The Comfort of Shade Gardens in the South
We live in such a hot and humid place that shade gardens can provide a welcome respite. In the summer, my favorite place to visit in the South Carolina Botanical Garden is the cove forest habitat in the Natural Heritage Garden. You can recreate this habitat in your garden if you have a shady spot.
Start with the Right Growing Conditions
As with any gardening endeavor, ensuring you have the right conditions for your plants is a must. Once you are certain of your soil type, moisture levels, and pH, the fun starts with choosing plants. Here are some to get you started thinking about options!
Evergreens for Texture and Year-Round Interest
For year-round interest and to provide a textured background to other plants, evergreens are an excellent choice for the shade garden. Try robust Christmas ferns (Polystichum acrostichoides) and the more delicate fronds of ebony spleenwort (Asplenium platyneuron). The former thrives in organically rich, moist soils; the latter in drier, rockier locations. In dry spots, the flowering evergreen pipsissewa (Chimaphila maculata) spreads via rhizomes across the forest floor, producing tiny, fragrant white flowers in the summer. This is an excellent ground cover for a shady yard. In more acidic soils, evergreen members of the heath family, including mountain laurel, rhododendron, and doghobble, have the additional benefit of the beautiful flowers they produce.
Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides).
Sue Watts, ©2025 SC Botanical Garden, Clemson University
Ebony spleen wort (Asplenium platyneuron).
Sue Watts, ©2025 SC Botanical Garden, Clemson University
Spring Blooms for Pollinators and Beauty
Spring is an exciting time in the woodland garden as spring ephemerals and other herbaceous plants emerge. One of the earliest is the trout lily (Erythronium spp.) Their dappled leaves provide interest from early February until the trees leaf out. Their delicate nodding yellow flowers are a lovely bonus. The flowers are an important source of nourishment for our early emerging native bees, including the specialist trout lily mining bee, bumble bees, and sweat bees. Bee flies and pollen-eating beetles also visit them. Foam flower (Tiarella spp.) blooms a little later in the season, late April to early May. When planted in drifts, the flower spikes create a visual foamy mist. After this, there is a panoply of flowering plants to choose from, but make sure you buy from a reputable grower.
Trout lily (Erythronium spp.)
Sue Watts, ©2025 SC Botanical Garden, Clemson University
Foam flower (Tiarella spp.).
Sue Watts, ©2025 SC Botanical Garden, Clemson University
Summer Showstoppers for Shaded Spaces
In summer, bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora) has a similar look to foam flower, but on a much larger scale. This deciduous shrub grows to be 8-12 feet tall and 8-15 feet wide. When flowering, this shrub is show-stopping! It is covered with tall panicles of small white tubular flowers, each sporting many protruding pinkish-red anthers on the end of long stamens. Other deciduous shrubs that add excitement to the shaded landscape are our native azaleas. Last year, I discovered the intensely fragrant Red Hills Azalea (Rhododendron colemanii), which flowers in May. However, there are also other native azaleas that can add brilliant splashes of color to the landscape. Later in the year, rhododendrons take up the mantle of flowering evergreen shrubs.
Bottlebrush Buckeye (Aesculus parviflora).
Sue Watts, ©2025 SC Botanical Garden, Clemson University
Red Hills azalea (Rhododendron colemanii).
Sue Watts, ©2025 SC Botanical Garden, Clemson University
Designing a Biodiverse, Beautiful Shade Garden
The options for shade gardening are exciting. There are so many plants to add texture, color, structure, and seasonal interest to your garden. When you create a shade garden with native plants, you are creating a cool, restful haven while increasing biodiversity.
