It so happens that shaded places are found on the territory of a summer cottage or garden plot. And at the same time, there are not so many well-lit places. The reasons for the many shaded areas on the site can be very different. So, for example, shrubs and trees grow on it in large numbers. They, of course, give delicious fruits and berries, but they take up a lot of space and cast a rather voluminous shadow. Therefore, the plants growing under them are almost completely devoid of sunlight. However, few summer residents do not want the entire summer cottage to be beautiful and originally decorated. The way out of this situation is very simple. So, in shaded areas, you only need to plant shade-loving perennial shrubs for the garden.
Shade-loving indoor plants
In urban dwellings, there is often a shortage of well-lit, sunny places. Therefore, those who love shade are especially appreciated. Sciophytes - "plants of the shade" - this is how the representatives of the flora, who prefer shaded places, are called. They are also known as heliophobes - those who are afraid of the sun.
These amazing plants feel comfortable in partial shade, out of direct sunlight. Only here their beauty is fully revealed, the leaves become fabulously decorative, and the flowering becomes the most effective and abundant.
Bright light if not destructive, then definitely - not useful... The ancestral home is the gloomy deciduous forests of various parts of the world. Under their canopy, the leaves acquire an exotic color, only here flowering is possible.
Many shade-tolerant inhabitants of the lower tiers of tropical and subtropical forests settled in city apartments. And now the best places for them are the northern and western home windowsills, the shaded corners of the rooms, where only diffused light falls.
Among them are those that do not bloom or have very modest inflorescences, but have extremely decorative leaves of various colors. Others are distinguished by colorful flowers.
Some of the shade-loving ones are luxurious and large, many are graceful and airy unpretentious plants. Each one needs the right placement and special reverent, loving care.
What to plant in a shady place or which plants are shade-tolerant
A shady place is the area where sunlight falls no more than 3 hours a day, and the rest of the time there is a deep shadow.
Each garden has shaded areas, it can be north or west slopes, places near a fence or between large trees.
In fact, the shady places in the garden are the best places, because, as a rule, this is where your favorite bench is located to relax on a hot summer day. However, not every plant will be able to withstand the shade, grow successfully and please the eye with its flowering.
Shade-loving plants include those plants that, no matter how strange it may sound, do not tolerate sunlight at all or suffer from its excess. They usually have bright, juicy and green foliage.
All shade-loving and shade-tolerant plants can be divided into 2 varieties: decorative deciduous and flowering.
- To the shade-loving flowers and flowering shrubs include the following: weigela, matthiola two-horned, daisy, forget-me-not, rudbeckia, fragrant tobacco, astilba, brunner, lungwort, hydrangea (large-leaved, tree-like, serrated), geychera, honeysuckle, hawthorn, badan, roggersia, basilica, volzema dicentra, aconite, tenacious (Ayuga), lily of the valley, cuff, astrantia, kupena, black cohosh, buzulnik.
- To the shade-loving decorative leafy shrubs includes hosta, fern, astilboides, euonymus, Thunberg barberry, privet.
Advice!
When you compose a shady area with plants, do not plant only monocultures, shade-loving perennials and annuals look great in close proximity.
Blooming
A small part of the shade-loving plants boast luxurious flowers. However, even among them, spectacular species are known that can make up an exquisite collection.
Anthurium - a flower that prefers shade
For good health, this exotic plant needs partial shade from spring to autumn and diffused light in the cold season. Blooms from mid-spring to late summer. The anthurium cob inflorescence is framed with a bright "wax" blanket.
Anthurium with blue flowers
Regular, but not excessive watering is required, air humidification, adherence to temperature conditions (constant temperature of about 15 degrees).
Clivia
Good lighting needed, but indirect sunlight. Annual flowering will provide a winter rest, during which the flower needs to be moved to a cool room (with a temperature below 12 degrees), reduce watering and stop feeding. The rest of the time his no need to move, replant, waterlogged.
Bright clivia flowers
Occasionally you need to wipe the leaves with a damp soft cloth.
Bell-shaped red, yellow or orange flowers, collected in an inflorescence on a high peduncle, look bright and very impressive.
Vriezia
A bright representative of the "atmospheric" bromeliads. The 70-centimeter inflorescence with bright bracts makes it memorable. For a luxurious bloom, a stable temperature in the range of 19-28 degrees is required, and constant moisture to the outlet.
