California Plants

These shade loving plants are loaded with color and texture. This post should give you a great idea of some shade plants to buy for your garden at home. Pinch off finished blooms on any of these all summer long to keep them flowering. Feed these once a month.

• Impatiens - There are many colors of these that thrive in the shade
• New Guinea Impatiens - These can do with less shade, they have darker green foliage, and they also have larger brilliant blooms than regular impatiens
• Tuberous Begonias -  These can tolerate up to 6 hours of sun, and can be grown in baskets or containers
• Fuscias - Fuscias can be grown in hanging baskets
• Coleus - These have bright leaves including purples, greens, yellows, chartreuse
• Hostas - These can be dwarf to giant and the more yellowish the leaves, the more sun they can take
• Bleeding Hearts - These can take a little sun, they are on average 1-3 feet tall, and flowers are usually between pink and white
• Astilbe - These have soft feathery plumes in mid to late summer in pink to red
• Lily of the Valley - Quick spreaders
• Ferns - Quick growers
• Baby Tears - Low growing

If you would like to learn about high density gardening in the sun and shade, click here.

High Density Gardening

Here are my top shopping secrets you can use when buying new plants.

1. Shop when it is raining for smaller crowds.
2. Make sure plants you buy are nice and compact, not leggy and stressed.
3. Instead of buying a hanging basket all done, design your own hanging basket.
4. Instead of buying small single pots of plants, buy a flat.
5. Buy grass seed in bulk.
6. When buying plants, trees and shrubs, don’t buy them if they don’t look good. Also, don’t buy dying plants.
7. When buying trees, make sure they are straight and branches are balanced.
8. Take a peek at the roots by pulling the plant out of the pot, to make sure the plant has a good root system. If the plant is rootbound, it may need to be repotted after you buy it.
9. Note that most plants from garden centers come with 3 months of fertilizer so it is not needed when you get the plant home.
10. Save up questions and ask them in the garden center of the store you usually go.