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Glorious Shade: Dazzling Plants, Design Ideas, and Proven Techniques for Your Shady Garden
Turn a shady yard into a sumptuous garden
Shade is one of the most common problems home gardeners face, but with the right plant knowledge, gardeners can triumph over challenging shady areas and learn to embrace shade as an opportunity instead of an obstacle. Glorious Shade celebrates the benefits of shade and shows gardeners how to make the most of it. This information-rich, hardworking guide is packed with everything you need to successfully garden in the shadiest corners of a yard. You'll learn how to determine what type of shade youhave and how to choose the right plants for the space. The book also shares the techniques, design and maintenance tips that are key to growing a successful shade garden. Stunning color photographs offer design inspiration and reveal the beauty of shade-loving plants. Glorious Shade is for anyone who wants to turn their shady yard into a relaxing retreat.
Shade is one of the most common problems home gardeners face, but with the right plant knowledge, gardeners can triumph over challenging shady areas and learn to embrace shade as an opportunity instead of an obstacle. Glorious Shade celebrates the benefits of shade and shows gardeners how to make the most of it. This information-rich, hardworking guide is packed with everything you need to successfully garden in the shadiest corners of a yard. You'll learn how to determine what type of shade youhave and how to choose the right plants for the space. The book also shares the techniques, design and maintenance tips that are key to growing a successful shade garden. Stunning color photographs offer design inspiration and reveal the beauty of shade-loving plants. Glorious Shade is for anyone who wants to turn their shady yard into a relaxing retreat.
- GenresGardeningNonfiction
324 pages, Paperback
Published April 19, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 10, 2017
You can definitely tell that Carey knows her stuff. You’re walked through every aspect of shade gardening, from designing your own garden to maintaining a well developed garden, finding a balance with the wildlife that will find itself in your garden, and problem shooting for every problem imaginable. I quite liked the little alphabetized sections of various shade plants at the end of the book, as well as the shorter lists of suitable plants found throughout the book. The photography found throughout was absolutely stunning. I feel like it should be mandatory for plant books to have either photography, illustrations, or both.
For myself, I normally wouldn’t have read this book cover to cover, and would likely have utilized it more as a reference when I need to look up something specific. It doesn’t have a conversational tone really, it’s basically just straight to the point instruction.
The only gripe I really have about this book is that it caters to a very specific audience. If you’ve only got a tiny balcony gardening space, or a very small backyard, you’ll be able to skip over a few sections of this book. Most people I know don’t have property large enough for path systems or hidden nooks, myself included. It was nice enough to read these sections, but also simultaneously frustrating because the majority of these ideas I can’t really implement in my own urban space. If you want to tap into younger audiences you need to add more on working with smaller gardening spaces, as most millennials and the like do not own large properties with massive garden spaces.
For myself, I normally wouldn’t have read this book cover to cover, and would likely have utilized it more as a reference when I need to look up something specific. It doesn’t have a conversational tone really, it’s basically just straight to the point instruction.
The only gripe I really have about this book is that it caters to a very specific audience. If you’ve only got a tiny balcony gardening space, or a very small backyard, you’ll be able to skip over a few sections of this book. Most people I know don’t have property large enough for path systems or hidden nooks, myself included. It was nice enough to read these sections, but also simultaneously frustrating because the majority of these ideas I can’t really implement in my own urban space. If you want to tap into younger audiences you need to add more on working with smaller gardening spaces, as most millennials and the like do not own large properties with massive garden spaces.
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June 5, 2018[**Warning: this text may contain spoilers.**]
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Link to Amazon [http://www.amazon.com]
Link to Steve Jobs [http://www.amazon.com/Steve-Jobs-Walt... ]
Link to J.K.Rowling [https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... ]
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June 22, 2021
This book is one of the most beautiful books I have ever seen on shade gardening. The pictures are stunning and the beautiful way shade is intricately described makes me want to grab a glass of cool water and head outside to my own shady yard. I love reading about reading about the types of shade while gazing at shady gardens with inviting paths and foliage. Learnng how easily the sun can scorch leaves of some shade plants and the various requirements of these plants makes me appreciate them all the more. I can't think of anything more inviting than reading this book in the shade, with a cool drink, on a hot summer day.
March 4, 2017
This was a very well written informational book that provides wonderful photographs and content that describe shady garden conditions and a comprehensive collection of shade favoring plants. I feel that this book was well written for a novice gardener up to an intermediate level. Very well organized with an introduction to shady garden context and conditions (soil, light, weather, etc.) and a second half dedicated to plants.
