As we wade into summer the heat begins to hit home just about everywhere across Canada. Rather than high-tail it indoors why not take the shady area in your yard and convert it into a beautiful garden? If I only had a nickel for every time that I have heard a Canadian say, “I would garden, but can’t with all of this shade.” Not so.

There are perennials that perform very well in dense shade. Try some of these:

Heuchera. Common name, Coral Bells. Great flowers that stand about 40 to 80 cm. high, with bell-shaped floweret’s that hang down in panicles. Attractive to hummingbirds. Hardy to zone 4 [Montreal/Ottawa]

Hosta. While they grow well in shade, they actually prefer part shade, for best performance. Hostas flower well too. Also attractive to hummingbirds. Hardy to zone 2 – Prairies. Note: there are over 7,000 varities of hosta out there. Go nuts!

Yews [Taxus]. A great family of evergreens that perform well in shade. Look for the fastest growing of the lot, Japanese Yew or the Dwarf varieties that are available. Hardy to zone 4.

Boxwood. [Buxus] Another evergreen but this one has small, broad leaves that are unusual in the sun or shade garden. Korean Box is hardy to zone 4.

Blue Holly. A great way to introduce more evergreen into the shade dominated garden. be sure to plant a male and female with about 12 meters of one another. Great to cut and bring indoors for Christmas! Berries and all. Some varieties hardy to zone 3.