Shade gardening success with The Horti-Culturalists + how to choose the best plants for shade

How to make your shady borders work brilliantly. Advice from Stephen Ryan of ‪@thehorti-culturalists‬ on how to choose and look after plants for shade and also find out what kind of shade you have! Then go over to the Hort-Culturalists to check out Flowering Plants for Shade: • Collaboration: With Al...
00:00 You have lots of choices in a shady garden
00:19 The Hort-Culturalists KZbin channel: / @thehorti-culturalists
00:53 Define what sort of shade you have
02:02 How to increase the amount of light you have
03:02 What to plant in dry shade
04:33 Important tips about caring for new plants in dry shade
05:45 Planting under and around conifers
06:44 Lifting the crown of a conifer to gain more light
06:50 Can you put raised beds around conifers?
07:30 Understanding partial shade
08:30 Use a climbing hydrangea for a shady wall
08:46 The difference between morning and afternoon sun!
09:34 Plants for a border which has shade in the morning and sun in the afternoon
10:22 Plants for a border that gets morning sun and afternoon shade
11:03 What to plant in shady pots
11:42 Good foliage plants
13:10 How to experiment with what you plant in shady areas
14:39 Plant shade-loving self-seeders
15:35 Video on Flowering Plants for Shade: • Collaboration: With Al...
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[@TheMiddlesizedGarden]

And don't miss the second video on shade garden plants - 8 brilliant plants that flower in shade from @thehorti-culturalists kzbin.info/www/bejne/bIusnZule6elpLcsi=L0aYg761VWTQNQMK

[@ratioetscientia]

I’m going to save this one to leisurely watch it on Saturday with a cup of tea in hand but I’ll leave a preemptive like and comment for the algorithm ☺️

[@TheMiddlesizedGarden]

That's kind of you, thank you!

[@LouciferFlump]

I do that as well! 👍🏻😂❤

[@anmnou]

A glass of wine over here 😊.

[@thehorti-culturalists]

Thank you and so wonderful to share KZbin time with you again Alexandra! Stephen & Matthew xxxxxx

[@jcking6785]

My favorite Brit/Aussie trio!!! 💚

[@TheMiddlesizedGarden]

Thank you!

[@AJsGreenThumbLLC]

SPOT ON video Alexandra! I had a quick lesson on shade after moving into my current home. I happen to have "all of the above" types of shade. Shout out to the Horti-culturalists!

[@TheMiddlesizedGarden]

Thank you!

[@lesliekendall5668]

Stephen, don't even get me started on "hacking on trees". My neighbor (without permission or even asking) came onto MY property and hacked one of my black walnuts down to a totem pole and another one that had a beautiful wide cone shape, and hacked two substantial lower branches off, BOTH ON THE SAME SIDE, because he wanted more sun on his veg garden. Now imagine you're having a very fine day and walk into your backyard and see THAT. ”Pissed" doesn't even touch how angry I was.

[@TheMiddlesizedGarden]

I bet. That's actually criminal damage - I'm surprised you didn't call the police.

[@lesliekendall5668]

​@@TheMiddlesizedGarden Okay then, let me tell you the rest of the story....since we're now living in CLOWN WORLD. I told the neighbor I was going to call the police but decided when I got into the house not to because I live in a large city where the police have better things than trees to deal with AND because it wasn't going to get my trees back. While in the meantime, since I said I was going to call, the neighbor headed me off at the pass and called the police saying I'd threatened him. (A man twice my size and half my age mind you). So the police came. Wouldn't even LOOK at the trees and told me that I'D BE ARRESTED if I said ONE MORE WORD. You can imagine the smoke coming out of my head at that point!! I did file a complaint with Internal Affairs, sending before and after photos, that came to NOTHING but am hoping that the cop involved has at least acquired the moniker "tree man" that I used in my report.

[@SMElder-iy6fl]

I've called the police on my neighbor twice for hacking on my bushes. They did nothing. Two expensive fences put up during the pandemic have - so far - kept her out.

[@lesliekendall5668]

@@SMElder-iy6fl Neighbors are allowed to hack on anything on THEIR side. If that's all they were doing then you have no complaint but a fence will also keep your plants off of their side so you picked the best solution. And there's also a fence now between my trespassing neighbor and my trees. 👍

[@heatherw.2751]

Always a pleasure to see Stephen on your channel! That guys knows his stuff and is never pretentious about it. Love his jacket too!

[@TheMiddlesizedGarden]

I agree!

[@anmnou]

I love shady gardens...and the plants that grow in them. I do not even care if they bloom--they have such interesting textures and patterns and are more understated and elegant to me than showy sun-loving flowers. And they usually turn a beautiful color in autumn too!

[@KarinLowrie-vi9cv]

I ADORE HIS JACKET and GLASSES! SNAZZY! Yes! He wears a garden well!

