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Of course you don't find the wealth of popular showy flowers where the sun does not shine, but the 

 Day Lily, the Plantain Lily, Variegated Vinca and Geranium accomplish a lot 



Some of the low growing trees and certain shrubs seem to get along with little direct light, and indeed 

 our native Hawthorns are good tempered enough either way 



Contriving for Flowers in the Shade c.l.meller 



NO NEED to be despondent if the bright 

 sunshine does not reach your flower 

 border, for after all there are a few 

 plants that will actually thrive in 

 heavy shade; and the Plantain Lily or Funkia 

 must be placed near the head of the list. They 

 run in three sizes, so to speak, from the smallest 

 with its narrow leaf (Funkia lancifolia) that holds 

 ks flowers from a foot to eighteen inches high 

 (with a leaf spread of about the same number of 

 inches in diameter), to the tallest, the Corfu 

 Lily, that under favorable conditions will grow 

 into a specimen plant three feet all round. Then 

 there is the variety intermediate in size generally 

 listed as Funkia coerulea. One picture shows 

 Funkia lancifolia growing against the north side 

 of a house where the west sun is prevented from 

 reaching it by a banking of Tartarian Honey- 

 suckle and Mock Orange. So all the direct sun- 

 light the plants receive is a little from the east, 

 and not much of that, for the sun soon shifts 

 far enough to the south for the house to shade 

 the plants. Yet here these Funkias have grown 

 for the past six years, gaining in thriftiness each 

 year. To the extreme left of the border may be 

 seen several pieces of the same plant newly set 

 out. These are of the same size as the others 

 were when first set out. 



Behind the Funkia may be observed the grass- 

 like foliage of theOrange Day Lilies (Hemerocallis 



fulva). It does very well and blooms nicely 

 in this location of dense shade and a heavy soil. 

 The Lemon Lily (Hemerocallis flava) is not as 

 happy as in shade, it needs more sun. This 

 combination of Funkia coerulea and Hemerocallis 

 fulva gave me bloom against the north side of a 

 porch where trees added to the intensity of the 

 shade. 



Observe the window boxes. The sun loving 

 Geranium (variety S. A. Nutt) blooms tolerably 

 here in the almost complete absence of any direct 

 sunlight. And the way the variegated Myrtle 

 vine (Vinca) thrives in such a location is truly 

 surprising. Some of the vines even bloomed. 

 Many of the so called Daisies that were tried 

 proved a failure in these window boxes. Ex- 

 perience would indicate that for the window 

 boxes on the shady side of a house Geraniums 

 and Vinca vines make a reliable combination. 



The native River Grape (Vitis vulpina), is 

 flourishing here against the north side of the 

 house and easily making a growth of more than 

 six feet a year. All it demands is plenty of water. 

 It may be of interest to add that this picture 

 was taken on a quiet evening when the sun was 

 low and its rays almost parallel to the ground. 



Our native Hawthorns (Crataegus) do well in 

 shade. They are naturally slow growers and 

 they seem to grow about as fast against the north 

 side of a wall as anywhere else. Their bloom 



17 



here is every bit as abundant as in the open 

 though their fruit does not seem to set as well, 

 but then Hawthorns appear not to set much 

 fruit anyway until they have attained some 

 degree of maturity. The Hawthorn and Wood- 

 land Rose make an excellent combination, grace- 

 ful and free, where shade seems to be too dense 

 for most other shrubs. Our picture taken in 

 the evening, almost in twilight, shows what a 

 pretty effect a Hawthorn is capable of against 

 the north side of a house. 



Canadian Wood Violets will flourish wherever 

 the most shade loving Ferns will grow. The 

 foliage that covers the ground well peeps forth 

 early in spring. Its bloom that fairly twinkles 

 against the green background lasts for almost a 

 month. Once established this plant will take 

 care of itself, in fact I have had a border of it 

 accidentally all cultivated to pieces with the 

 net result that the plants came up thicker than 

 ever! 



Spiraea Vanhouttei has done well planted in 

 a hedge directly beneath a row of spreading 

 Boxelder trees. One could perhaps notice a little 

 openness of bloom and a little slowness of growth 

 in these bushes as compared with those growing 

 in more sunlight, yet, all things considered, the 

 verdict must be that these Spireas have done 

 very well during the six years that they have 

 been growing under the shade of the trees. 



