Justicia floribunda and Abutilon megapotamicum in my spring garden

As has often been mentioned in this blog, I don't have much of an early spring garden but there are a few little spots that are looking pretty at the moment. The ones that have caught my eye this week are all in shadier parts of my garden - which has been something of a bonus given the very hot, windy weather we have been experiencing over the past two weeks. Spring flowers in sunnier areas have taken something of a hammering as they aren't used to intense heat in their blooming season and seem to be fading faster than usual. Those in shadier spots seem to have been more protected.

Spring scene in a shady part of my garden

Spring scene in a shady part of my garden

One such vignette that I like at the moment has a clump of creamy-yellow Clivia miniata (which all came about from a single seed given to me many years ago), in front of which a self-seeded nasturtium of the same hue has arranged itself! A floriferous Abutilon in the background has a similar colour, and a compact, variegated Phormium cultivar has creamy stripes on its strappy leaves. The soft-blue flowers of shade-tolerant Iris wattii, are interspersed amongst the clivias, their colour echoed by the blooms of Eranthemum pulchellum beside the Abutilon. I love the combination of the soft yellow and pale blue, which seems so spring-like!

Belgian hybrid Clivia with fern and Aechmea caudata in a shaded corner of my garden

Belgian hybrid Clivia with fern and Aechmea caudata in a shaded corner of my garden

The lantern-like blooms of Abutilon are very profuse in early spring and they feature in a number of part-shaded spots in my garden. In another shady nook, the red and yellow inflorescences of Abutilon megapotamicum loll over the cute shrub known as firefly (Justicia floribunda, previously called Justicia rizzinii, which is smothered in tiny red, yellow and orange trumpet flowers (shown at the start of the blog). Elsewhere, firefly looks effective with the tall spires of the bromeliad Aechmea caudata, which have the exact same colour scheme in their tiny, clustered blooms. Aechmea caudata also looks effective with orang Clivia, as pictured above.

Zantedeschia albomaculata with forget-me-nots and ageing hellebores in a shady border of my garden

Zantedeschia albomaculata with forget-me-nots and ageing hellebores in a shady border of my garden

In another shaded border, a specimen of Zantedeschia albomaculata subsp. albomaculata displays its pure-white spathes, above its white-spotted foliage, skirted by a froth of white forget-me-nots and the petite, starry blooms of Libertia paniculata. The latter is a pretty Australian native perennial with fine, grassy leaves, which enjoys shade. Ageing hellebore flowers grow nearby, having self-seeded into a colony over the years. More Iris wattii grows here.

Fuchsia arborescens with Lamium maculatum and Primula malacoides in my garden

Fuchsia arborescens with Lamium maculatum and Primula malacoides in my garden

In another corner, the shade-loving groundcover Lamium maculatum forms a rug under a young Fuchsia arborescens, a species Fuchsia that grows in part shade. The Lamium sports its hooded, purplish flowers for a long period in spring. Self-seeded Primula malacoides, which pop up in various shaded spots in the garden, add to the picture.

These little garden areas have been the result of my interest in discovering shade-loving plants suitable for Sydney gardens. I've always had quite a bit of shade in my garden, but the traditional plants suggested for such spots in Northern Hemisphere gardens, on the whole, don't really flourish in our very different climate, with our hot, humid summers and mild winters. Through trial and error in my own garden and observing many Sydney gardens over the years, I have discovered a very wide range of plants that flourish in shade here, so that these areas don't have to be regarded as the poor relation of sunny borders and can shine in their own way. They certainly don't have to be places of doom and gloom that we never want to look at!

And I've written a book about it all! The book, called Embracing shade in Sydney gardens will be released in my blog next week, and will be available for purchase via the website. It will be an e-book, which can be read on a computer or tablet, with links to the plant descriptions on my website accessible from within the manuscript itself: to provide you with photos, cultivational information and plant combination ideas about the plants discussed in the book - just the same as when reading one of my blogs! And, of course, the book can also be printed out if desired.

The book with over 100 pages of detailed information will help you to understand shade and explore plants for every level of the garden: from trees down to groundcovers, and even shade-loving edibles. I am excited to share the book with you next week!