Photo by Yora Kitamura / Dreamstime
Japanese Toad Lily
The most beautiful landscape designs are those in which the design responds to the natural setting. What I mean by that is that we should begin by observing the conditions of the location. Then, we should select from a range of plants that are likely to succeed in those conditions. We should not merely impose a list of plants simply because we find them aesthetically pleasing.
A range of factors should be considered when selecting plants for a given location. They include light conditions, drainage, soil type, and more. After you have assessed the site, choose the plants most pleasing to you from the narrowed list of plants likely to succeed in that spot.
This is easier to do with some site conditions than with others. For example, the greatest range of options might be for landscaping on the east side of a two-story building with a rich loamy soil. Ideally, it would have an elevation that is slightly higher than the surroundings. It would also have an irrigation system. With a site like that, one could design purely based upon her own aesthetics and have a good outcome, thanks to the forgiving nature of the area.
But most landscaping puzzles are not so simple. Some are especially challenging because they exclude the most known plants. I think the most difficult combination conditions for homeowners are shaded spots with poor drainage.
Daniel Grose is the owner of Set Apart Landscaping and a very experienced designer. When I recently brought up the subject, Grose readily agreed that wet shade is one of the most challenging situations. He pointed out that it is not just because of the narrow range of plants that can handle wet shade. It is also because there are varying degrees of wetness and varying degrees of shade.
These varying degrees further limit options in subtle ways. A designer needs a lot of experience to be able to eyeball a wet, shaded area and consistently gauge conditions correctly. There is no easy way to quantify the exact amount of light a shaded site receives over the course of a year. Further, no two wet areas are the same.
So, if it is that complicated, how should a property owner who lacks an accumulated mental data base begin? Well, sometimes money is no object. Sometimes the property owner is the kind of person who wants what she wants when she wants it. In those cases, a professional landscaper can sometimes reshape the property to conform to the conditions needed for the desired plants, by cutting down trees, excavating and replacing soil, and even adding drainage systems. In those situations, the designer’s plan will seem more like that of a civil engineer than a horticulturalist.
Photo by David Stang / Wikipedia Commons
Dwarf Golden Sweetflag
But, more often money is an issue. And, sometimes, even the most strong-willed client can come to understand that the site conditions limit her choices. Most people can appreciate that some beauty lies in creating a landscape design that conforms to the environment rather than one that imposes human will upon it. Frederick Law Olmsted was the most influential landscape architect in American history. He confided to one of his design partners, near the end of his life, “The great merit of all the works you and I have done is that in them the larger opportunities of the topography have not been wasted.” Olmsted elaborated, “We have ‘let it alone’ more than most gardeners can.”
Accordingly, the solution is to, as Olmsted said, “Let it alone.” We let it alone when we begin with the plants that we know have succeeded in Memphis’ wet shade. Similarly, we specifically exclude those we know have consistently failed. Plants like Heuchera (Coral Bells), many Hosta (Plantain Lily), Pachysandra, and Vinca minor are typical plants for shade. But they won’t be able to handle most wet shade conditions. Similarly, turf grasses, like Bermuda, Zoysia, and Fescue will fail.
Instead, we should consider plants like Acorus gramineus ‘Minimus Aureus’ (Dwarf Golden Sweetflag) and Tricyrtis hirta (Japanese Toad Lily). These plants can handle most lawns with wet shade.
So, once you identify a spot as falling into the category of wet shade, create a list of plants that are known to do well in wet shade, in Memphis. Then, use your own sense of aesthetics to narrow that list.
Yes, you can do that using Google. But a better way is to visit locally owned garden centers. Testing new plants in a temperamental area can be costly and frustrating.
In next month’s column, I will go deeper into plants that do well and those that do not do well in wet shade. Please look for that article and email me plants you have had a positive experience planting in wet shade in Memphis for (possible) inclusion in my follow-up article.
John A. Jennings is an experienced garden designer, garden writer, and nursery manager. He also has degrees from the University of Richmond and the University of Memphis. Email him at gardens@contemporary-media.com.
