Design a Garden to Bring Out the Best of Both
For most gardeners, sun and shade conjure up images of separate gardens. But many gardens, including mine, have both sun and shady areas. Having both sun and shade can be a joy, but when it comes to designing a cohesive landscape, it can also be a challenge.
When I first started working on my garden in Western Springs, Illinois (USDA Hardiness Zone 5), in 1990, I found myself with areas of deep shade, dappled shade, and soft, filtered shade. There was a bright, sunny swath in the middle of the yard, with two 30-foot-tall spruce trees casting long shadows—all in a yard that was 90 feet wide.
To bring all of these diverse areas together, I used a series of simple design techniques that draw your eyes and feet through the garden, regardless of whether it was sun or shade. By repeating shapes, colors, plants, materials, and focal points, the garden gained an overall sense of cohesion.
Create a framework for your garden
I began to create my garden much as an artist would a painting. The soil was my canvas, to which I added a flagstone edging frame. Two layers of 4-inch flagstone surround my tray-shaped perennial gardens, creating a series of raised beds. The first layer is half-buried for stability; the second gives it a bit of height.
Hardscaping materials are the bones of my landscape, giving it dimension and character at any time of year. So the flagstone that frames my raised beds also lines my garden paths and is used to create patios between perennial borders. Overall, the result is the effect of a single garden edged in stone—though it includes both sunny and shady areas.
A descending layer of trees and shrubs provides a pleasing backdrop for the perennials in my sparkling garden, as if they were in a painting. 30-foot-tall spruce trees anchor each bed, while bushy purple-leaved plums (Prunus cerasifera 'Newport') fill in between. A short hedge of northern babyberry (Myrica pennsylvanica) is placed in front of the plums. In the foreground are flowering perennials—the subject of my garden painting.
A similar layer of trees, shrubs, and perennials was planted in the shade garden for balance and consistency. The plants are different, but the effect is the same. Even in winter, when the perennials are dead, these gardens are visually connected. The trees and shrubs—both deciduous and evergreen—help me survive the dull winter by providing beautiful, snow-covered views.
Use Paths as Guides
Between the edges of the vines, I covered my shady paths with several inches of oak mulch. This same mulch is used as ground cover for many plantings throughout the yard, providing another visual link. A path is like a red carpet; it controls the way a garden is viewed. Straight paths direct your attention toward an end goal, while winding paths add a sense of suspense to a garden. You never know what lies around every bend.
That’s why I like to include a curved path whenever I’m working on a woody shade garden. In my own garden, a path divides the shade into three distinct areas, each with different light levels. This makes it easier to select and grow plants. The path makes the shade garden appear larger, as if an empty room had been filled with furniture.
Repeated Colors in Flowers and Leaves
As a designer, I wanted my garden to be a teaching and experimental garden, so it contained many different plants. To make them look like they belong together, I used a coordinated color scheme. I chose a palette of mostly pastel colors - a mix of bright and pale tones of pink, lavender, and purple, with soft, subdued shades of blue and yellow. Purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea), silvery blue lamb's ears (Stachys byzantina), pink snapdragons (Antirrhinum majus), and yellow coreopsis (Coreopsis verticillata) are some of the annual and perennial plants that fill my sunny borders.
However, to use color effectively, you need to repeat them in the shade garden. Here, witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) and lady's mantle (Alchemilla mollis) add yellow, while old-fashioned bleeding hearts (Dicentra spectabilis) display delicate, drooping, pink flowers. Astilbe (Astilbe × arendsii) offers blooms in shades of pink, white, and rose, and Bethlehem sage (Pulmonaria saccharata 'Mrs. Moon') displays blue-pink blooms. But since most shade-loving perennials only bloom for a short time, I rely primarily on the foliage for excitement and color in the shade garden. My astilbe plant is also prized for its rose-colored leaves, and after blooming, Bethlehem sage's spotted leaves liven up the garden from frost to spring. I also appreciate epimediums and caladiums for their colorful foliage.
A single plant used repeatedly provides another visual link. One of my favorites is the Japanese maple (Acer palmatum). I have different cultivars in sun and shade, but the color is deep, red-purple.
The pleated leaves and lace-like leaves echo throughout the garden. A curving boxwood hedge lines each side of the shaded garden path. On a larger scale, 15 boxwoods (Buxus microphylla var. koreana) surround a display of daylilies in the sunniest part of the garden. Finally, another boxwood hedge defines the end of the shade garden, where the lawn begins.
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