"A practical guide to maintaining a shade garden with a useful calendar of seasonal tasks, plant directory and inspiring design ideas." -Gardens Illustrated
Shade is one of the most common garden concerns homeowner's have, but with the right plant knowledge, you can learn to embrace shade as an opportunity instead of an obstacle. In Glorious Shade, Jenny Rose Carey celebrates the benefits of shade and shows you how to make the most of it. This information-rich, hardworking guide is packed with everything you need to successfully garden in the shadiest corners of a yard. You'll learn how to determine what type of shade you have and how to choose the right plants for the space. The book also shares design and maintenance tips that are key to growing a successful shade garden. Stunning color photographs offer design inspiration and reveal the beauty of shade-loving plants.
Shade is a blessing in disguise. Glorious Shade is an inspiring and information-rich guide that shows gardeners everywhere how to take advantage of it. Jenny Rose Carey is a renowned gardener, educator, historian, and author, and the former senior director at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's Meadowbrook Farm in Jenkintown. She previously worked at Temple University for over a decade, first as an adjunct professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture and then as director of the Ambler Arboretum. Jenny Rose has been lecturing nationally and internationally for many years. She is an avid hands-on gardener who has gardened in both England and the United States. Her Victorian property, Northview, contains diverse garden spaces, including a cutting garden, an herb garden, a dry garden, and various mixed flower beds. Jenny Rose and her gardens have been featured on the PBS series The Victory Garden, in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Grow magazine, and The Pennsylvania Gardener.
Preface
My journey to shade gardening came about through my early love of trees and natural areas. Growing up in a village in rural England, we took long walks beneath trees, through shady lanes, and along hedgerows. With my botanist father as a guide, we'd stop at each plant and he would tell me its name. I learned from a young age that certain plants could only be found in the partial shade at the base of a hedge, while others only grew well in the full shade of woodlands.
I loved the cycles of the year and the dramatic changes that happened in shaded areas. In spring, we strolled through woods carpeted with scented English bluebells of an ethereal blue that no photograph could ever capture. In fall, we walked through crunchy, fallen leaves that emitted their characteristic bittersweet smell when crushed beneath our feet. Years later, I still love to walk through woods wherever I am, including around my Pennsylvania home. The woodlands here are carpeted with Virginia bluebells in spring and shaded by soaring oaks, spreading beech trees, and wonderful flowering dogwoods and redbuds. The natural layers of the wild places that I love to explore inspire my garden designs. I tuck plants into every garden corner-tall trees, smaller understory trees and shrubs, and an herbaceous layer at ground level.
When I first moved to the United States, I had to adapt to the new climate, different soils, and a whole new set of plants. My garden, Northview, was then extremely overgrown; choked with vines and invasive plants. The first thing that I set out to do after arriving was to identify which plants would stay and which should be removed. After clearing out the unwanted vegetation, I reached out to gardening friends and neighbors for advice on making smart plant choices. They then generously offered me plant divisions and seeds that were suited to this region, helping me on my way. The shaded areas of my garden look very different today than they did when I first moved in
