Best Perennial Shade Plants For Your Shade Garden

Choosing the best perennial shade plants for your shade garden can sometimes be a challenging task. Many shaded areas of the landscape have moist to slightly damp soil and very little sunlight.  While this will limit your selection of what plants will not only grow, but also thrive in these conditions.

Select plants from this perennial plants list, and your shaded garden area is sure to become one of your favorite parts of your landscape. 

For shade gardens with moist soil, plant an assortment of potted and bare root ferns.  Autumn Brilliance Ferns are evergreen with green to bronze foliage to brighten up dark areas. Larger growing ferns, like the Cinnamon and Royal ferns can add a tropical feel. The Ostrich fern is known for its edible fiddleheads, which to many is considered a culinary delicacy. For a low growing ground cover, plant the Arborvitae fern.

A favorite of perennial shade plants is the Hosta. The Golden Tiara hosta produces beautiful foliage of lime green with lighter golden green edging.  Hosta Patriot is a variegated green leaf hosta with creamy white outer margins. For large spaces, plant the Sum and Substance and be amazed with its huge blue green leaves. If you’re limited in shaded space, the Blue Mouse Ears hosta is a tight low growing variety that will grow nicely along the garden edge.

There are many natives that can be added to your perennial plants list for your shade garden.  A good choice, especially if you are a beginning gardener, is the heuchera or coral bells, as they’re commonly called. Bright leafed heucheras are the Electric Lime, Southern Comfort, Georgia Peach and Cajun Fire. These evergreen perennial plants are long-lived and colorful additions.

The Lenten Rose or Hellebore is another evergreen perennial that adores lightly shaded areas. Plants this tough garden plant and enjoy the beautiful blooms produced in late winter to mid spring. Hellebores bloom at a time of the year when little else is in color.

Add these shade loving plants to your perennial plants list as choice plants to begin your shade garden. As your garden plants grow, you will want to fill in blank spaces. Feel comfortable in testing plants for the area, too.

Finding the best perennial shade plants for your shade garden is an ongoing process. Plant plants that you enjoy watching grow and appreciate how they add character to an otherwise dark garden area.

Where to Buy Plants Online for Your Garden

Garden lovers are always excited to have beautiful plants in their home garden. You may have planned for a colorful landscape at your home but the biggest problem is that you often have limited options around us to buy different varieties of plants. Actually there are lots of varieties of flowering shrubs, perennials, ground covers, as well as indoor and more outdoor plants; one can make selection as per weather conditions of surrounding area and space in his house. Once you have identified sufficient space in your garden then you can buy your plant varieties online; it might seem strange to buy plants from the internet but actually there are venders who are ready to serve you for complete landscaping as plants are the best option for adding curb appeal to your house. If you are searching for top rated plant nursery websites that can provide you quality and variety of plants for complete home landscaping then www.greenwoodnursery.com can be one of the best online nurseries for you.

This website is preferred by plant lovers throughout the United States for their great collection of plants and trustworthy services. One of the best things to know about this website is their guaranteed services with option to make open selection of plants from well managed online nursery. Here you will be able to get huge list of plants ranging from A to Z . Some of the best flowering collections of this website are Perennials, Shrubs, Roses, trees, ground covers, and many more. 

GreenwoodNursery.com can help make your gardening ideas become a reality. They welcome bulk plant orders and are well known for their friendly assistance. This best online plant nursery provides you amazing opportunity to lead your go green theme on large scale. If you are interested to buy a unique collection of garden plants then peruse their online plant catalogs. 

If you are just starting with your new garden then you will want to buy flowering plants for seasonal color.  You can find combinations of perennials, trees and shrubs at affordable garden plant prices. 

This online nursery will provide you some of the best offers for your orders of plants. www.greenwoodnursery.com provides you best option to add more beauty and privacy to your wonderful landscape around your house and backyard. With a 100 percent safe and secure shopping environment here you can place orders for small fruiting plants, vines, shrubs, trees, roses, ground covers, shade perennials and more. You might be interested to collect medicinal plants for your nursery; Greenwood Nursery can provide you best collection of plants that have various medicinal benefits. If you are thinking to create a nature friendly garden at your home, roof or backyard then this website provides you best opportunity to order your seasonal plants and flowers. Some of the beautiful plant packages are designed to serve your balcony, green corners and room areas with most beautiful collection of plants.

