Big and Tall Shade Garden Design
Garden at a glance:
Shade-loving plants (see list below)
Mix of short and tall plants that spread a lot
Great for backyard areas with shade
This garden will plant an area from 10ft x 10ft up to 10ft x 15ft
How to design and plant:
Mix the grasses and sedges throughout the garden to provide soft textures to balance out the more chunky flower leaves
Plants can be planted 15 inches apart
Materials and Supplies:
Plants - you can buy this as a pre-made garden kit or purchase the plants as pots separately. The garden kit is cheaper but the pots are larger, more mature plants.
3” of wood mulch (1 cubic yard, or 14 bags of 2 cubic foot mulch). Wood mulch reduces weeds, reduces watering to just 3-5 times the first year, and nearly doubles plant growth—well worth the extra work (a few hours) and cost (about $40 for a 10ft x 10ft area).
Paper weed-block rolls or cardboard or newspaper to put underneath the mulch. Do not use plastic!
Edging - 5” deep plastic edging or blocks.
Sticks or popsicle sticks to mark the plants. Plastic labels will break over time.
Plants needed:
Flowers:
6 Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
3 Poke Milkweed (Asclepias exaltata)
6 Big Leaved Aster (Aster macrophyllus)
6 Short's Aster (Aster shortii)
6 Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum)
9 Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)
9 Zig Zag Goldenrod (Solidago flexicaulis)
Grasses and Sedges:
6 Palm Sedge (Carex muskingumensis)
6 Pennsylvania Sedge (Carex pensylvanica)
15 Star Sedge (Carex radiata)
Maintenance:
Weeding. The first two years are really important, so try to weed every few weeks and pull out even the tiniest weeds each time. If weeds get too big, their big roots pulls up large clumps of dirt and it wrecks the mulch layer. Watch for weedy grasses that seem to be spreading underground inches or feet at a time—these are particularly difficult weeds to keep under control.
Watering. If you used 3 inches of wood mulch, you’ll probably only need to water twice a week for a 4-6 weeks after planting and then never again! But always be sure to watch for wilting leaves. Never water every day, and always check the soil moisture under the mulch with your finger before deciding if they need water or not. We have never needed to water a native plant garden after the first year of establishment!
Trimming. At the end of the year you can leave all of the stems over winter. Bees and insect larvae overwinter in stems. The foliage provides winter interest as it sticks out of the snow. You can also choose to cut things back or mow everything down in fall or spring. Cutting things down allows more sun to reach the ground and plant crowns, warming things up faster in the spring and making things re-sprout earlier.
Mulching. If you use 3 inches of wood mulch to start and make sure you pull weeds when they are very small so their roots don’t wreck the mulch layer when pulled, you shouldn’t have to mulch again—the wood mulch will stay intact as the native plants mature and spread over the years. As the native plants get bigger, especially the grasses and sedges, their leaves will create a natural mulch layer at the end of each season.