2018 Spring & Garden

Page 16 2018 Spring Home & Garden LINCOLN DAILY NEWS May 2, 2018 If you have a tree in the lawn that somehow looks out of place, then dressing it up with flower beds around the trunk may make it look more inviting. Be sure to choose shade loving plants for that area. Shade lovers include Impatiens, Begonia, and Fuchsia of the blooming varieties; and Coleus is a colorful non-bloomer that can still add texture and flash around the base of a tree. Here are some other suggestions for growing a colorful garden in the shade. Remember, shady areas extend past the base of the tree, so watch your lawn and see when the sun shines in a particular patch and when it does not. Shade, for the sake of plants, means the area spends much of the time shaded from the sun, but will still have periods of at least partial sun. 19 Colorful plants for shade gardens Next, consider the proportions of your bed. To create the best eye appeal, you may not want to go with a “flat bed” where all the plants are basically the same height. While that approach can work in a large area where the garden can be viewed from a slightly elevated area, for the most part, flat beds will equal only the foreground plants offering eye appeal. Continued ■ ■