With changing lifestyle we are becoming busier with our work schedule and there is less time to spend outside in our gardens. It is best time to create your garden space that can be dedicated for beautiful flowering plants only. Order your favorite plants from this online plant store.  Greenwood Nursery will provide you with beautifully healthy plants at the most affordable plant prices and the best customer service.

Best Garden Plants to Eat from Your Garden!

Which are The Best Garden Plants To Eat? Creating a garden is a reflection of your unique style and personality. If you enjoy preparing foods with fresh ingredients, you might want to think about incorporating affordable garden plants to eat into your landscape. Planning a garden that includes edible plants can add interest and provide pleasure to your senses, and they can help you make delicious summer recipes to share with family and friends.

Sugar Mountain Kalinka Haskap

For a different garden plant treat, establish the Sugar Mountain Kalinka Haskap and the Sugar Mountain Blue Haskap as a set in your garden because the one pollinates the other. Grow Haskap flowering shrubs in full sun with plenty of water in well-drained soil, At maturity, these five to six foot plants, produce one-inch sweet summer berries that are a wonderful addition to frozen desserts, jams, wines, or just eating as a fresh or frozen fruit.

Nanking Cherry

A nice flowering and fruit-bearing shrub is the Nanking Cherry. It grows six to eight feet tall and about as wide, and the sweet-tart cherries are delicious used in pies and jams. This shrub is hearty, grows well in sun to partial shade, and will tolerate dry, sub-zero winter temperatures very well. The wildlife in your region will enjoy eating the fruit too.

Mint

There are several varieties of fragrant and tasty mint for the garden. You may want to use them for container gardening because frankly, mint needs to be contained or it may take over. However, if you are looking for ground cover plants, any of the mints will work. Try some of the newer varieties such as Pineapple Mint, Chocolate Mint, and Apple Mint, or there is always the old favorite, Blue Balsam Peppermint. They all smell delightful and each has a different look. Mints pair beautifully in fruit dishes and summer drinks. If you are looking to feed the butterflies and bees, several mints bloom mid to late summer and make perfect plants to eat nectar.

There are many edible garden herb plants and small growing fruit plants at our online plant nursery. We invite you to signup for our gardening newsletter and updates, and please feel free to browse our site. You will find lots of information and the perfect edible plants to grow among your already flowering shrubs and ornamentals. If you are landscaping a new garden, we have everything you need to succeed. We are always happy to answer any questions, and we are just an email or phone call away.

Gardening is Good Exercise and Good for Your Health

Everyone is on a kick to be healthy, but rarely think about gardening to become healthy. Granted, the food you grow in your garden will be better than store-bought, it’s the weeding, watering, and trimming that keep your body in great shape. If you want to lose weight, garden for a month or two. 

You can’t go wrong with gardening, even if you have a brown thumb.  All plants need are light, soil, water, and nutrients.  Some plants don’t even need nutrients since Mother Nature supplies all the food they need to eat. Garden plants can easily be added to your dinner table.

If you just want to tone your body, gardening can to that, too. You lift plants around, hull the water hose around, lean over and weed, and plant seeds, which work all the muscles in your body. What a great way to lose weight and put food on your dinner table.

In several studies it has been shown that gardening help 9 out of 10 people lose inches in their waist after just one month of gardening. You can tell it helps because the next day your muscles will be sore. If you continue to garden, those muscles will tighten up and tone your body. You can have that beach body in a few months and fill your dinner table with all the food you need.

Not to mention how much fun gardening is when the whole family joins in to raise all the tomatoes you can eat or planting beans and peas for the table. The kids will love watching the seeds sprout up and spring into a veggie they like.  It also teaches them responsibly when they have to water and weed their very own garden patch.

So, you see how much gardening can help your health? Plus, it’s  fun to watch tiny seeds growing into a giant watermelon, carrot, or any other type of vegetable or fruit.  You can also garden in apartments, condos, and houses whether you have a large or small plot of land.