[@lulajohns1883]

It was in the 50s here one day and I had to go outside and clean a flower bed. I cannot wait to be able to garden!!

[@kathyfoster181]

Another gem Alexandra, thank you. You know how to get the best out of your experts because you're an expert too! You are a true English rose 🌹 Great content as always.

[@TheMiddlesizedGarden]

Thank you so much!

[@mathewhalpin]

My two favourite gardening vloggers in two episodes. It doesn't get better!

[@TheMiddlesizedGarden]

Thank you!

[@Jpatmeadowbrook]

Great suggestions, thank you. Love to see the puppies roaming about too!

[@soapstuff6212]

Two videos! What a treat!

[@TheMiddlesizedGarden]

Hope you enjoy them!

[@kerryjean2223]

Now I understand why Oriental Lily's have done well in my garden in pots and now I'm excited to buy some to plant in the ground, I think I have the perfect spot.

[@maryanna6302]

Thanks for addressing so many puzzling issues. The morning sun vs.afternoon sun difference is a big one for me, I used to think east and west borders should be treated the same but I've found that the exact same plant or shrub that thrives on the east side of my house often sulks on the west side. Great tips on everything 💚

[@TheMiddlesizedGarden]

Thank you, it was a new thought for me, too.

[@mandocool]

Yes, I recently placed sun loving herbs in a shady north facing wall this past winter, and all have survived.

[@angelaquayle2282]

This channel is simply the best. As a new gardener, Ive learned so much here from Alexandra and the experts she interviews .I'm hoping one day Alexandra will interview Garden architect Stefano Marinaz, his gardens are simply amazing and I'd love to hear how he plans a planting scheme

[@TheMiddlesizedGarden]

Thank you, I'll look out for him.

[@barbkenas5663]

Great info!

[@juliashearer7842]

I did not expect to see one of my orchid channels here! 👋

[@LifeHomeandGardenwithAnaRica]

Thank you so much for all the garden ideas and tips, they are very helpful.

[@TheMiddlesizedGarden]

Thank you!

[@LindasFlowersandVegetablesGard]

Love your suggestions!

[@John_NY10566]

excellent information, thank you

[@user-rf2pq3fm3n]

Luv your ideas. I luv gardening. I've made many gardens in my lifetime. ❤🇨🇦

[@TheMiddlesizedGarden]

Thank you!

[@jaqmackie]

So important to consider your shade.I made the mistake of assuming it was shade but canopy was high so more sun than I though.

[@samschapel6886]

Brilliant video and just what I needed. I have a relatively new garden in Australia with all types of shade and sun, slopes and flat, moist and dry areas, with evergreen and deciduous trees, and even different soil types!! It can be a puzzle to figure out what plants will thrive in each spot. This is a great help! 👍 (Great to see the horticulturalists too!)

[@TheMiddlesizedGarden]

Glad it was helpful!

[@MyKing081]

Great advice. I paid a lot of attention to even notice that the gentleman had a shave and haircut, but then it grows back on again...

[@vickysigwald2255]

Increible. Gracias

[@suepercy8390]

Alexandra you are so knowledgeable, but I love the way you seek out other very personable experts for your channel, rather than just have a single person

[@carolynbrotherton4599]

Also saving. Thank you.

[@dorothylaplante7243]

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. This is the information I was requiring as I have to move my raised garden bed as a tree has shot up and the area is now too shaded. So I need to put something else in that area.

[@flowerpixel]

Great video!!! Shade is so tricky

[@geraldinefields1730]

Thank you.

[@dawndanielson5635]

It was helpful to me!😊

[@gardenonthemoors]

You have some brilliant tips in this video! Love it 😀

[@TheMiddlesizedGarden]

Thank you, Stephen is so knowledgeable!

[@MGheen]

I have two questions for you or your followers! 1) What online or digital tool (not paper) do you use for garden planning and logging? I'm thinking about cracking open OneNote so I can use it from my phone and other convenient devices. I'd like to: - keep a log of what I have and where - what the label says it's needs are v what I observe - log monthly/weekly sprouting, blooming, etc so I can document what specific plants + the garden look like year round and anticipate next year - anticipate what tasks I need to do week to week - include my own photos Etc Digital in the cloud seems best for me, so I can edit, add, etc from my phone or desktop, wherever I happen to be. Not paper so I can quickly change and take notes--adding and subtracting info as needed. And layering info--from monthly overall garden snapshot to specific plant info. That's why I'm thinking OneNote... I'd be interested in a tutorial or even an overview of good logs people have used so I can create my own. 2) Where can I go to get "real life" images of what plants look like in every stage and phase of growth and aging? I find plenty of stock photos of "model" plants, at their best, in full bloom, at best height, often just flower closeups or in nursery pots which are not generalizable. But I'd also like to know what a plant / tree looks like at its best and "worst"; when just sprouting, in bloom, dying back; as a sapling v at medium and full growth. Helps me envision what my garden will look like over time. Does such a "real" photo gallery exist? Or do I have to create it for myself? (See OneNote idea above). Thank you!!!

