No flowers? How can you have a colorful garden without flowers? Yes, Virginia, you can have color in your garden without flowers. You just have to think a little differently about your garden. After all, there are some plants with attractive foliage that have hidden or extremely inconspicuous flowers. And, don't forget, even the longest blooming conspicuous flowers eventually fade – and then what's left? The foliage. Ahh, the foliage!
So, if you think about it for a minute, you can start to get a picture. Take our native Solomon seal, for instance. It's a lovely arching plant with dainty white bell-shaped flowers in spring. Very pretty, but easily overlooked once the flowers have gone. But wait! The variegated form, Polygonatum 'Variegatum' is absolutely gorgeous. The arching 20 inches tall stems produce the same pendant white flowers in spring but the leaves are edged with the most elegant golden margins. As an added bonus, the flowers are followed by blue-black berries in fall. This is a plant to enhance any shady area all season long. Hardy and reliably perennial in zones 4-9, it will s slowly increase year by year.
Then, there's Brunnera, also known as Siberian blugloss, a workhorse of a plant that performs beautifully in partial shade. It has large heart-shaped dark-green leaves and the daintiest, most beautiful, bright blue forget-me-not-like flowers in spring. After the flowers are finished the leaves remain – almost all year in the warmer parts of its range, zones 3-9. Now imagine the same beautiful flowers on a plant with large, heart-shaped leaves in dark green but irregularly edged in creamy yellow that matures almost to white. That's Brunnera 'Hadspen Cream' and it's pretty as a picture. But wait, how about B. 'Looking Glass'? It's new this season and has heart-shaped leaves that are silver with green veins. As the leaves mature, they curve and become almost round. What a gorgeous sight and what a way to light up a shady part of your garden! Brunnera will reach 10-15 inches tall and thrives in moist, partial sun and shade.
Another plant, a variety of coral bells, with unusually colored leaves is Heuchera 'Amber Waves'. The scientists have been working on coral bells for quite a while to make them ever more attractive and this one gets a rave review. Here's a flowering plant whose dainty, pale rose flowers are pretty but definitely secondary to the foliage. Unlike common coral bells, that have attractive, but boringly green leaves, 'Amber Waves' has ruffled amber-gold foliage with each leaf of a slightly different hue. Stunning! There are other coral bells with leaves that are anything but boring and they've been collected in a mix that combines leaves of many variegations and colors. Who cares about the flowers? Coral bells will grow to 12-18 inches tall in full sun to partial shade. Best foliage color is in full sun (with some afternoon shade in the south). Hardy in zones 4-9.
One of the best groundcovers for dry shade is Epimedium rubrum. It has dainty, heart-shaped mid-green leaves that are edged with red when they are young. In the summertime, the leaves turn a lighter shade of green and then coppery red and yellow in the fall. Tiny, ruby-red flowers shaped like bishop's hats bloom in early spring and are held above the leaves. Hardy in zones 4-9, these graceful plants spread slowly and will give you years of pleasure. The foliage grows 12-15 inches tall.
A groundcover that spreads quickly up to 18 inches wide in full sun to partial shade is Lamium 'Anne Greenaway'. This new selection of an old favorite has dark green leaves with chartreuse edges and silver streaks down the centers – definitely a showstopper that lasts all season. In late spring, look for small, purple-mauve flowers that contrast nicely with the beautiful leaves. It grows 4-6 inches tall and is hardy in zones 4-8.
When you think of ferns, you probably think green. And you'd be right, since most of them do come in various shades of dark-to-medium green. However, there's the cinnamon fern, Osmunda cinnamomea, named for the wooly, cinnamon colored spores borne on the fertile fronds that accent the 2-3 feet tall, deeply cut, waxy green leaves. But there's one that is even more colorful: the much smaller Japanese painted fern, Athyrium niponicum 'Pictum'. Named the 2004 Perennial Plant of the Year by the Perennial Plant Association, this is a winner in a shady or partially shady garden. Its 12-20 inches long gray-green fronds appear to have centers made of silver, but that's not all. The prominent veins are purple-pink, making this fern truly look as though someone has taken a paintbrush to it! Hardy in zones 3-8.
The acknowledged “queen” of the shady garden is the hosta. Beyond basic green, hosta leaves come in blue, gold and chartreuse, with variegations of all four colors plus creamy white. Some are large, some are tiny, some have corrugated leaves, while others have more or less prominent veins. Truly, there is a hosta for every garden. Sure, they do have flowers, but they're never the sole reason to grow hosta. Hosta mediovariegata, is one of the more common varieties around, but the fact that it IS still around – when there are almost 4,000 different hosta cultivars on the market – is testament to its popularity and the fact that it will live up to its good press. The foliage, which will grow to 14 inches tall is creamy white with irregular green edges. Planted in a moist, shady spot, its lavender flowers bloom in June on scapes that could reach as high as 36 inches. Cut the scapes off after bloom is finished; you will enjoy the foliage until frost. Hardy in zones 3-9.
