Garden Plans

How to Pick Plants for the Greatest Impact in the Garden



How to Select Plant Combinations – Shade Plants – In this video we visit Swift Creek Nursery in Johnston County, NC to look at some shade garden plant combinations. We go how we go about selecting plants that we use in landscape projects.

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38 Comments

  1. Thank you! Thank you! These plant combo videos are so helpful. I really appreciate your explanations of how / why they go together well and what to consider regarding scale and watering needs. As a foliage and texture lover (over flowers), this video was particularly excellent!

  2. Thank you Jim! I have been getting more and more shaded areas as the trees grow. It has been a challenge through the years to find plants that are happy. Your selections are so helpful. I love the mix of textures. Having chartreuse plants really brightens the garden in the shade. 💐

  3. Good morning Jim and Stephanie. Loving that Acuba, I already have a Cast Iron in the ground, going to check out the others. I am not great at combos so, this video along with your combo potting video is much appreciated. Thank you

  4. I really want the industry to make native plants available. The woods are chock full of part shade stuff that's ignored in the industry. My personal pet peeve is ignoring natives & bringing plants from around the world to places they don't belong. Jim might be the last honest guy in the industry, no wonder he quit being a grower!
    I have a porch that's mostly shade but gets intense sun mid-day. I've got a Dianthus, a baby dwarf Albert Spruce & the pink/purple Ajuga together. Try stuff that you might not think will work, you might be surprised!

  5. I so appreciate it when you label the zones for the featured plants as you do, thank you 🙂 Would LOVE that aucuba with its bright colors and variegated leaves but not possible in my zone. I will admire it from afar. The way you combine your plants is truly a skill that I'm sure comes with years and years of experience and knowledge. Thanks a bunch!

  6. Wow Jim, this is a very helpful video for all us shade gardeners! Thank you for always providing such incredible content that is really useable to everyone!

  7. Thank you, Jim and Stephany! These types of videos are exactly what I need. 😊

  8. Jim, thank you again for another detailed and useful video. Your channel has become my go to since I started gardening 7 years ago zone 9a.

    Got the soft caress mahonia and Everillo carex based on one of your videos last year and I LOVE them.

    I’ve been considering a cast iron plant…might be my next one!
    Thank you for your practical approach to gardening.

  9. Awesome. Can you also do a video on coleus? I'm having a heck of a time finding different varieties.

  10. I wish I had some shady areas in my yard. It's basically full sun all the way around, except for the porch. I could put some containers there someday when the budget allows for it. All well.

  11. My camillia is slowly coming back from the chilly 1 degree temperature in the winter. Is it OK. I am in western North Carolina in the beginning of June and there have been mostly cooler weather. Thx.

  12. Thank you for sharing these plant combinations! I’m not great at designing spaces so these videos are helpful & provide inspiration. I love the texture of the yew.

  13. I love this combo. Fair warning though, the deer have eaten my soft caress mahonia and acubas (as well as azaleas) to the ground every year. They don’t touch my hostas right next to them or other things you’d think they’d go for. And they are doing it during parts of the year where there’s still plenty of vegetation. My local deer just seem to love them 🤷🏻‍♀️

  14. Thank you for doing the Shade combinations! The back third of my yard is pretty much shade all day and I'm in the process of finding plants that will work there! Since I don't get much sun there, I will pick chartreuse and blue but add other colors too. So far, In the front of my beds, I've added lots of blue and gold hosta and heuchera, Munchkin hydrangea, Zebra hydrangea, Burning Love Leucothoe, Blue Shadow Fothergilla,Scentlandia Sweetspire, Hakoneckloa All Gold. Now for the back third of my yard….

  15. A few years back I visited an old nursery in Beaufort S.C. It was overgrown littered with pots that the new owner was giving away as she did not want to use the property for that purpose. Anyway, there where huge bunches of Cast Iron plants that were growing under the huge oak trees that lined the property, I kid you not these Cast Iron bunches were at least four feet tall and just as wide. It was amazing to see as my own are only about a foot at most, but it dose give me hope.

  16. I love this idea of combo segments! Truly the most difficult part of designing my garden! I have a gardenia which is in the shade, relatively dry and only flowers every other spring….what am I doing incorrectly? I do think it’s quite old.

  17. JIM OR STEPHANIE, DO YOU KNOW OF A YEW THAT GROWS ABOUT 3-4 FEET TALL? I'M LOOKING FOR SOMETHING FOR MY FOUNDATION PLANTING THAT GETS VERY LITTLE SUN. I LIKE THE LOOK OF THE YEWS.

  18. Soft caress Mahonia, wow! That’s a great look in my opinion. Now where to put them … 🤔👌

  19. If any one can answer my question I know you can. I bought a Rose of Sharon, Blue Chiffon in March. I planted it and the first flowers that opened were exactly like the the pictures of the blue with double blooms. The flowers that are blooming now are more lavender/pink in color. How is this possible and what can I do?

  20. Much appreciated video! Plant combinations building in layers, BRILLIANT! My husband who was not much of a gardener before we were married is now learning too as we watch your videos and work in our garden together ❤️ Z7b

  21. Thanks for the video. I've got a pretty shady garden. Lots of the shade is because of big trees and I plant under them. Would you recommend keeping the Aucuba under 3 or 4 feet high?

  22. I love the chartreuse color of our Aucuba shrub that has been established for many years. Here in the Northeast (zone 6b) I do have to apply a wilt proof spray in the fall. Ours is surrounded by various perennials such as Anemone (creating a drifting cascade of tall flowers in late summer/early fall around the entire shrub), Lirope and Astilbe. In the spring it is surrounded by daffodils, columbine and aliums. Our Aucuba is an anchor shrub in our garden. PS: Love your content, you are so relatable, will continue to watch.

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