Spring Growth in My Shade Gardens
Here at my Bedford, New York farm, the garden beds are changing every single day. Trees are leafing out and flowers are bursting with color and energy.
Some of the most beautiful growth is behind my Tenant House and around my gym building. There we've planted Epimediums, trout lilies, mayapples, ferns, Syneilesis, Polygonatum, and other shade-loving specimens.
Enjoy these photos and have a great spring weekend.
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- Behind my Tenant House and near my gym, I designed lovely gardens of shade-loving plants. This time every year, we see these beds come alive with all the bold foliage. These burgundy trees are Japanese maples. With more than a thousand varieties and cultivars, the iconic Japanese maple tree is among the most versatile small trees for use in the landscape. They look so pretty with all the greenery and blooms surrounding them.
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- This is a trout lily. Its delicate blooms, which resemble turks cap lilies do best in dappled light.
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- Syneilesis aconitifolia, commonly called shredded umbrella plant, is an herbaceous perennial of the aster family that is native to hillside forest margins and slopes in China, Korea, Japan and eastern Russia. I am so fond of the foliage. The leaves are narrow, dissected, and cascade downward like an umbrella. Emerging foliage is covered with a unique white fur. White flowers on mauve pink calyxes will tower above the foliage midsummer.
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- All around, I also have lots of ostrich ferns growing. Matteuccia struthiopteris is native to North America. Once established, these grow to a height of three to six feet. Ostrich fern grows in vase-shaped clumps called crowns. The showy, arching, sterile fronds are plume-like and reminiscent of the tail feathers of – you guessed it – ostriches.
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- Every April, we see scores of ferns exploding from the ground.
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- Epimedium, also known as barrenwort, bishop’s hat, fairy wings, horny goat weed, or yin yang huo, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Berberidaceae. The majority of the species are endemic to China, with smaller numbers elsewhere in Asia, and a few in the Mediterranean region. The leaves are made up of leaflets, which can range in number from three to 50 and in size from as tiny to six inches long. They are generally heart-shaped, but can range from round to arrow-shaped.
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- Sprays of pink, white, yellow, orange, or lavender flowers appear this time of year. And, some Epimedium blossoms look like miniature columbines or tiny daffodils, while others appear more like spiders or stars. Species with long sprays can even resemble orchids.
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- Podophyllum peltatum is commonly known as mayapple, American mandrake, wild mandrake, and ground lemon. Mayapples are woodland plants, typically growing in colonies from a single root.
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- I have lots of mayapple growing in the gardens – this large area of mayapple is growing outside my main greenhouse and across from my gym building. The palmately lobed umbrella-like leaves grow up to 16-inches in diameter with three to nine shallowly to deeply cut lobes. The plants produce several stems from a creeping underground rhizome.
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- Nearby, the Cotinus are leafing out, too. Cotinus, the smoketree, or smoke bush, is a genus of two species of flowering plants in the family Anacardiaceae, closely related to the sumacs. Their smooth, rounded leaves come in exceptional shades of deep purple, clear pinkish-bronze, yellow, and green.
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- Astilboides is an interesting plant with huge, bright green leaves that are round and flat and measure up to 24-inches across. The effect is dramatic, and beautiful among other hardy perennials.
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- Commonly known as The Guinea Hen Flower, The Checkered Lily or The Snake’s Head Fritillary, Fritillaria meleagris is an heirloom species dating back to 1575. It has pendant, bell-shaped, checkered and veined flowers that are either maroon or ivory-white with grass-like foliage intermittently spaced on its slender stems.
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- The hellebores continue to show beautifully at the farm. Hellebores are members of the Eurasian genus Helleborus – about 20 species of evergreen perennial flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae. They blossom during late winter and early spring for up to three months. Hellebores come in a variety of colors and have rose-like blossoms. It is common to plant them on slopes or in raised beds in order to see their flowers, which tend to nod.
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- These white hellebores are planted outside my studio. Hellebore foliage is thick, evergreen, and forms a low lying clump with leaves that are lobed and palm-like.
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- These are Snowflakes – not to be confused with Snowdrops. The Snowflake is a much taller growing bulb which normally has more than one flower per stem. Snowflake petals are even, each with a green spots on the end, whereas Snowdrops have helicopter-like propellers that are green only on the inner petals.
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- And we still have daffodils bordering the garden beds with bright colors! My daffodil blossoms come in many combinations of yellow, orange, and white.
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- Here some all-yellow daffodils. I plant early, mid- and late season daffodils to extend the flowering season through spring.
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- Catnip is a member of the mint family. I grow catnip in a few different areas around the farm. It is an aggressive herb, so it spreads very quickly. Cats love the smell of the essential oil in the plants’ stems and leaves. I dry a big batch of catnip every year for my dear kitties.
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- Also growing in a nearby bed is phlox. Some flower in spring, others in summer and fall. Flowers may be pale blue, violet, pink, or white.
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- I hope you’re enjoying all the spring growth around your home and neighborhoods. Share what is blooming where you live in the comments section below.
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