Shade…it’s like the bad word of the gardening world. I will admit, my shady nook almost turned me into an envious and bitter gardener for life. My garden style preference would probably be the lovable jumble of a cottage garden. Just one problem, most of those plants need lots of sun and I live in the middle of the woods. Sigh. I kept trying to force plants to grow in the lovely shade of large mature trees and gazed longingly at pictures of people with sun all day long. Then one night as I looked at the outline of the oaks in our yard, I realized how beautiful my yard was and that I was going about my gardening all wrong. God nudged me that night to be grateful for what we are given and that burdens can become blessings if we let them.

“I thought you said there were tips?” I know. I rambled. Here are the tips I promised.

• Get the right key words to put into your online searches. I know you are looking at me like I just lost my mind, but seriously, it’s a big deal. If you just put “shade gardening” into your online search, you are going to come up with a lot of general information that may or may not be all that helpful. Mostly because shade is a really big topic. For starters, there are different kinds and levels of shade. I have woodland shade because of all the trees, but shade from objects like walls has its own set of tips. So for shade caused by trees use words like “woodland gardening,” “plants for dappled light” and “understory plants.” If you have shade caused by your house use phrases like, “plants for the east side of the house.” In short, use as precise wording as possible and try different variations to get the best results.

• Look to nature for your pattern. This one seems obvious, but it took me a while to realize. I realized that in a natural forest there is a lot of color in the spring, cool greens in the summer, and lots of color in the fall. So, to ask my garden to be overflowing with color in the summer was just plain silly. That doesn’t mean no color mind you, just not marigold and red daylily color. It also meant that I focused my attention on color in the spring and fall and left summer to greens and whites. Since I don’t actually like being outside in summer, but love fall and spring, I realized I didn’t need four seasons of color. I also realized that in a natural forest, flowers are usually more delicate and have more muted tones. That helped me with color scheme choices. It’s a whole lot easier to borrow from God’s garden than to re-invent the wheel.

• Plant Bulbs. “She created a short bullet point?!” Yeah, it shocked me too. Anyway, I haven’t tried this tip intentionally yet, but I have seen it in the flowers already planted in my yard. Because bulbs bloom before deciduous trees leaf out, they can get a lot more sun than plants that bloom later. Translation: you can grow sun plants in shade as long as they are early blooming bulbs! Not all bulbs work for this because some bulbs need their foliage to be in the sun longer than the trees don’t have leaves, but the basic principle is solid. Siberian Squill is a favorite in my yard and looks adorable underneath the trees.

• Enjoy the shade and make use of the sun. Unless you live with trees as a wall around your house, you probably don’t have complete shade everywhere. Where I live there are parts of the yard that get part shade, part sun, and even full sun in spots. So, work with your shady areas, but use the sunny areas to satisfy your longing for vibrant color. Also, see your yard as little areas instead of one big area. While the big picture is helpful, take a small area of your yard and categorize the sun it gets then move on to another. This helps with plant choices and with keeping your sanity intact.

I realize those tips might seem basic, but it took me several years to learn all these and to come to grips with my shady space. I’ve now come to realize that I love the woodland garden look and that in finding that type of garden, I found my inspiration. Forcing cottage garden plants to go with a house in the woods would have left everything looking wrong and would have left me disappointed. So with that I leave you with this last tip, match your garden with its surrounding. In other words, don’t try and force a lemon to be an orange, let it be an orange because it would make a miserable lemon.

This is a list of plants that I love in my shady garden:

Hosta: It’s popular for a reason. They really are the backbone of the shade garden, but they aren’t the only thing in a shade garden.

Lungwort: Terrible name for a lovely flower. Lungwort has heart shaped leaves with spots and little bell-like flowers of three different colors in the spring.

Siberian Squill: It’s just so plain adorable, who could resist it?

Hydrangea: I am a big fan of the white varieties because they fit the woodland garden theme best. I did have Oakleaf Hydrangeas and thought I would put here that they were amazing, but I never could get the Asian beetles to stop eating them so I finally cut them down.

Columbine: It’s just amazing. It looks fantastic, is very colorful, grows in shade, and has adorable foliage.

Bleeding Heart: I have not had many Bleeding Heart bushes, but I loved the one I did have.

Dutchman’s Breeches: An under appreciated plant. It looks kind of like upside down Bleeding Heart flowers and is very endearing.

(Please note that these plants may not grow in your zone, check a zone map or your local extension before planting)

I never said it was a long list. I am, after all, still learning how to create woodland and shade gardens and have not personally tried too many plants.

You stayed to the end? I’m impressed. I really hope this has helped you with your shade gardening journey and that it reminds you to stop and enjoy the shade instead of vilifying it. Good luck and may your hostas never have slugs!