There are thousands of vegetables, fruits, shrubs, and trees that can make your garden a lovely place to relax, have a picnic, or grow a culinary herb garden. You can use any type of container or plant your garden right in the ground.  You can also grow vertical gardens  up walls, fences, and the side of a house or apartment.

You can let your imagination sore to new heights while supplying your dinner table with fresh herbs and vegetables or a lovely bouquet of flower for any surface. The amount of scents you can enjoy while your garden shines with a plethora of colors to lighten up any day. 

Planting Around the Patio

When deciding to plant around the patio, the type of patio you have is what sets the mood or tone of the landscape when using perennials. If you have a stone patio, it will be look and feel different than a wood deck patio. The type of material the patio is made from is the bones for the containers, flower beds, and borders which may or may not include pathways, trails, and walkways.

Using perennials around the patio gives you the opportunity to mix and match colors, or use one perennial with different colors or one color. Perennials are plants are hardy and will grow for many years. So, you don’t have to replant them each year. 

There is nothing wrong with growing plants for a couple of months, then replacing them with another plants. Perennials are easy to pot up for a couple of months, move to a permanent place and replace with another perennial.  It keeps a variety of colors and textures that are easily mix and matched with other plants.

Perennials are great for patios  since you can change them out with other flowering plants when the original stops blooming. Planting smaller sized blooming perennials in small pots in the ground can be swapped out with later season bloomers. Moving the spent blooming perennials to another location.  They can perk up a dull patio in the dead of winter or add a spicy look in the spring and summer.

Fragrant herbs to plant around sitting areas are oregano, rosemary, mints (in pots of course), lemon thyme, and lavender. Herbs add a gorgeous smell to a patio, plus, you can use them in the kitchen. Most perennials are great to decorate a pathway or border with such as creeping mint or lemon thyme.  They are also good for rock gardens.

There are many varieties of low and high growing perennials that can be used on a border that will bloom all summer long. When they are done blooming you can easily replace them with another perennial for fall and winter. That will bring you color and texture all year long. 

Visit Greenwood Nursery for a wide selection of plants for your porch or patio. 

Garden Plants from Online Garden Centers

The trip to your local garden center can be an incredible hassle! There's the matter of taking on the weekend garden warrior crowd, which can make for some very slow going when it comes to browsing and checkout. Then, of course, there are those not-so-bright garden center workers, many of whom have never planted or cared for garden plants -- ever!  Getting a good answer to your gardening question can be downright difficult!

And then, there's always the picked-over garden plants selection if you arrive after the crowds have already depleted the garden center's stock. You're left to choose between a partially wilted containers of hosta, a jasmine bush with a broken stem and a container of pink muhly grass that's clearly been dumped on the ground and unceremoniously stuffed back into the plastic pot.

So why not skip the garden center and turn to an online garden center, like Greenwood Nursery?

Online garden nurseries offer a wide range of benefits, including:

*       Convenience -- The Greenwood Nursery garden center is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. No crowds and you can select your plants from the comfort of your home. And, your new plants will be delivered to your door. It doesn't get much easier than that!

*       Selection -- You'll enjoy a wide selection of supplies and garden plants, from ornamental grasses to herbs, annuals, perennials, trees, shrubs and beyond. No more settling for a plant because it's one of the only healthy garden plants left in the shop!

*       Great Price -- Enjoy great prices and discounts when you shop an affordable online garden center like Greenwood Nursery, which even has an “under $10” deals section!

*       Healthy Plants – Greenwood Nursery and many other online garden centers offer premium, healthy plants from strong genetic lines.

What's more, if you're uncertain about whether a particular plant is right for you, feel free to contact the Greenwood Nursery team to ask questions! Our experienced gardeners and experts are on-hand to provide you with plant care tips, advice, and recommendations for your unique gardening needs. No more dealing with a 16-year-old garden center employee who thinks lavender is anything more than a color!

To contact the pros at Greenwood Nursery, visit our website or call 800-426-0958.