Vriezia
Sempolia or Uzambara violet
This flower, although it needs a sufficient amount of light, does not tolerate direct sunlight: spots of burns appear on the leaves, their color fades, there is no flowering. The best option for placing violets is light partial shade, diffused light.
Violet is a very popular flower
Currants grow in the sun and help out in the shade
Naturally, shade-loving fruit shrubs planted in sunny places for the garden will bear fruit much better, but in the absence of an alternative, these are optimal crops that can grow well in the shade.
Currants are one of the bushes most suitable for growing in the shade. Unpretentious to care for, it multiplies easily and quickly in all its varieties. Large berries will delight compact bushes of such high-yielding varieties as Pygmy, Rusalka, Yadrenaya.
Alpine currant is a beautiful tall (about 2 meters) shrub, characterized by yellow flowers and graceful leaves. Flowering occurs in May, and in July the culture is already able to please with appetizing-looking red berries, in fact, completely tasteless. Currant is a winter-hardy plant, which can be attributed to the advantage of such a culture.
Decorative deciduous
The main advantage of ornamental deciduous plants is spectacular color of their leaves... At the same time, flowers can be small and inconspicuous.
Sansevieria
This plant of "strict lines" amateur flower growers call "mother-in-law's tongue" and "pike tail". Many varieties have been bred with various color combinations in the color of leathery leaves.
In partial shade, the contrast of color spots becomes brighter... In favorable conditions, sansevieria blooms, throwing out long "candles" of white and yellowish inflorescences.
Sansevieria
Ferns - love dark places
Among the many types, you can choose for both home and office, large or compact species. For example, broadleaf Asplenium or delicate thin-leaved Maidenhair (Venus hair).
All of them prefers shade or partial shade, moist air and soil.
Ferns
Fat woman (money tree)
The money tree does not tolerate shade well, but feels comfortable in dim lighting. Abundant watering is not required.
Money Tree
Ficus
Compact ampelous and dwarf species need partial shade, they bright light is contraindicated... Moderate watering, air humidification, temperatures above 12 degrees are required.
Ficus
Sheflera
It takes root well in a bright room, but at some distance from the window. Frequent spraying of the leaves is required and the temperature is maintained at 12 to 20 degrees. Bred compact and large species.
Sheflera
Dogwood and hazel: useful and beautiful
Cornel is a rare crop, but this does not detract from its medicinal and technical properties. Being a bush or tree, the height of which is about 2.5 meters, it has a well-leafy, compact crown, giving the area on which it grows, a neat and well-groomed appearance. The taste of juicy aromatic fruits is sweet, with a certain amount of pleasant sourness. The plant is not capricious to soils, but it bears fruit optimally on well-fertilized light soils. The yield increases incrementally: at the age of 5-10 years, the plant is capable of producing up to 25 kg of fruits, at 15-20 years - from 40 to 60 kg, at 25-40 years - up to 100 kg of beautiful high-quality berries.
Common hazel, which is becoming more and more popular among gardeners due to its delicious fruits, perfectly tolerates shade and grows up to 5 meters in height. Blooming early, before the foliage blooms, it forms graceful earrings at the ends of the shoots, at the sight of which the mood rises in anticipation of the onset of the long-awaited warm days.
Palm trees and large trees for the home, growing in partial shade
Such plants will decorate a spacious room, office or winter garden.
Dracaena
A tree-like plant with a contrasting coloration of narrow, long leaves. Depending on the type of dracaena, it grows from 70 cm to 3 m in height. To preserve decorativeness, it is necessary sufficient, but not bright lighting, moderate moisture.
One of the types of dracaena
Cordilina
Height from 0.5 to 2 meters... Often grown in tubs. It differs not only in a variety of colors, but also in the shape of the leaves: they are very narrow, long, lanceolate, wide, round. Cordilina is often confused with dracaena.
Cordilina on the windowsill on the north side
Monstera
Can't stand bright lighting at all... Loves "water treatments" - wiping and polishing leaves, spraying, abundant watering in summer and moderate in winter.
Monstera
Palm
Under this name, various species are united, which have one feature: a single growth point at the top of the stem. Most palms grown in indoor culture love partial shade, abundant watering in summer and less intense in winter, humid air.
