In the Shade Garden

Welcome to my Shade Garden here in Kentucky.




The April rains have certainly benefited the plants in my shade garden. We needed those April showers to bring the May flowers and plant growth.  In the pic below, there are hostas, hardy ferns, and a Spiderwort Plant (the plant with the purple blooms).




The hostas come in many sizes and different shades of green in my garden. 








The heucheras (coral bells) have become a favorite for me in the shade garden. 



Sweet tea is one of my newest heucheras.  




Astilbe plants are gorgeous in shade garden. They are perfect for brightening up a shade garden and have plume-like flowers. I believe this one is the "White Diamond" astilbe. The plumes will last for several weeks. More plumes will open in a few days.



The autumn ferns were added to my shade garden in 2016 when this garden came into existence.  They die back during the winter but return in the spring with bronze color fronds. As the summer progresses the fronds turn green.  





Hardy ferns were added two years in a row. Now new ones pop up each year. I am so careful not to step on the young ferns coming up in the garden. 



You can see my love of shade gardening. Do you like shade gardens?



Here is a short video of part of my shade garden.






Last year, I was able to work in my gardens most of April but this year has been a different story. Due to the rains and cooler temps, I only worked one day  in April in this garden. 



The calendar has flipped to May, and I have just started my gardening work for the season. This week's temps have been in the upper 80's and the humidity high for our area, making it pretty rough for working in the gardens. 



There are so many creeping vines that need to be removed. I'll show you my progress in another post. 



A few new plants were added for some color: 

Coleus



and Purple Columbine.



In this section of the shade garden, you can see a Painted Lady fern (grayish plant) on the left, a heuchera on the right (the darker plant) and smaller hostas used as border plants.




Even the smaller Hosta that were used as border plants around the edge of the shade garden have grown much bigger than I thought.



Hostas are such a popular plant used in shade gardens and landscapes. Because of their popularity, there are so many different hostas. They also vary in size so you might want hostas that grow very large or ones that stay small. 



I would love to hear about your shade gardens.

Linking to:

Met Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch

All About Home @ Follow the Yellow Brick Home and Common Ground on Monday

Through My Lens on Monday

Inspire Me Monday @ Create With Joy

Inspire Me Tuesday @ A Stroll Thru Life

Wonderful Wednesday @ Ducks in a Row on Tuesday evening

My Corner of the World @ Photographing New Zealand on Wednesday

Share Your Style @ French Ethereal on Wednesday at 6 pm

Thankful Thursday @ It's a Small Town Life

Funtastic Link Party @ Two Chicks and A Mom on Thursday 9pm

Little Things Thursday @ Random-osity

Thursday Favorite Things @ Katherine's Corner

Grace at Home @ The Charm of Home on Thursday 

Fabulous Link Party @ Peacock Ridge Farm, Living Large in a Small House, South House Designs, & Vintage Home Designs on Friday

FLORAL FRIDAY FOTOS on Thursday

Floral Bliss on Friday

A Morning Cup of Joe @ The Cottage Market on Friday

Farm House Friday @ County Road 407

Friday With Friends @ My Hubbard Home

Saturday Sparks @ Pieced Pastimes on Friday

Pink Saturday @ How Sweet the Sound on Friday

Garden Affair @ Jaipur Garden 

Mosaic Monday @ Letting Go of the Bay Leaf on Sunday

Love Your Creativity Link Party @ Life and Linda on Sunday at 2pm

Sundays on Silverado @ The House on Silverado

Busy Monday @ A Pinch of Joy on Sundays at 5pm


12 comments:

  1. Judy, your shade garden is just beautiful! I love shade plants and hostas are my absolute favorites. Ours are just coming up here in Calgary so I'll have to wait a bit but I can live vicariously through yours in the meantime. Just lovely. Thanks for sharing!

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  2. Wow, Judy, you've got an awesome shade garden and your plants all look so healthy and well-cared for! I have that coleus variety in my garden, and a few more in different shades and hues. Mayana coleus plant collecting are a current hobby in our town. You have a great blog and I'm always looking forward to your posts! Happy WW!

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  3. How very beautiful!!

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  4. I wish I had your green thumb; all of my shade gardens have died as I can't seem to find the plants that both like our soil and enjoy living in the shade. LOL.

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  5. What a lovely garden. I am in the Pacific Northwest and it has been so cold! Lovely collections of hostas and heuceras as well. Happy gardening!

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  6. This is interesting! I have a shadow garden myself, and grow similar plants here in Norway.

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  7. Great post!! I am a huge fan of hostas and coleus....I also plant a lot of begonias and impatiens which also do well in shade!! Thanks so much for sharing!!
    Hugs,
    Debbie

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  8. Delightful pictures and a reminder that gardens aren't just about flowers, folliage is beautiful too

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  9. Hello Judy,

    Your hostas are gorgeous! Seems that we share the same love for them. My favourite is Halcyon, I don’t see quite clearly but some of your silver grey hostas could be it. I love also heucheras, but sadly only the purple ones survive longer in my garden. Wishing you happy gardening. Greetings from Finland.

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  10. It amazes me how flowers grow so beautifully with little light. Fantastic photos of the shade garden.

    Thanks for sharing your link at My Corner of the World this week!

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  11. There's just something about ferns...such a lovely garden.

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  12. I love your shade garden! The colors blend so well! I think I love it all—those rusty colored ferns are really pretty with the hostas!

    Thanks for sharing over at the Sunday Sunshine Blog Hop! Don’t forget to link back to the site, and you’re being featured at the next hop!

    Blessings,
    Laurie
    Ridge Haven Homestead

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