Design a Shade Garden With Carolyne Roehm

Starting a garden, or simply adding to one, can make you feel like “Eisenhower invading Normandy,” Carolyne Roehm writes in At Home in the Garden, her book about planting and caring for the grounds at Weatherstone, her beautiful country home in Sharon, Connecticut. 

But all the effort and expense you put into a garden is worth it, the lifestyle maven and author says. Once you understand what you’re working with--your soil and light and other elements--“everything is do-able…the good part emerges from the shadows.”

Good things emerge from the shade in a garden, too, Roehm explains. She grows shade-loving plants in an area near her studio, where “it’s difficult to get even grass to grow.” Rather than using plants that would struggle in the low light, she’s added foliage and flowers that don't crave a lot of sun. She uses a variety of forms and sizes, so "for the entire spring and summer, I have this wonderful green tapestry running under the trees rather than just scruffy grass.”

Before the trees leaf out, her spring daffodils bloom, along with primulas, bleedings hearts and forget-me-nots. “I also grow early hellebores, Solomon’s seal, and snowdrops. I have a lot of lily of the valleys (that flower) in May. The tapestry includes different shades of green and shapes and tints and hues…(It) becomes about the beauty of the leaves.” After the blooms finish, Roehm’s shade garden is filled with ostrich ferns, maidenhair ferns and other ferns.

Roehm says the biggest lesson she’s learned about gardening is to “really, really plant to your climate and your soil. My soil is extremely dense and doesn’t have great drainage. I can’t amend my entire property, so I can’t grow beautiful sugar maples,” among other plants. “Pay attention to your soil, and focus on amending soil in small plots. Otherwise, it’s too expensive and labor intensive.”

Whether you’re dealing with sun or shade, “learn to adapt and simplify,” she adds. “It’s so much better to make a strong statement than trying to make every statement.”