Everyone does not tolerate drafts and transplants.
Palm
How to choose shade-tolerant shrubs for your garden
Shade-tolerant perennial shrubs are conventionally divided into 3 different groups, namely: berry, flowering, and decorative deciduous. Each of these plants has both certain pros and cons. And there are also such types of shrubs that not only look very impressive, but also give useful, fragrant and incredibly tasty fruits. Experienced gardeners and summer residents categorically do not recommend buying planting material in spontaneous markets, since there is a high probability that it will be of very low quality. It is best to purchase seedlings in specialty stores that have a good reputation. Among the various types of shrubs, the most popular and common ones can be distinguished.
Curly shade tolerant
Climbing plants and vines are used to decorate the walls, create volumetric compositions.
Philodendron climbing
Does not tolerate direct sunlight and strong shade. Best accommodation - in bright but diffused light or in partial shade. Humidification is weak in winter, frequent and abundant in summer.
Philodendron climbing
Tradescantia
There are a huge number of species of this ampelous plant with a variety of leaf colors. To preserve decorativeness, he need partial shade or indirect bright lighting.
Tradescantia
Cissus
An excellent option for decorating large planes. The scope of imagination gives a variety of varieties - the leaves can be large leathery and small, tender, whole and dissected. It grows quickly, becomes attractive and beautifies the room.
Cissus
Popular shade-loving shrubs
Shrub for shady places ideal barberry Thunberg... In deep shade, you hardly get bright yellows and reds, and, most likely, it will just be a uniform green, but nevertheless, it is still a very noticeable shade-tolerant plant.
By the way! About planting and growing barberry read here.
Another small and shade-tolerant shrub is euonymus... Its variegated and short form looks very good in the garden.
A small shrub will be quite noticeable under the shade of the trees. privet... Its lemon-colored leaves seem to illuminate a shady place.
If you want to plant a taller shrub with healthy berries in a shady corner of your garden, then it is best suited for these purposes hawthorn.
And if you need a flowering shrub, then this is suitable for this weigela... However, different varieties have different attitudes towards the shade - there are more shade-tolerant, there are less.
By the way! About planting and growing weigela you can read in more detail here, and about leaving and preparing for winter - here.
It will look very decorative in a shady corner cotoneaster... It has lovely dark green leathery and shiny leaves. Again, the varieties differ markedly in shade tolerance.
Imagine how pleasant it will be to sit in the gazebo, which is entwined honeysuckle with its gorgeous flowers.
Advice! About planting and growing honeysuckle you can read in more detail here, about breeding methods — here, and about autumn care and preparation for winter — in this material.
By the way, decorative viburnum Buldenezh (Snow globe) also shade-tolerant.
By the way! The site already has detailed material about planting and growing viburnum Buldenezh.
Features of shade-loving colors
All shade-loving plants have properties that distinguish them from others:
- the most vividly decorative qualities are manifested, if the flower is in the shade or partial shade most of the day;
- under intense lighting, development is inhibited, growth slows down, leaf color fades, flowering may not occur; in direct sunlight, the plant may get burned;
- need sufficient moisture in the soil and air;
- observance of the temperature regime is necessary;
- usually shade-loving do not tolerate frequent transplants.
Shade-loving plants are beautiful in their variety. They can be used to create refined, bright, stylish, light or respectable compositions that will become the main decoration of any room.
Popular annual and perennial shade-tolerant flowers
Favorite among the flowers for a shady garden are Mattiola two-horned, daisy, forget-me-not, rudbeckia, fragrant tobacco.
Scented tobacco
If we talk about seasonal and annual shade-loving plants, then under trees, where there is a lot of shade, in the spring you can safely plant daffodils, crocuses, tulips and hyacinths, because they bloom in all their glory long before the leaves appear on the trees.
Shade-loving perennials by the seasons
In early spring primroses appear, gentle and modest, which delight with their beauty throughout the month. These include the European kandyk, various varieties of snowdrops, and woodlands. A little later, dubious Jeffersonia, liverwort and anemone (anemone) hatch.
Primroses actively reproduce by self-seeding, therefore, during the flowering period, new foci should be identified and their distribution over the suburban area should be controlled.
