Degrees of Shade

Some options for shade

Last week we talked about our display bed for full sun, but shade tends to be more challenging when it comes to landscape design. Over the summer, we experimented with varying degrees of shade in several of our display beds so let’s take a look at a couple of them to see what kind of options are available.

Here’s a garden that’s playing off the purple and orange color palette of another one nearby, but this bed has a little more shade to it. Only at about 3:30 in the afternoon does it start getting sun and therein lies the problem: it’s the hot sun, so this is a hard bed to fill—it’s had shade all morning.

Variegated ginger in the middle

In the middle we’ve planted variegated ginger that will get up to maybe three or four feet by the end of the season. Sanvitalia is in front—this is a new variety for next year. Flanking it on both sides we have Bounce impatiens followed by SunPatiens® in violet and orange. On either end you’ll see a variety of bidens that was new last year: ‘Sundrop’. It’s a solid performer.

‘Bounce Violet’ 

Our Bounce impatiens has been working out very well; as a matter of fact, we’re torn between the Bounce and the SunPatiens®—both are very strong. SunPatiens® has a slight edge in full sun but Bounce has a slight edge in full shade, so we can’t choose one over the other. Both series deliver the classic impatiens look without the risk of downy mildew.

‘SunPatiens^® Orange’

Color coverage, which is what we care about most, is basically the same for both: SunPatiens^® has bigger flowers but Bounce has more flowers. We also notice that SunPatiens® provides more of a New Guinea look—without the headaches and at a better price point— whereas Bounce gives a nod to the walleriana-type impatiens.