Gardening in Florida Part Shade

There’s a part of my moon garden behind the swing that is looking a bit bare to me. It’s right out side my dompar’s office. As you exit his side door, there is a trellised box planting to the right, a gravel patio straight ahead, and just beyond that is a bed with part-shade loving plants. They are:

I know that sounds like a lot but it is a very large area. And, that’s why it feels bare. Right now, December 17th, there are some pink roses on the Old Blush and some fading pink camellia blooms… but other than that, there is mostly just green… and not even a lot of different texture. Soon, another camellia will blossom as it has tons of buds. And the azaleas don’t seem to be wanting to flower quite yet. So, I have to do something.

It also just dawned on me that the edgeworthia’s mature size is ginormous, so likely that will have to move!

I planted a bunch of snapdragons and alyssum with pansies and petunias outside of Dakota’s studio… so that may do the trick. I wanted to list other shade plants with which I have success in the hopes that it would jar some design ideas. Here’s what I came up with:

For color

For texture

Now that I have a pretty extensive list, I can start researching beautiful shade garden plans. I definitely want coffee cup alocasias and smaller hydrangeas like TuffStuff Ah-ha. I saw photos of youtube garden influencers, so I will make a plan based on what I like in those designs.

The first garden had an alyssum border with TuffStuff, dahlias, and clematis interspersed throughout… just climbing on any bush in its path. Another shade garden I admire has TuffStuff with begonias, cleome, sunpatiens, and coleus. Both of these gardens are further north (Wisconsin and North Carolina), so not really indicative of the plants that like to be planted out in December. Right now, I can get quarts mailed to me, but I would probably do better to wait until spring to purchase gallons. Knowing me, when I have a design planned, I just want to complete it TODAY! 😉

The above plants are good for color, but being in Florida, I have access to tons of textured palms and gingers as well. Another great thing is that I have many plants already on the property I can divide and replant. Plus, I have a few friends who love to share plants that multiply prolifically in their gardens.

Some of these that come to mind are: gingers, heliconias, lady palms, cast iron, wild coffee and pagoda flowers but they wouldn’t fit my design and are actually already in this space, bleeding hearts, bromeliads, tradescantia, mrs. schiller’s delight, agaves, podocarpus, flax lily/dianella, and more. I can always propogate azaleas, staghorn ferns, and firespike too.

So, I have decided… Fairytrail Fresco, Colocasia, dahlias and other bulbs in pots, dark burgundy cordylines, clematis, cool winter annuals like alyssum, dianthus, dusty miller, and petunias. The color scheme will be lavenders, soft pinks, apricots, silver, and dark burgundy/purple. I’ll keep you posted on the progress.