5 Shade Gardening Design Ideas

Your green thumb is twitching. The urge to create a beautiful landscape overpowers you. Unfortunately, most of your garden space lies in shade. 

Shade gardening can pose a challenge for most gardeners. But gardening can be messy and challenging. What better way to explore your creativity than creating an aesthetic shade garden?

Struggling with shade gardening ideas? Here are five easy ones you can consider when designing a shade garden:

1. Plant a rainbow –

A colorful garden can never go out of trend. Lighten the area with flowering shade plants. Add a splash of colorful containers (you can also paint your containers for extra oomph). Now shade gardening ideas are not limited to colorful flowers. You can also add foliage with colorful leaves to up your aesthetic game.

Planting big blossoms like hydrangea can add fresh pops of color to your shade garden. Shade-tolerant plants like Costus ‘Red Tower’, Blechnum ‘Silver Lady” or Alpinia nutans can add life to your garden.

2. Monochrome gardens –

Monochrome is yet another underrated shade gardening idea. It can sound a little overwhelming but monochrome can transform your shade garden. Think of various shades of green lining up your garden. Soothes the eye, doesn’t it? 

Monochrome gardens can be left wild and messy, a sea of foliage. You can add several textures to bring out the shades better. Adding planters and stones can help break the monotony of your shade garden. Monochrome shade gardens require creativity.

It calls for specific plants, strategically placed to give you an unending landscape of calm. You can create a visual or a storyboard for your garden before picking the plants. Two shade lovers that can help with monochrome shade gardens are Acorus gramineus ‘Ogon’ and Polystichum polyblepharum.

3. More textures, more variety –

Adding more textures is a popular shade gardening idea. It breaks the monotony and can lighten the space of your garden. The texture of plants mostly depends on the leaf characteristics. Since leaves come in multiple shades of green, they can be creatively placed in your shade garden.

Using light and dark coloured leaves improves the aesthetics of your shade garden. For instance, you can plant leaves with contrasting characteristics.

4. Shade gardening is an art –

Whoever said shade gardening could not be an art in itself? It requires visualization, creativity and patience. Experimenting with garden accents, statues, fountains, pots and planters can take your shade gardening to the next level.

Art does not exclude plants. Adding a variety of plants to your shade garden is art too. For instance, hanging drapes like the Virginia creeper is a popular shade gardening idea. You could also use garden accents like spheres to give the shade garden a personality.

There are plenty of easy, DIY garden accents that can be added to your shade garden. Decorative metal scraps, concrete planters, outdoor art, hanging baskets can transform your shade garden.

5. Perennial shrubs and edging plants –

Perennial shrubs, and shade-loving annuals grow easily in shade gardens. This reduces the cost of annual replanting and can help you save some bucks in the long run. Perennial shrubs like hostas make for a wonderful shade gardening idea. Violets, geraniums, begonias and rodgersia keep your garden in full bloom every year.

You can choose from a host of colourful annuals like browallia, coleus, balsam, impatiens and iresine. These bloom throughout the summer and add a much-needed pop of colour to the shade garden.

A bonus tip

Always identify the type of shade your garden has. Your shade garden could be harbouring light shade, deep shade, dappled shade, semi-shade or moderate shade. Check the soil type and choose the right plant for your shade garden.

Shade gardens are very underrated. Yes, they can be challenging. But a shade garden has untapped potential. Your shade garden need not be a resounding bore. Add splashes of colour, make art, experiment and create. Start small with these shade gardening ideas and let your shade garden grow to its full potential.

Also Read: 6 Amazing Japanese Garden Ideas.