
Episode #28
Tired of Hostas? Three Shade Plants That Add Height & Colour
Looking for something beyond hostas for your shade garden? This week, Joanne shares three standout shade-loving perennials that bring height, texture, colour, and serious foliage interest to darker garden spaces. Some of the topics covered in this week's episode: Adding height and structure to a shade garden: Larger perennials like Sun King Aralia, Bugbane, and Rodgersia can give a shade garden the height and presence of shrubs while still dying back as perennials each winter. They work especially well behind hostas, groundcovers, and other lower-growing shade plants. Using foliage, not flowers, to create impact: The real appeal of these plants is their foliage: chartreuse, burgundy, large tropical-looking leaves, different textures, and contrasting shapes. These are plants you choose primarily for their leaves and the visual interest they bring to darker areas of the garden. Creating a shade garden that changes through the season: These later-emerging plants can take over visually after early-season favourites such as bleeding hearts and columbine begin to fade. This creates a more intentional transition through spring and summer rather than leaving gaps once early perennials are finished. Have a topic you'd like Joanne to discuss? Email your questions and comments to downthegardenpathpodcast@hotmail.com , or connect with Joanne on her website: down2earth.ca Find Down the Garden Path on Instagram , Facebook , and YouTube : @downthegardenpathpodcast. Down the Garden Path Podcast On Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designer Joanne Shaw discusses down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes. As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design , Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade. She does her best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low-maintenance as possible. In Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden , Joanne and fellow landscape designer Matthew Dressing distill their horticultural and design expertise and their combined experiences in helping others create and maintain thriving gardens into one easy-to-read monthly reference guide. Get your copy today on Amazon . Don't forget to check out Down the Garden Path on your favourite podcast app and subscribe! You can now catch the podcast on YouTube.






