Autumn Plants for a Country Garden

Home Gardening Center
Rodney White Country Garden

Learn how to create an American country garden featuring favorite, time-tested plants for shady woodland settings. Although many plants thrive in shady gardens, it is important to study your garden and identify what kind of shade you have. To find out, answer the following questions. The plant lists suggest just a few of the many types of plants suitable for shade. Visit the Rodney White Country Garden to see which are your favorites.

How much shade do you have?
* Partial Shade-3 to 4 hours of direct morning or late afternoon sun followed or preceded by indirect, dappled light filtered through a high tree canopy
* Full Shade-all-day shade cast from buildings and dense deciduous and evergreen trees

How moist or dry is the soil?
* Dry -due to drought, root competition, or poor soil composition and water retention
* Moist-evenly moist due to ample rain or irrigation, good water retention, organic content and/or mulching
* Wet-soggy and saturated due to high water table, poor drainage, or periodic flooding along creeks and streams

Is your soil acid or alkaline? Simple, home versions of pH test kits will help you determine your soil's acidity. Many soils in the New York area are slightly acidic.
* Acid-lower than pH 7. Most ornamental shade plants like a pH range of 6.0 to 7.0.
* Alkaline-higher than pH 7.

Some Plants for Moist Shade:
maidenhair fern Adiantum pedatum
wild-ginger Asarum
astilbe Astilbe
summersweet Clethra alnifolia
ferns
plantain-lily Hosta
Virginia sweetspire Itea virginica
fetterbush Leucothoe
golden-groundsel Ligularia
Japanese-andromeda Pieris japonica
primrose Primula
Rhododendrons and Azaleas

Some Plants for Dry Shade
In dry shade, spring bulbs and woodland shrubs and perennials may need supplemental watering to get established. Plant carefully under mature trees in order to disturb their roots as little as possible.

goat's beard Aruncus dioicus
Siberian bugloss Brunnera
Barrenwort Epimedium
witch-alder Fothergilla
hellebore Helleborus
coral bells Heuchera
smooth hydrangea Hydrangea arborescens
oakleaf hydrangea Hydrangea quercifolia

Below is a list of some of the plants in the Rodney White Country Garden in September 2005. Many of these plants are good choices for late summer and fall: some flower late, others have an interesting shape, beautiful leaves, or fall color. You'll notice that like so many gardens, the Country has many different growing conditions: moist shade near the stream and pool, dry shade under the fir trees, and sun near the stone wall. When you visit the garden, notice which plants do well in which locations.

Japanese bugbane Actaea matsumurae 'White Pearl'
shadbush Amelanchier laevis
bluestar Amsonia 'Blue Ice'
goat's beard Aruncus dioicus
wild-ginger Asarum canadense
European wild-ginger Asarum europaeum
New York aster Aster novi-belgii 'Professor Anton Kippenberg'
Ostrich Plume astilbe Astilbe × arendsii 'Straussenfeder'
Japanese painted fern Athyrium niponicum var. pictum
white Himalayan birch Betula utilis var. jacquemontii
eastern redbud Cercis canadensis
pink turtlehead Chelone lyonii 'Hot Lips'
fringetree Chionanthus virginicus
summersweet Clethra alnifolia
wild bleeding heart Dicentra eximia
autumn fern Dryopteris erythrosora
barrenwort Epimedium × versicolor 'Sulphureum'
barrenwort Epimedium × youngianum 'Roseum'
Joe Pye weed Eupatorium purpureum 'Little Joe'
Joe Pye weed Eupatorium purpureum ssp. maculatum 'Gateway'
wood spurge Euphorbia amygdaloides var. robbiae
witch-alder Fothergilla gardenii
golden Hakone grass Hakonechloa macra 'All Gold'
witch-hazel Hamamelis virginiana
stinking hellebore Helleborus foetidus
hellebore Helleborus × hybridus
coral bells Heuchera villosa 'Autumn Bride'
plantain-lily Hosta 'Blue Mammoth'
plantain-lily Hosta 'Ground Hugger'
plantain-lily Hosta 'June'
fragrant plantain-lily Hosta plantaginea var. grandiflora
plantain-lily Hosta sieboldiana var. mira
plantain-lily Hosta 'So Sweet''
plantain-lily Hosta 'Sum and Substance'
oakleaf hydrangea Hydrangea quercifolia 'Snowflake'
creeping St. John's wort Hypericum calycinum
inkberry Ilex glabra 'Compacta''
American holly Ilex opaca 'Miss Helen'
Virginia sweetspire Itea virginica 'Henry's Garnet'
mountain-laurel Kalmia latifolia
mountain-laurel Kalmia latifolia 'Olympic Wedding'
mountain-laurel Kalmia latitolia 'Elf'
mountain-laurel Kalmia 'Richard Jaynes'
mountain-laurel Kalmia 'Sarah'
Japanese bush-clover Lespedeza bicolor 'Yakushima'
Japanese bush-clover Lespedeza thunbergii 'Gibraltar'
fetterbush Leucothoe axillaris
variegated fetterbush Leucothoe fontanesiana 'Girard's Rainbow'
spicebush Lindera benzoin
ostrich fern Matteuccia struthiopteris
Japanese-andromeda Pieris japonica 'Cavatine'
Japanese-andromeda Pieris japonica 'Mountain Fire'
Japanese-andromeda Pieris japonica 'Scarlett O'Hara'
variegated Solomon's seal Polygonatum × hybridus 'Striatum'
Christmas fern Polystichum acrostichoides
lungwort Pulmonaria 'Sissinghurst White'
Catawba rhododendron Rhododendron catawbiense
Carolina rhododendron Rhododendron minus
rhododendron Rhododendrom 'P.J.M. Elite'
rybrid rugosa rose Rosa 'Belle Poitevine'
rugosa rose Rosa rugosa
lamb's ears Stachys byzantina 'Big Ears'
toad-lily Tricyrtis 'Empress'
variegated society-garlic Tulbaghia violacea 'Silver Lace'
bellwort Uvularia perfoliata
tall white violet Viola canadensis
violet Viola 'Mars'
American wisteria Wisteria frutescens 'Amethyst Falls'

Season: Fall