Other hosta can also bring unexpected color to your shady garden. H. 'Bressingham Blue' lives up to its name with puckered blue leaves and white flowers in July. H. x tokudama 'Flavocircinalis' is a gorgeous hosta with blue-grey, heart-shaped leaves with irregular yellow margins. It's lavender flowers bloom in June-July. H. 'Patriot' was named hosta of the year for 1997 and it's easy to see why it's remained so popular: it really lights up a shady spot with its dark green leaves asymmetrically edged in white. It has lilac flowers in summer. H. 'Striptease' was the hosta of the year for 2005; its graceful leaves have light green-yellow centers edged with narrow white lines that disappear into grayish-green towards the outer edges. H. 'Twilight' has puckered dark green leaves irregularly bordered with golden yellow. Its lavender flowers bloom in summer. Brand new on the scene this year is H. 'Wooly Bully' with corrugated leaves whose clear yellow margins set off the blue color of their centers. It has lavender flowers in summer. All these hosta are mid-sized, perfect for any garden, no matter how large or small. They are hardy in zones 3-9.
But, of course, if it's miniature plants you're after, there are dwarf hostas that are perfect for you. 'Dew Drop' (doesn't that say it all?) has small dark green leaves with white edges. 'Hydon Sunset' has bright chartreuse foliage with purple flowers in June-July. And 'Pandora's Box' has heart shaped leaves irregularly splashed with green and white streaks. These dwarf plants can be used as accents or edging among larger hosta or as container specimens. Hardy in zones 4-8.
Coming out into the sun for a moment, consider a perennial stonecrop with all the great charisma of its better-known cousin (Sedum 'Autumn Joy') but with the most amazing foliage! Sedum 'Frosty Morn' has distinctive greenish-gray leaves edged with white that positively shine in your garden from early in the season through fall. This upright sedum sports pinkish-white flowers in late summer in the cooler parts of its range. Hardy in zones 3-9, it likes a lean diet (little or no fertilizer) and a hot, dry spot (but water it until it's established).
Another sun-lover is the fabulous canna lily, Canna 'Pretoria'. Canna lilies have been garden favorites for decades, in part because of their lush, tropical look. Indeed, they are bulbs from the tropics and subtropics, and the bulbs need to be lifted and stored over the winter unless you live in zones 7-11. Even in cooler areas however, their 3-5 feet tall lushness brings a warm, exuberant feeling to the garden that makes them welcome anywhere. They also bloom over a very long time – from mid-summer to frost – with large, gorgeous, blossoms that excel as cut flowers as well as lighting up the garden. 'Pretoria' is special because of its superb melon-orange blooms that are set off by large leaves that are striped with alternating bands of cream-yellow and green. The effect is breathtaking!
Back into the shade, there are two other tropical bulbs that are garden favorites that provide boom without blossoms: elephant ears and caladium.
The most familiar elephant ears, Colocasia esculenta has huge green heart-shaped leaves with prominent green veins. Most gardeners are shocked at first by it size – it can grow up to 5 feet tall! However, the shock is soon followed by admiration and a vow never to be without it. Now just imagine an elephant ears that is such a deep purple as to seem almost black. That describes Colocasia esculenta 'Black Magic'. It's equally at home in a container on your patio (though it does need a spot that is shady most of the day) or in your shade garden. It has a cousin with even more pizzazz: Colocasia antiquorum 'Illustris', with large, dramatic green leaves with purple between the veins. Here are two smashing new takes on an old favorite!
For outstanding tropical color in the shade, look no further than caladiums. These fancy leafed bulbs must be lifted and stored over the winter unless you live in zones 10-11, but the rewards for doing so are enormous. Until recently, there were only a few varieties available, but that has now changed, with more being added each year. Caladiums have arrowhead shaped leaves patterned in stripes, speckles, or marbleized in various shades of green, white, pink and red. From July to frost, expect them to thrive and reach 12-18 inches tall. Pot them up indoors early in the season in a warm room (70 degrees F.) and as soon as it is reliably warm outside (about 60 degree F. night temps), plant them in the ground pot and all. They can also be used in containers in a shade spot on your patio or by your front door for a dramatic accent. Whether you choose green and white patterns such as 'Candidum', 'White Christmas' or 'Aaron'; red and green ones like 'Frieda Hemple' or 'Florida Cardinal' or the cotton candy pink and green 'Kathleen', 'Fanny Munson', 'Florida Roselight', 'Florida Sunrise', 'Florida Fantasy', or the lower-growing 'Mrs. Arno Nehrling', you are guaranteed to fall in love with more than one. Then, if those aren't enough to choose from, there are the new strap leaf caladiums recently developed at the University of Florida. They include 'Florida Red Ruffles', with large wavy leaves in dark red edged in dark green and 'Florida Sweetheart', rose with green edges. If you do want to save your caladium tubers for replanting next spring, dig them up when the foliage turns yellow. Remove the dried tops after curing (letting them dry outside for a few days) and store the tubers at 50-55 degrees F. in sphagnum peat or vermiculite.
So, don't you agree? It's nice to have flowers, but they don't last very long. It's even nicer to have beautiful foliage that lasts and lasts once the flowers have gone. Now you've got it!
