LADYBUG SAYS... SHADE-LOVING PLANTS FLORISH

"My yard is so shady, what can I grow?"

One of the most commonly asked questions pertains to shade dominated yards. As new home landscapes mature, the shady places often grow and take over areas that once were sunny.

Trees, large shrubs, arbors, fences and walls all cast varying degrees of shade, and in these situations gardeners find their favorite sunloving flowers no longer are dependable performers.

Thanks to modern plant breeders there are now shade loving flowers and plants available in substantial variety. A basic three among shade loving annuals which afford much color are wax or fibfous begonias, impatiens and coleus. A collection of these three will perk up the dreariest of gardens.

Begonias now compete with petunias for garden popularity. Their ability to thrive in sun or partial shade has had much to do with their increasing use.

This warmth loving species can be found in native habitats around the world. Unlike many flowering plants, the begonia does not have a rest cycle, which means they bloom as long as heat is sufficient for the plant to produce its buds. Red, white, rose, salmon and bicolored blooms are now available.

Leaves of fibrous-rooted begonias are just as interesting with choices of bronze, red or green to contrast with the blooms. Statistics show that begonias with bronze leaf color grown in the sun will be more resistant to weather than other varieties. The red pigment is said to protect the leaf much as suntan cream protects human skin.

In the shade of the green leaves varieties thrive with the large blooms offsetting the vivid emerald foliage.

Begonia seed is among the world's tiniest. Over two million seeds are need to make up an ounce of this high value commodity.

Begonias like a well-prepared garden soil, loosened and with an organic matter added. This will provide the moist, cool rooting environment which begonias appreciate.

Claud Hope and his impatiens breeding staff at Linda Vista in Costa Rica, have developed the new strains of double impatiens, which are unparalled for performance in shady gardens. In 1978 we visited greenhouses there and watched the hybridizers at work, improving this great summer plant. Some of the doubles look like roses and camellias.

Today's impatiens have been bred with larger and larger flowers, and with self-branching characteristics. Some of them spread as wide as they grow tall, making each one a glowing mound of color. They now come in about a dozen colors, ranging through white to grape and raspberry.

The shadier the location, the taller impatiens grow, as they stretch toward the light. If the soil is heavy, add a bit of peat or commercial planting mix.

Impatiens will often reseed and bloom again the same season. They can be dug at summer's end for indoor color in late fall and winter if given a southern or eastern exposure to light.

Shade color need not come just from flowers. The modern coleus offers a full spectrum of color interest with its bright foliage. New coleus have not grown taller, but instead have been scaled down for beauty in foundation plantings, window boxes or hanging baskets.

The high interest and contrast available from coleus leaves make them perfect for many uses with their fancy leaf shapes fringed, notched, cut or solid.

The range of leaf shapes in this shade lover include the lanceolate leaves of the Saber series, the fringed edged Fiji series and the heart shaped, curly edged Dragon series. The Wizard series has the widest color range, with nine colors available from these compact coleus plants.

Salvia takes to partial shade with success. Red, of course, is the favorite color in salvia, but the Carabiniere series also features spikes of blue-violet, ivory and orange in addition to the traditional red.

In all shade loving plants, remember the deeper the shade the taller the plant will grow.

In deep shade, moisture can be a problem. Tree roots suck up moisture from the soil rapidly. Secret to success includes thorough surface watering to provide at least one inch of moisture per week.

Late afternoon and evening sun is more of a shock to plants than morning sun followed by shade the rest of the day. The ideal shade planting is full morning sun.

Dapped shade is another ideal for shade plantings, where small splashed of sunlight filter through the trees to the ground below.