Attracting Butterflies to Your Garden with Flowering Plants

What could be more enjoyable than sitting in your garden with lots of beautiful butterflies fluttering about? Gardeners are planting butterfly gardens, which not only have become a popular hobby, but, also, make for very beautiful gardens. While many gardeners plant amazing flower gardens with hopes of attracting butterflies, however, the butterflies don’t come because the wrong shrubs and perennial plants have been planted.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sometimes butterflies will not come to a garden because of pesticide use. The first thing you should do in planning for your butterfly garden is to rid the area of unwanted pests without using chemicals.

There are a few other things you can do to ensure that butterflies will come to your garden. Choose an area in your garden that is sunny with about 5 to 6 hours of sunlight per day, as adult butterflies only feed in the sun. The area needs to, also, be sheltered from heavy winds. As much as butterfly need to eat, they also do not want to fight harsh winds while trying to feed.

Another important aspect to a good butterfly garden is water. Like humans, butterflies need water. A couple of shallow bird baths where you can keep clean water will not only allow butterflies a drink, it will give them a place to rest.

There are two types of plants that butterfly use, those that provide food for the offspring and those that provide nectar for the adults. In a quote from the National Wildlife Federation, "Attracting butterflies involves incorporating plants that serve the needs of all life stages of the butterfly.” They go on to say, "The insects need places to lay eggs, food plants for their larvae (caterpillars), places to form chrysalides and nectar sources for adults."

Most butterflies, including the Monarch butterfly, feed on buddleia, commonly called butterfly bushes, for nectar and milkweed to feed the caterpillars. Other ways to make the area more butterfly friendly are using flat stones or other large flat surfaces where butterflies can rest and spread their wings. Because butterflies are such delicate creatures, they will also need shelter and a little shade.

Plants that attract butterflies are buddleia or butterfly bushes, lavender, monarda or bee balm, veronica, salvia, rosemary, thyme, sage, roses, yarrow, lamb’s ear, hydrangea, weigela, rudbeckia, echinacea, Shasta daisy and yucca are excellent selections for a beginners butterfly garden.

Recap of How to Attract Butterflies to Your Garden:

• Limit pesticide use
• Place your garden in a sunny area protected from heavy winds
• Plant fragrant, summer flowering butterfly plants
• Use flat surfaces for the butterflies to rest
• Have a shallow water source

By adding some of these suggestions into your garden, you can attract butterflies all summer long.

Greenwood Nursery Your Online Garden Center

The Most Common 8 Gardening Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Do you realize that gardening mistakes happen right in your front yard? Whether you think that your garden looks good or not, if everything doesn't work together, the entire garden doesn’t work. Let’s talk about the most common gardening mistakes and how to fix them.

Lawn&Garden (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

1. Grass is not greener. This ranks number 1. Why? Most gardens and yards have lawn, but one may be slightly greener than the other. If your lawn looks browner than the soil underneath, it is time to reassess your watering, fertilizing and mowing schedule. Think where you may have gone wrong and make the necessary lawn care adjustments. Tired of lawn care? Consider other lawn substitute options such as ground covers such as periwinkle. Visit Greenwood Nursery for more on lawn substitutes.

2. Tools and clutter are everywhere. They may be useful objects, but if they are just stacked in your garage or tossed in a box, then you think they are not worth the storage. At that point, they don't just look like junk; they are junk. Sort through them one by one and determine whether you want to keep them or not. Your criteria when deciding if they deserve the trip to dump or not is simple: Ask yourself, do you specific plans for them?

3. Your house and garden can be seen from the road. There are several short- and long-term solutions to using plants to create privacy. One quick-fix solution is to build a concrete wall that would separate your garden from the sidewalk view. For a longer, much appealing look, planting fast growing shrubs is a good idea.

4. Weed invasion. Keeping your lawn regularly maintained can solve weed problems. Do a regular walk through to check for weeds about twice a week during the growing season. Dig the weeds out by hand to keep them from re-growing by seeding the empty areas of your lawn.

5. Limited space. If your problem is space, then here's one idea that can definitely help you maximize every square inch of your garden: think vertical gardens. With vertical gardening, you can create a sense of lush greenery by using wall space, arbors and trellises to allow plants to climb upwards.

6. Where's your house? If shrubs have swallowed your house, then hedge clippers comes in handy. You don’t want plants blocking the way from your drive to the front door so some serious pruning may be in order. You want landscaping, not a house in the middle of the forest. Also, tall and over grown shrubs are a security hazard providing a burglar with the protection and opportunity that they would need to break into your home. It's time to select curb appeal plants.

