When selecting plants for shaded areas in your landscape, consider incorporating ferns. Ferns are excellent choices for low-maintenance shade gardens, as they offer various sizes and shapes, adding a touch of tropical elegance to your outdoor spaces. The house I live in now has a lot of shaded areas in the garden. It has been a learning curve for me because my prior gardens had all been very sunny locations. Anyway, I got to explore a whole new plant palette and I’m happy with my results.
One of favorite plants is the maidenhair fern. I remember these from when I was a little girl. I lived next door to a woman who had a fantastic garden with a koi pond. As I got older and she did, too, I helped her with watering, spending a lot of time in her garden. Maidenhair ferns were everywhere and gave the garden a magical feeling. I thought they were so delicate and difficult to grow but it turns out they are tough, hearty plants. I got a clump from a friend that I divided and planted around my yard. I lost a few but the ones that grabbed hold and thriving and spreading. Slowly I’m filling in bare spots and love seeing the fluffly lightness of these ferns everywhere I turn.
