KEEP COOL WITH HOT COLORS FOR THE SHADE

   Photo by Don Armstrong. Beautiful foliage of Persian shield for a shady spot in our summer landscape.

Katherine Hamilton is a Master Gardener Volunteer with the University of Florida IFAS Extension in Leon County , a member of the Horticulture Advisory Committee and an employee at Tallahassee Nurseries. For more local gardening information, visit the UF-IFAS Extension website at http://leon.ifas.ufl.edu

Tallahassee’s hot and humid summers often diminish the pleasure of gardening, making us feel as if we are gardening in a sauna.  Fortunately there are the beautiful early mornings and evenings, and there is the shade.  Here are a few ways that you can invest your gardening energy in a more comfortable way while simultaneously making your shade garden “pop”.

Think hot colors and combinations for lightening and brightening your shaded areas.  Remember that you can plant into the ground or make a container for the shade.

A showy foliage plant with rich iridescent purple and silver colors for either situation is Persian shield.  With a size of two to three feet in height and width this plant can be the centerpiece or form a backdrop. Pair it with a lavender flowering plant such as orchid pansy (Achimenes ‘purple king’), which breaks its winter dormancy in late May or June and blooms intermittently throughout the summer.  If you are impatient with using impatiens for color, try browallia or bush violet, a profusely blooming relative to the petunia, sporting deep blue-purple flowers.  Add a third element of silver to round out your hot combo--perhaps silver falls dichondra, also known as kidney weed.  This plant will cascade from a container or wall or form a spreading groundcover connecting your purple plants.

Stroman the is a tender perennial that does quite well in a protected light shady area.  Its long leaves, dark green on top and burgundy on the bottom, have an elegant tropical look to them.  A favorite variety of the popular houseplant perperomia, particularly one with some pink coloration, would

grow nicely in this same outdoor situation--mulch both plants for winter protection.  In the background try the large lime green sum and substance hosta or justicia with its pink plumes.

Coleus is a wonderful plant for color in the shade.  There are varieties bred especially for shade in a large range of colors and combinations, including the splashy ‘kong’ coleus with its giant eight to ten inch leaves.  One cultivar has mottled red, burgundy/brown, cream and green coloration.  It can draw your eye very quickly into the shade and thus hardly needs a companion.  Three to five plants set in an irregular pattern make quite a statement on their own.  So-called sun coleus can also be grown successfully in light shade. 

A grouping of plants commonly known as gingers offers a tropical look, interesting texture, and a range of ornamental surprises for light shade.  Many of these plants grow three to six feet tall with long narrow leaves  emanating from the tall stalks.  Most of them will be dormant in winter but return reliably from rhizomes in the spring.  Pinecone ginger is so named because it produces cone shaped inflorescences which turn bright red in late fall--very showy.  Butterfly gingers bear white and very fragrant flowers in late summer.  The rose-red blooms of red spiral flag ginger appear at the tips of stems that spiral rather than shoot straight up.  Combine them all in one bed and your shade will definitely pop!

Variegated shell ginger has foliage characterized by irregular stripes of green and yellow.  The flowers are white tipped with pink, borne in long pendant arches.  This plant, with its dramatic foliage and flowers, merits its own separate location.  Try it under the protective canopy of a large tree.  Peacock ginger is a striking groundcover with oval shaped leaves of medium green marked by intricate patterns of burgundy, bronze or silver.  The delightful lavender flowers hover singly within a clump of foliage.

So, have fun, keep cool, and plant in the shade this summer. 

###