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.

‘Frog in a Blender’ 

Over here we have a bed that’s in full shade; it’s actually under a tree so it gets dappled light. Those are caladiums in the center— that’s ‘Aaron’ in the front and ‘Frog in a Blender’ in the back. Some of the light comes through the tree branches and gets caught by that very bright spot on ‘Aaron’, making it even brighter. You might say it amps up the dapple. 

Nonstop^®Mocca begonias with caladium

These begonias look happy—we haven’t tried Nonstop^® begonias in our beds in quite a long time. This is the Mocca series with dark leaf foliage; it was new for us this year. We’ve planted the yellow interspersed with the orange, so we have two vibrant colors with the dark leaves alongside the caladiums in green and white.

Everyone fawns over these particular begonias. They’re quite striking because the blooms are so large—some of them are three inches plus. That center island of caladiums breaks it up a bit and adds a little variety. It gives the illusion of depth; you look over the caladiums to see more begonias—it gives depth to the whole bed. 

As you wind your way through the hustle and bustle of this holiday season, please keep in mind that we will be accepting orders between Christmas and New Year’s even though our office will be closed. 

We’ll be checking our phone messages and faxes regularly and will respond as soon as possible. For your convenience, orders may be placed online also, using the Pre-Order screen on our web site. 

At the close of another successful season, we thank you for your business in 2016 and look forward to serving you for many years to come. As the old Irish saying goes: May your troubles be less and your blessings be more, and nothing but happiness come through your door. Happy New Year!