[@LouciferFlump]

Great video! Great advice! I’m backed onto woodland and have a shady back garden and an extremely sun-baked front/side garden. Glad he didn’t advocate felling any trees. I’ve loads of all ages and sizes both inside and adjacent to my garden. I’ve only ever felled one because it was actively causing subsidence and I felt like an axe murderer for doing it! 😔

[@TheMiddlesizedGarden]

I agree, trees are such an asset, both to a garden and to a neighbourhood.

[@sunitashastry5270]

Good overview on this topic.

[@TheMiddlesizedGarden]

Thank you!

[@juliepardo7767]

Excellent tutorials, Alexandra! Your vlogs with Stephen and Matthew are so informative. I find my dry shade areas a bit of a challenge, lots of transplanting due to plants not adapting to those particular conditions. However, I've had great success with Lungwort(Pulmonaria) in my dry shade beds. I'm in Southern Ontario, Canada, zone 6b) I love the foliage with the pops of white. It's a great accent plant and its Spring flowers(blue/purple) are so beautiful.

[@TheMiddlesizedGarden]

Pulmonaria is a great suggestion, and I've had success with it, too. Thank you.

[@hannahadlergontard7057]

Thank you for your beautiful work! Could you make a special plant that can withstand humidity? Please?! I live in a mountainous region were the winter is very humid rainy and very foggy. Many plants looks beautiful in the summer but don't come back in the spring and that is very frustrating.

[@lorimiller623]

Under my maple tree, poppy mallow and camellia-flowered balsam grow well. Rosa setigera (prairie rose) is a vigorous climber on a north-facing fence and has masses of blooms for a few weeks in June. Gooseberry (Amish red) grows on the north side of my house--it has tasty berries and turns orange and red in the fall.

[@lorimiller623]

I love the word "mollycoddle"!

[@Cassieskins21]

👍👍

[@LadyGardener81]

Really good content but sadly sound is rather too quiet even on full volume using earphones for me. Not sure if it’s my side of technology or just the levels from video production. Keep the wonderful work going though. It’s so useful even to experienced gardeners especially where starting a garden from scratch in a completely new area of Britain with different climatic conditions, neighbouring trees and soil type not worked with previously. ❤

[@RoseMary-vs3io]

💪💚

[@Hayley-sl9lm]

I was very inspired by the Ladybird Johnson Grove trail in the northern CA redwoods, they have huge rhododendrons growing in shade. I always wonder though if there is probably a minimum amount of annual rainfall required to keep up a lush understory like that, and whether one could still make that happen in the city with so much urban heat island effects. Where I live there are a lot of native conifer understory acid-loving shrubs -- gaultherias, rubus, vaccinium, etc.-- that are hard to get going now with climate change making everything so much more arid. Arctostaphylos uva ursi does pretty well still, that is one of our natives that gets used a lot in landscaping. Took me a couple of years to get mine established though.

[@TheMiddlesizedGarden]

Interesting, thank you

[@carolynclark8780]

Hello Alexandra. I love bergenias for their care-free nature, beautiful spring blooms, and especially those large leaves. But in my garden, some creature gnaws the leaves, leaving my bergenias looking so ratty that many times I've wanted to rip them out entirely - but haven't found the nerve to do it yet. I noticed the bergenias pictured in this video @ 3:26 have the same problem, although they don't look as bad as mine. What critter is doing this and what can be done about it?

[@beberbank8894]

missing Wet Shade!

[@donnabauerofbrilliancebyde1178]

I just moved and I have a lot of clay. Any suggestions on what can I plant, is there an amendment possible?

[@kimberlyweinstein4873]

Is there a segment on plants that are safe for pets.

[@lmajor7843]

Do you think moss is a good idea for a shade garden?

[@lesliekendall5668]

The soil under conifers is also going to be acidic, yes?

[@TheMiddlesizedGarden]

Not necessarily. It'll be whatever your soil normally is. I went to a talk given by Adam Frost and he said that pine needles don't turn the soil acidic because even though it seems as though there are a lot of them, in reality, it's only a thin layer on top of your soil. But there are often quite a lot of conifers in areas which are naturally acidic, and the soil, of course, will be acidic then. Apparently it's also a myth that pine needles in the compost will make it acidic.

[@lesliekendall5668]

@@TheMiddlesizedGarden Well well, I'll have to check the soil underneath my pine trees. I thought I had the perfect spot for a hydrangea but I guess I should test it first.

[@asprywrites6327]

I wish I was friends with 0:32 the fellow in the middle.

[@TheMiddlesizedGarden]

He's good fun and so knowledgeable

[@gregory251976]

I'm outta here, this garden is SHADY.