7. Selection and winter care. Some garden plants will not survive winter temperatures without proper care. When planning your garden, be sure to select the majority of your plant that will grow year round and always include a few evergreens and plants with winter interest. In fall be sure to provide your garden plants with a good thick layer (approximately 3 inches) of shredded bark mulch to insulate and provide moisture over the winter months.

8. Fences are falling apart. Fences are not just to separate your property from your neighbor's. They also add to the overall look of your garden. Make sure that you maintain your fences like the way you keep your plants. Use fences as backdrops for your landscaping projects.

8 Gardening Mistakes and How to Correct Them by Greenwood Nursery

Spring Flowering shrubs and perennials provide brilliant color and fragrance to fill your garden

In the dreary depths of winter, garden lovers console themselves with visions of gorgeous plants that will soon fill their landscapes with glorious color and wonderful fragrance.

If you are in need of a little moral support to lift your spirits out of the winter blahs, I can point you in the direction of a few plants that might not immediately spring to mind, but could be just what you need to treat your eyes and nose a few short months from now.

Regular readers know that, in spring and summer, I like to start our day by taking our first cup of coffee out to a garden bench where we quietly take in the colors and aromas of the plants as they begin to wake up and stretch towards the morning sun. Somehow, it is a time that is both calming and stimulating, and it sets us up for the hustle and bustle of the day ahead in the nursery.

So let’s start with a shrub that certainly could be the poster child for fragrance-and-color plants.

Dwarf Philadelphus 'Snowbelle' Mockorange

I believe this is perhaps the most fragrant of all the Mock Oranges. For me, inhaling the sumptuously intoxicating orange sweetness given up by the pure white blossoms of Mock Orange Philadelphus Snowbelle is pure heaven. It has gracefully arching branches and sure to be fragrant white flowers clustered along the branches.
A newer spring flowering dwarf shrub that grows 3 to 4 feet tall.

Persian lilac - Syringa x persica

This is a graceful, arching spring flowering shrub reaching to a height of 4 - 8 feet and half again as wide. The flowers of the Persian Lilac are delicate blend of pale violet and lavender and are very fragrant. The 2 - 3 inch long blooms appear in late spring and bloom abundantly into early summer, attracting bees, butterflies and birds.

The rounded and low mature form makes the Persian lilac a perfect plant to be used in a foundation planting or as a border plant. The blooms can be cut and taken indoors for a lovely scent and floral display. Zones 3 to 7.

Monarda Blue Stocking

Although the name makes one assume the flower color is sky blue, in fact it really has uniquely shaped flowers that are a striking violet/purple and appear in July on erect stems of very fragrant foliage. This perennial grows to about 2 – 3 feet tall and a width of 1 to 3 feet. Monarda Blue Stocking is very attractive, and acts as a magnet to bees and hummingbirds.

They thrive in full sun or partial shade and evenly moist soil. As a bonus, they are quite deer resistant. A good choice for a border plant and nice for cut flower arrangements with its aromatic leaves. Zones 4 – 8.

Buddleia Bi-Color

You probably know that Buddleia is known as the “butterfly bush” but this one is rather special. It is the first butterfly bush to sport two different colors on the same bloom stalk; rich lavender combined with butterscotch yellow. Buddleia Bi-Color is easy to grow, extremely fragrant and will attract tons of butterflies to your perennial border or patio garden area. Buddleia Bi-Color blooms all summer long with most blooms measuring 5 - 6 inches and some growing out to a full 10 inches at the end of the growing season with a jubilant fragrance almost overwhelming to their color show.

The Buddleia Bi-Color reaches 5 - 6 feet in height and by cutting back each winter more branching and more blooms will appear each and every subsequent season. Buddleia Bi-Color grows easily in any sunny, well drained area, while demonstrating fantastic drought tolerance and indifference to extreme heat and humidity. Zones 5 – 9.

Eye-popping color and invigorating fragrance. What more could you ask! Hopefully, I’ve stimulated your senses and lifted your spirits with the suggestions. Take heart, garden lovers. Winter will soon be behind us!