In late spring, ruby corollas of common lumbago and tiny soldanella flowers appear. Against the background of low bushes, an uvularia looks wonderful, similar to a bell with yellow buds and silvery foliage. The yellow carpet also creates spring celandine, blooming with small rounded bushes. It is usually alternated with fern. A bright composition can be made from saxifrage, hybrid primroses and phlox, creating a dense floral cover.
To create a spectacular flower garden, the round-leaved saxifrage is suitable - a bushy plant with small white flowers and bright green decorative foliage
The summer period is marked by the flowering of martagon (curly lily). At the initial planting, it does not differ in luxurious buds, but in subsequent years it will look more and more beautiful. Among the lilies there are varieties that reach one and a half meters in height - this factor must be taken into account when planting plants. Areas under low tree crowns are not suitable. The lilies can be accompanied by a spotted bell and a winding corydalis, which also chose the warmest summer period for flowering.
The perennial shade-loving flowers do not like the first colds, therefore, at the beginning of autumn, only a few of them open their buds. An example of late flowering is considered kirengeshoma palmate with large decorative leaves and bell flowers.
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Iris family, genus Crocuses
To the same family as the genus of Irises, there are crocuses, the number of species of which is several dozen. Crocuses can be called shade-loving perennials that bloom all summer, since the flowering period for different species of these plants is significantly different. For some, this is the middle of spring, for others, summer, and still others bloom in the fall. Crocuses are shade-loving plants with multi-colored flowers ranging from white and pink to blue and purple.
Crocus Tommasinianus Roseus feels great in the shade of trees, the flowers of which form a real pink or blue carpet.
Care measures for various types of crocus do not differ from those for irises.
Shady garden and the choice of plants for it
The presence or absence of sunlight in the garden is a key factor in choosing the types of plants that will decorate it. Most people mistakenly believe that if the garden is shady, then it is no longer possible to plant any flowering plants in it, since they will certainly die. But this assumption is not true, since there are plants (including flowering ones) for which the presence of a shade is a favorable condition for healthy development and high-quality growth. Moreover, these plants can be both annual and perennial, be both short and shrubs. In a word, the choice of annual and perennial unpretentious and shade-loving plants for the garden is quite large.
In addition to shade tolerance, when choosing the type of plant that will be planted in the garden, you should also take into account its specifics.For example, crops such as laurel or privet are not recommended to be planted in gardens as no other flowers will grow next to them. This is explained by the release of special substances by them, which inhibit the growth of everything that is around them.
Another important point that every gardener should know is that almost all shade-loving garden flowers prefer moisture, but at the same time, water should not form puddles in the soil. Therefore, it is recommended that the soil in the garden is always moist and well-drained.
The rest of the article provides information on the main shade-loving plants for the garden, as well as some ideas for using them to decorate it.
Design options for shady areas
Flower beds
Taking into account the variety of plants in size, height, flowering period and decorative value, making flower beds becomes a pleasant, creative activity with a lot of different options. You can make a combined composition, where the plants will bloom one after another, or make a flower garden, in which the main ones will not be flowering varieties, but with beautiful and colorful foliage. Imagine!
Flower beds can be decorated and edged with small mounds of small pebbles, colored chips, mulch or decorative low fences, and around sow lawn grass and pave paths.
Rock garden
Why not? Stones can be placed among flower beds, used as edging, or large specimens can be installed in different parts of the garden, decorated with smaller pebbles, and so that they do not look boring, unobtrusive perennials or ferns can be planted nearby.
Rest area and decor elements
It is not at all necessary to equip a place for leisure with complex structures in a shady garden; a small table with a bench, a hammock or a simple small bench by the flower bed will be enough. Garden figures and paths of various types, flowers in pots, etc. The main thing is that the territory allows it.
Trunk circles decoration
It is possible to decorate the near-trunk area under three conditions - the tree must be an adult and without superficial roots, plants should not be planted too close to the tree trunk. For large trees with a lush crown and low-lying branches, it is necessary to select drought-resistant plants or plant early flowering species.
Well, some shade-tolerant vegetables and herbs can be attached to the garden. For example, we often plant tomatoes to protect apples and pears from the moth. There are quite a few plants that can protect fruit trees from pests, for example, nasturtium will protect apples and cherries from apple sucker and blood aphids, and chamomiles and marigolds protect from aphids and nematodes. Lilies of the valley are a prophylaxis against coccomycosis in stone fruit crops.
