day Garden. And in the meantime, we'll see you down at Garden Supply.
Happy Mother's Day!