January 12, 2019
A good resource for a beginning gardener up through the intermediate level particularly if you live in the East. For West Coast gardeners, however, this book is somewhat less useful. Additionally, while the author addresses the matter of deer resistant plants, she does so in a somewhat cursory manner and says nothing about rabbit resistant plants. Good photography.
August 3, 2023
The peace and simplicity reading a book brings is no match for the vast internet-obsessed world we live in today. Yes, it is easy to find information by a quick Google search. Turning to a book to find answers has become a lost art. This book is so detailed and informed, it will easily replace the internet for my shade plant questions. It will have a permanent home in my gardening library.
July 13, 2017
Great photographs and text about a wide variety of shade plants. A good resource for someone interested in this type of gardening.
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Borrowed from my local public library.
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Borrowed from my local public library.
February 15, 2024
Amazing resource for northeast gardeners. I doubled my “need this plant” list🤣
June 19, 2024
Great resource and catalogue with loads of photos of shade-loving plants.
September 15, 2017
The first half of this book is so blah. It's general and kinda all over the place. Let's talk about pruning! Now about children's gardens! Here's a calendar of gardening tasks! Let's chat about moss! Like what is this book about exactly? Who is it for--newbies, professionals?
But I'm still giving GLORIOUS SHADE 4 stars because the plant suggestions in the second half are so, so good. Really perfect options for my zone (5b to 6a), lots of variety in size, flower color, bloom time, and leaf texture, shape, and color. I really like how well each plant description is laid out. It's clear how much light and water a plant needs and what zone it wants, how big it will get, and even some specific cultivars to try. And the much warmer zone tropical plants have their own section in the back, so I don't even have to mess with that.
I wish I could just rip the book in half. I only need pages 168 and after, please and thank you.
But I'm still giving GLORIOUS SHADE 4 stars because the plant suggestions in the second half are so, so good. Really perfect options for my zone (5b to 6a), lots of variety in size, flower color, bloom time, and leaf texture, shape, and color. I really like how well each plant description is laid out. It's clear how much light and water a plant needs and what zone it wants, how big it will get, and even some specific cultivars to try. And the much warmer zone tropical plants have their own section in the back, so I don't even have to mess with that.
I wish I could just rip the book in half. I only need pages 168 and after, please and thank you.
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September 20, 2017This book contains advice for how to make a shade garden succeed, and examples of different styles of gardens, and lists of suggested plants, but I think the biggest thing it has to offer is the attitude that shade is a wonderful thing. Often in gardening, shade is seen as a problem. What to do with that barren spot under the trees?
Jenny Rose Carey (and I just want to say that I was delighted by the idea of a garden writer whose name is Rose) waxes rapturous about how a shady garden can be a retreat from troubled life, where you can sit on a bench in the cool, fragrant air, shielded by branches and vines from distant views. The shade garden is a sanctuary. The shade garden is an oasis. You aren't going to just make do with the shady spot you have been given. You may want to create your own shade, by planting trees that will grow into mature shade, or by planting vines to cover pergolas.
That is the number one lesson of the book, but if there is a second, it is that shady gardens mimic the conditions of natural woodlands, and to have a successful shade garden, you want to mimic those conditions, by planting in layers, with the canopy, the understory, and the ground level. The spring ephemerals come up first with their delicate flowers. Later leafy plants grow up to cover their withered foliage. Variegated leaves provide brightness. A mixture of spreading and upright forms creates interest. Interesting fruits and colored stems create interest in fall and winter. And don't disturb the shallow root systems. And plant the dry-loving plants in the dry places (where roots of big trees soak up much of the water), and plant wet-loving plants near streams and ponds.
And of course, the photos are beautiful.
Jenny Rose Carey (and I just want to say that I was delighted by the idea of a garden writer whose name is Rose) waxes rapturous about how a shady garden can be a retreat from troubled life, where you can sit on a bench in the cool, fragrant air, shielded by branches and vines from distant views. The shade garden is a sanctuary. The shade garden is an oasis. You aren't going to just make do with the shady spot you have been given. You may want to create your own shade, by planting trees that will grow into mature shade, or by planting vines to cover pergolas.
That is the number one lesson of the book, but if there is a second, it is that shady gardens mimic the conditions of natural woodlands, and to have a successful shade garden, you want to mimic those conditions, by planting in layers, with the canopy, the understory, and the ground level. The spring ephemerals come up first with their delicate flowers. Later leafy plants grow up to cover their withered foliage. Variegated leaves provide brightness. A mixture of spreading and upright forms creates interest. Interesting fruits and colored stems create interest in fall and winter. And don't disturb the shallow root systems. And plant the dry-loving plants in the dry places (where roots of big trees soak up much of the water), and plant wet-loving plants near streams and ponds.
And of course, the photos are beautiful.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews