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Dear Dolores Hydrangea garden with Sunshine Ligustrum and a cedar arch

Exposure Challenge: Designing Gardens that Transition Between Sun and Shade

  1. Home
  2. Exposure Challenge: Designing Gardens that Transition Between Sun and Shade
  • By Southern Living Plants Staff
  • August 6, 2019
Versatile plant materials and thoughtful placement are key components of tackling the part sun/part shade garden

By Kimberly Toscano

Few garden beds lie completely under full sun or full shade conditions. And with the sun constantly moving, planning for exposure can be tricky. Walls, trees, arbors, and even tall shrubs cast shadows that shift and grow with the sun’s daily and seasonal rhythms. Designing a garden that thrives despite shifting patterns of sun and shade requires versatile plant material and a careful eye for detail.

Shade-tolerant plant materials like ‘Angyo Star’ Fatshedera and Mojo® Pittosporum are placed in these more heavily shaded sections of the garden.

In this design, a pergola and understory tree cast shadows throughout the day along their northern edges. Shade-tolerant plant materials like ‘Angyo Star’ Fatshedera and Mojo® Pittosporum are placed in these more heavily shaded sections of the garden.

As the sun travels west, a tall privacy wall throws shade across much of the garden. This provides optimal morning sun and afternoon shade for heat-sensitive plants like Dear Dolores™ Hydrangea and protects Diana™ Camellia from winter winds.

As the sun travels west, a tall privacy wall throws shade across much of the garden. This provides optimal morning sun and afternoon shade for heat-sensitive plants like Dear Dolores™ Hydrangea and protects Diana™ Camellia from winter winds.

Other areas receive sun throughout most of the day. Sun-loving plants like Beyond Blue™ Festuca and Dark Blue Moody Blues™ Veronica are placed in the center of the larger bed and along the eastern edge where shadows are fewer. Plants tolerant of a range of sun exposure including ‘Twilight’ Heucherella and Indigo Frost™ Agapanthus are woven between the sunnier sections of the garden and those with more shade to create seamless transitions.

Other areas receive sun throughout most of the day. Sun-loving plants like Beyond Blue™ Festuca and Dark Blue Moody Blues™ Veronica are placed in the center of the larger bed and along the eastern edge where shadows are fewer. Plants tolerant of a range of sun exposure including ‘Twilight’ Heucherella and Indigo Frost™ Agapanthus are woven between the sunnier sections of the garden and those with more shade to create seamless transitions.

Other areas receive sun throughout most of the day. Sun-loving plants like Beyond Blue™ Festuca and Dark Blue Moody Blues™ Veronica are placed in the center of the larger bed and along the eastern edge where shadows are fewer. Plants tolerant of a range of sun exposure including ‘Twilight’ Heucherella and Indigo Frost™ Agapanthus are woven between the sunnier sections of the garden and those with more shade to create seamless transitions.

Download the Designing for Sun and Shade Garden Plan

Careful study of a planting bed reveals niches for most any plant material. The article Design Challenge offers more tips on planting sun to shade transitions.

Pin this garden plan for later!

Other areas receive sun throughout most of the day. Sun-loving plants like Beyond Blue™ Festuca and Dark Blue Moody Blues™ Veronica are placed in the center of the larger bed and along the eastern edge where shadows are fewer. Plants tolerant of a range of sun exposure including ‘Twilight’ Heucherella and Indigo Frost™ Agapanthus are woven between the sunnier sections of the garden and those with more shade to create seamless transitions.

Southern Living Plants Staff

View More Articles

Related Articles

A Gardener's Guide to Sun Exposure

How to choose plants based on light conditions in the landscape

Design Challenge: Planning Your Sun + Shade Garden

How to Select Plants for Areas That Transition from Sun to Shade

Made in the Shade

Garden design for year round pleasure

Plants Featured In The article

Agapanthus

Indigo Frost™ Agapanthus

Agapanthus hybrid ‘AMBIC001’ PP25519
Veronica
Dark purple flower spikes sit atop bright green foliage of Dark Moody Blues Veronica

Dark Blue Moody Blues™ Veronica

Veronica ‘Novaverblu’ PP26602
Camellia
Close-up on informal double white blooms with yellow centers of Diana Camellia

Diana™ Camellia

Camellia sasanqua ‘TDN 1110’
Festuca

Beyond Blue™ Fescue

Festuca glauca ‘Casca11’ PP23307
Pittosporum
Close up view on Mojo Pittosporum foliage that is medium green with large cream colored margin

Mojo® Pittosporum

Pittosporum tobira ‘CNI Three’ PP16188
Hydrangea
Heaps of blue to lavender Southern Living Hydrangea bloom heads

Dear Dolores® Hydrangea

Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Wyatt LeFever’

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