Here at Gardzen we firmly believe that there is no “ideal” or “perfect” garden. Every spaces has its own blessings and its own issues, and working within those constraints is part of what makes gardening both creative and challenging. We’ve gotten some questions lately about gardening in small, shady, dry, narrow, or otherwise awkward spaces, so we thought we’d offer some advice for making them work. As it turns out, the traits that make these spaces “difficult” can also lead to some wonderful gardening solutions and discoveries. As always, throughout this blog we’re providing links to other articles and resources that can help. So join us as we look at some gardening ideas for small or awkward spaces. Let’s dig in!
Gardzen Executive Summary
What to Grow in a Shade Garden?
This is the most common garden difficulty we here about: folks who have an outdoor space they’d love to fill with plants, but they’re afraid it doesn’t get enough sun. Not to worry—this is an issue as old as gardening itself and many possible solutions exist. Shade gardens can be a real joy, filled with beautiful plants and creative arrangements. A quick note: “shade” is generally defined for gardening purposes as any site that receives less than 4-6 hours of sunlight a day. There are plants that grow in full shade, so if your site never gets direct sun just remember that you’re looking for those.
While many popular garden plants need full or partial sun, some really stunning plants do well in shady conditions. Some of these include the follow:
· Asters including white woods aster (Eurybia divaricata) and Short’s aster (Symphyotrichum shortti) are late-season bloomers that do well in shadier locations. With beautiful, daisy-like blooms on tall stems and pretty green foliage, they’re wonderful plants in and of themselves and perfect for either container or in-ground shade gardens.
· Coral bells (Heuchera villosa) are an underrated garden beauty that do well in shady conditions. Like asters, their blooms appear late season, but their wonderful ruffly leaves are a joy all year long. They make a great back-splash in an ornamental garden, and the tall subtle blooms add vertical interest as well.
· Sometimes you want more color in your shade garden, and that’s where Corydalis comes in. With a number of different varietals in various colors, you can use these beautiful plants to create a composition of hues or just embrace the chaos and plant them willy-nilly. They’re hardy in zones 6 through 9, giving them a fairly flexible range, and prefer moist yet well-drained soil.
These are only a few of the possible options; many more exist and most climate zones and conditions allow for a fun and beautiful shade garden. But shade’s not the only issue—our dry climate and hot-weather gardeners have their own challenges. But there are some good ideas for them, too . . .
Xeriscaping, Native Plants, and Other Hot Climate Garden Ideas
As we’ve mentioned, the Gardzen Test Gardens are located in southeastern North Carolina, USA. So we’re no strangers to hot and humid weather and we know a bit about hot weather gardening. We also hear from fellow gardeners in hot and arid regions about the challenges they face with dry conditions. We’d like to synthesize those conversations here to provide some ideas for gardening where it’s hot, or dry, or both!
Plants respond to heat in a variety of ways, and understanding how the plants in your garden react to extreme temperatures is a must in order to help them thrive. Watering is a common solution to heat, and it does help. However, some plants may benefit from shade during the hotter parts of the day. This can involve locating them in a sheltered part of the garden, erecting a shade cloth or cover that shields them from the worst of the heat, or moving them as needed. It’s best to water either early in the morning or last thing in the evening, but spot-watering plants that need it throughout the day can be helpful.
For hot dry climates, xeriscaping is an interesting landscaping option. Xeriscaping involves creating garden and outdoor spaces that embrace dry or hot conditions via the use of native plants adapted to the local climate, careful design that makes the most out of the water and shade available, and ground cover that requires no irrigation. The results can be stunningly beautiful, so if you live in a dry and hot places consider xeriscaping as a landscaping solution.
How to Garden in Small or Narrow Spaces
Sometimes the issue isn’t light, or heat, but the space itself. Many of us are working with garden spaces that are small, narrow, or just oddly shaped. This can be a joy in and of itself, as these smaller spaces can become an accent or wonderful surprise for both gardeners and visitors.
With narrow spaces, we’ve found that making use of vertical spaces is key. With the right support or trellis many vine plants—both food plants and ornamental—can grow upward, adding both vertical interest but also making best use of the limited room available. By growing upward in the back, planting taller freestanding plants in the middle, and shorter plants up front we can fit a variety of things into our gardens even if the space is narrow or just a bit awkward. For veggie plants, this lets us grow a number of different crops in these spaces. For ornamental gardens, by mixing heights, colors, and foliage textures we can create something special and unique to us in even a limited space.
One thing we want to add about small space gardening: it’s easy to get focused on plants but make sure to include a space for yourself. Even just an outdoor chair where you can sit and enjoy the thing you’ve created is enough. Gardens are about plants, but they’re also about people so make sure you include yourself in your garden.
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