We study such properties of plants in practice and describe them on the pages of our website "ECO garden for everyone", because it is so cool to use natural phytoncides for plant protection without resorting to chemistry.
There are many design options for near-trunk flower beds, they can be ordinary and multi-level, asymmetry and flower beds in the shape of a semicircle are welcome, especially if trees grow along the wall.
A deserted area in the shade can be turned into a fabulous, incredibly beautiful place. Use these tips and you will not have any questions about what to plant in the shade on your site.
Designer tips for decorating an apartment with shade-loving plants
A live "screen" in a large guest room will look very original. This is done using large, tall-growing varieties. For example, several trunks of dracaena or palm trees planted in tall oblong pots. Also here will look advantageous "pike tail". Here you can also add loaches: Philodendron Climbing or Tradescantia.
"Living screen" is perfect for the role of a zone separator in the living room
Sansevieria is not afraid of hot air and perfectly tolerates the neighborhood of heating radiators.
Sansevieria in low light conditions will be quite rare watering
You can decorate the mirror area along its contour with one of the climbing plants: Ivy, Tetrastigma, Hedera. You just need to prepare in advance the frame for which the vines will cling and grow.
Ivy and other shade-tolerant loaches look beautiful in hanging planters
It is worth paying attention to the living picture on the wall, which is done with the help of climbing plants. It would be nice to choose color combinations, the layout of different colors, so that they create a beautiful drawing.
A living painting will perfectly fit into the interior of a modern living room
You also need to consider in which pots the flowers that are afraid of the sun will grow. You can choose items that are different in size, but of the same color and stylistic orientation. Or choose different design directions, but the same color scheme. Because the choice of a flower pot in which plants that love shade in an apartment will grow is a very important moment for bringing a living space into a masterpiece of design art.
Streptocarpus is able to bloom for months, pleasing the eye with colored bells
We hope you have found in this article the answer to the question, what flowers must be in an apartment located on the north side of the building? Of course, when caring for shade-loving plants, too much effort is not required. The most important thing is to place them correctly and observe the neighborhood with each other, as well as with heating devices.
Violets in the garden
Another unpretentious perennial and shade-loving plant for the garden is the violet, which is grown for the beauty of its purple flowers, contrasting with dark green leaves, as well as for the duration of its flowering.
Caring for violets is simple, you just need to maintain the moisture of the soil on which they grow, and also from time to time apply organic fertilizers to the soil. Violet does not like direct sunlight. The following types are suitable for planting in the garden:
- fragrant;
- horned;
- canine;
- tricolor.
Chlorophytum crested (Chlorophytum comosum)
It is considered to be one of the most classic indoor plants. It is impossible to imagine the design of almost any home or office without chlorophytum. A spectacular plant, with elegant lanceolate leaves in a dense rosette, producing long lashes not only with inflorescences, but with daughter rosettes capable of rooting, belongs to those plants whose appearance is familiar to almost everyone.
Despite the fact that chlorophytum does not seem to be able to surprise, numerous new plant varieties with curly or wide leaves, reminiscent of garden chard or spinach, will delight anyone, not to mention the variegated colors of modern hybrids. Chlorophytum is good both in a pot and in ampelous culture, it will not be lost in any interior. The plants are limited to only 40 cm in height, although thanks to the famous lashes they can cover striking territories and create surprisingly spectacular cascades.
Chlorophytum crested (Chlorophytum comosum).
Chlorophytum belongs to those hardy and unpretentious indoor plants that can withstand almost any conditions. He puts up well not only with diffused lighting, but also with deep shadow. True, for this, the transition, the accustoming to the reduction of light, must be quite gradual: a sharp change in conditions for chlorophytum is a factor in a significant loss of decorativeness. If young plants are initially grown in the shade, there will be no problem.
Chlorophytum feels good both in hot conditions and in cool conditions, it can endure even the driest air and it is amazingly easy to care for it.The only thing that needs to be taken care of is to avoid both drought and waterlogging of the substrate, not forgetting to periodically spray the plant and carefully monitor its condition.
Epipremnum
One of the best indoor lianas, Epipremnum, formerly known as scindapsus, exhibits unprecedented draping abilities and is actively used in eco-design, in particular, to create green walls. Epipremnum, reaching a length of 3 meters, is indeed capable of growing at an amazing speed and filling free space. But the talents of the climbing plant are not limited only to this. And in a pot, subject to the installation of a support, and "in the wild", this indoor culture is capable of producing shoots up to 6 m long.
