Working with spaces on the North side of a house is a common issue clients ask me to tackle. There aren’t a lot of shade plants to choose from in a zone 3 or 4 hardiness zone, so gardens tend to look the same. With this recipe, I wanted to keep things simple and build a short to tall garden with something interesting happening in the fall. Textures are usually the main draw with shade plants as they tend to flower in spring and early summer. So I wanted to use a plant that typically grows in the bush.

Ingredients:

Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’

• white flowers in summer; zone 3

Aster divaricatus

• white flowers in fall; z3

Astilbe chinensis var. taquetti ‘Superba’

• pink flowers in late summer; z3

Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’

• blue flowers in early spring; z4

Cimicifuga ramosa ‘Hillside Black Beauty’

• white flowers in summer; z3

Dicentra spectabilis

• pink flowers in spring; z3

Heuchera x ‘Black Pearl’

• white flowers in summer; z3

Hosta ‘Krossa Regal’

• pink/purple in summer; z3

Tiarella wherryi

• white flowers from late spring to early summer; z3

Seasons:

Overview

Spring

The design is straight forward - tall plants at the back closest to the house foundation, tapering down to the smallest plants in the front. Dicentra is kept to a few small clumps as they usually go dormant in the summer months. If they do, there are other plants around it that will take focus away. Brunnera has a very short flowering time in early spring, but I think it is worth the effort. Their silvery foliage works well with the Hosta and Heuchera so it will still serve a purpose once it’s done flowering through summer and into fall.

Summer

Summer is still your main flowering time for the garden with Astilbe, Cimicifuga, and Hydrangea. They have much larger flowers than the spring plants so the visual impact will be greater.

Fall

By the time fall rolls around Aster is ready to add some contrast to the strong textures within the garden. It’s a delicate balance of small white flowers with silver, blue, and dark purple foliage from Brunnera, Hosta, Cimicifuga, and Heuchera and dried flowers from Hydrangea and Astilbe. Lots to enjoy!