A child drawing a picture of a garden will draw flowers. But a grown-up gardener faced with a site in the shade of buildings and trees must learn to love leaves.
A flower is hard to make; a plant needs plenty of sunlight to make enough sugars in its tissues to fuel that process. So there are not many that flower heavily where there isn’t much sunlight. That doesn’t mean we have to do without color and interest, though. Once you start to appreciate foliage plants, you’ll be amazed at the variety you can find.
The University of Illinois Extension has just launched a new “Fabulous Foliage” Web site that should help. It’s a good introduction to shade-tolerant plants known best for their leaves.
Even after thunderstorms, parts of my garden are almost a desert. It's the territory commonly known as "dry shade," and it's a major challenge to plants.
Dry shade can occur under the overhang of a house or on the lee side, where the house or a structure blocks the prevailing wind and therefore wind-driven rain. But most commonly, as in my case, you find it under trees.
A heavy tree canopy can intercept a lot of water. Rainwater clings to all those leaves and then evaporates when the sun comes out without ever reaching the ground. I have learned to keep rain gauges in different places in my yard, and the one beneath the trees commonly collects no more than half as much water as the one in the open.
I noticed the other day that the potted 'Sum and Substance' hosta in the darkest corner of my patio is trying to bloom. That's quite an ambition! I would never have thought there was enough light in that cave to prompt a plant to flower.
That northeast corner is framed by a 6-foot-tall fence and a 3-foot-wide mulberry tree. (Yes, I know it's a weed. I didn't plant it.) And then there's the shadow of the barbecue grill. It's the garden equivalent of a dark closet.
When I first started gardening around the patio I tried all sorts of things -- clematis, climbing hydrangea, fuchsia, you name it. None of them could survive, much less flower, back there.