Large, oval leaves with a heart-shaped base and a pointed tip in mature plants can grow up to half a meter. Among the epipremnums, there are both vines with a classic rich light green color, and variegated specimens with white or yellowish patterns, similar to paint splashes. Epipremnum pinnatum (Epipremnum pinnatum) and golden epipremnum (Epipremnum aureum) are particularly shade-tolerant.
Epipremnum pinnatum ‘Neon’.
Despite its impressive foliage, epipremnum boasts an excellent ability to tolerate almost any growing environment. When kept at room temperatures and protected from extreme cold, the plant can adapt to any light from bright sun to partial shade and shade. And even if in the shade variegated varietal specimens almost completely lose the typical spots on their leaves, this does not make the epipremnum less beautiful and densely leafy. Caring for this plant is quite simple, but it requires regular watering and feeding.
Alocasia
The decorative tropicana alocasia captivates with the beauty of large leaves decorated with cream and light streaks. Unusually spectacular and catchy, this beauty seems to be all made up of sharp lines and contrasts. Reaching a height from half a meter to almost 2 m, alocasia also surprises with its growth form, because a plant develops from rhizomes. Everything is beautiful in the greenery of alocasia - both shape and color. The leaves rise on long and thin petioles, very large, heart-shaped with a pointed tip and irregular large teeth along the edge.
On the very dark surface of the plates, the color of which in varietal alocasia can vary from rich green to silver, purple, thick, seemingly massive veins appear brightly, dissecting large lobes like a mosaic. Slight wrinkling of the surface is practically invisible due to the bright glossy sheen. In some varieties of alocasia, the leaves fall off in the winter, but the best proven hybrid varieties retain their greenery throughout the year.
Alocasia amazonica (Alocasia amazonica). <>
Growing alocasia is not so easy. This is one of the most undemanding plants for lighting, able to withstand any shade. But for this, alocasia makes a lot of care requirements. It is not without reason that it is considered a crop, the cultivation of which can only be done by experienced flower growers. For alocasia, it is necessary to provide not only high air humidity, but also strict temperature control, uniform soil moisture, which should not be disturbed either towards drying out or towards waterlogging.
In addition, the plant must strictly observe the dormant period, monitor the substrate and constantly check the condition of the leaves and shoots. Even in terms of the requirements for the substrate, alocasia is very capricious, since it can successfully develop only in soil, which is identical in composition to a special substrate for orchids.
Barberry for decorativeness
Barberry, a branchy thorny shrub, is characterized by tall growth, but its dwarf varieties are most in demand among gardeners, convenient for harvesting and effectively used as an ornamental hedge. The culture is characterized by increased winter hardiness.
Sour berries are most commonly used in industry. Barberry prefers neutral soils, is characterized by easy survival and rapid growth. Needs periodic pruning.If we take into account the compatibility of fruit trees and shrubs in the garden, then barberry is optimally combined with raspberries and can easily grow with it in the neighborhood.
Differences between shrubs and trees
Shrubs, used in landscape designThat is, they constantly enjoy the attention they deserve. Therefore, in numerous nurseries there is always a wide selection of these popular plants.
There are intermediate plant forms between shrubs and trees. The main difference lies in the presence of the main, main trunk, in different directions from which multiple branches grow. For example, the following plants can grow in the form of a tree or a bush:
- Nut.
- Some types of elms and willows.
- Hawthorn.
It depends on how they are pruned and the conditions in which they grow.
For example, a dark crimson forest beech, with regular pruning and growth adjustments, can be turned into a shrub and used as a scenic hedge. This hedge will not shed its brown foliage during the winter. But if allowed to grow freely without pruning, such a beech will soon become a tree.
Features of growing and care
To achieve lush greenery and bright flowering in a shady flower garden, you need to properly care for the plants.
Most of the shade-loving species require abundant moisture. They especially need watering in late spring, when hot weather begins. Plants are watered without waiting for them to wither.
All plants, except for wild ones, also need periodic fertilizing. It is also important to loosen the soil, because then the inhabitants of the shady garden will be able to more easily absorb moisture from the soil.
