The Importance of Plant Selection
Two points make creating a shade garden different from creating a garden in the sun. There are fewer plants to choose from; and there are fewer plants that produce bright color. Not only is there a smaller “vocabulary” of plant material, but shade gardeners have to make that material mean more than it normally does in other gardens, where the focus is on splashy, sun-loving plants. In short, shade gardeners have to create more, with less.
The problem in providing color in the shade comes not so much from the limited number of plants that will bloom in the shade but from the type of color they provide. Gardeners used to the dramatic seasonal displays of sun-loving petunias, marigolds, zinnias, and other popular annuals may find it hard to adjust to the more demure, less powerful blossoms of most shade-loving plants. But good shade gardeners are both smart and sensitive. They have found out by experimentation and observation that there are many attractive ways around the most perplexing limitations.
