Perennial Color for Shade Gardens
Pollyann’s

Perennial Color in Shade can be a huge challenge. There are plenty of leafy green perennials that can fill a shady landscape but the beauty of color enhances any garden. Shade gardens may be beautiful with the different shapes and sizes of leaves but the impact is magnified if the plants bloom and the color and fragrance flows across the tops of all of those g reen leaves. That beauty can be short lived if there are only a couple of old standards (Hosta, Fern, etc).
Let’s put some color in those perennial gardens. There are many shade perennials that bloom in shade. Shade perennials may have a less than vigorous bloom season than sun perennials, so it makes choosing plants a little more challenging. I took on the challenge and my clients are pleased with the results.
I choose perennials for their bloom times and plant an assortment so the short bloom times (due to the lack of sun) overlap with each other. This gives me a flow of color even if there is a pause between bloom times.
As an experienced landscaper (I am a Master Gardener and have2 degrees in Fine Art), I design gardens and research perennials that can provide visual impact to satisfy my clients from year to year. You can do it, too, with my help.
I have developed this application to provide my expertise for plant choices, whether for size, color or fragrance. Over 20 years of research, planting, monitoring and risk taking with perennials became my obsession.
During those years, I became quite frustrated at nurseries when the clerks had less knowledge than I so I wanted to implement a method of having the information “IN MY HAND” to get what I needed. This is the information and now it can go with anyone to find plants for a Perennial Color for Shade.

Plants were chosen for their esthetic qualities as well as their individual strengths and placed in this format:

Name (botanical and common)
Zone (temperature requirements)
Bloom time (length, duration of bloom or time that flowers are visable)
Height (inches and centimeters)
Bloom size (I find this very important and rarely noted on nursery tags)
Planting Space (amount of space in the garden)
Soil (requirements for best growth)
Sun (how much sun)
Bloom duration (yes, the length of looming is important to any garden)
Habit (how the plant acts in it’s own space)
Use (bouquets, fragrance, border plants, middle ground or background, foliage)
Recommended (plants that would stand out)
Companion plants (complimentary plants for color, size or season)
Pronunciation guide (how to say the name)
Deadhead (how to or whether to snip off spent blooms)
Cutback (techniques for caring for the plant)
Propagation method (how to get the plant to reproduce)
Pest (what I know about bugs)
Disease (what I know about afflictions)
Ecology notes (special interest about the plant, TOXICITY)
Gardener’s tip (something I think may be useful)
Pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Without clawing through hundreds of plant books (I have already done that) or reading online text for hours (hundreds of hours) you can choose perennial plants.
This format should make it easy to take straight to any nursery (on foot or online) and ask, show or look for the correct perennial plant(s). 20 years of shopping, researching, and growing perennials are formatted for gardeners and landscapers to ease the frustration of “not knowing”.
Explore the varieties and colors. Smell the fragrance. Get the right size. And end the drama.
Are you ready to plant? Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Peace, Pollyann