If you are, then shadows will definitely appear on it. Residential and outbuildings, trees and large shrubs will create areas with complete or partial absence of direct light. The most common light-loving plants will not be able to survive in such places, as a result of which the dacha may have a somewhat deserted appearance. This article will talk about those plant crops that will help you solve this problem.
Dahlias - perennial shade-loving flowers for the garden
First of all, let's draw a dividing line between plant species according to their dependence on sunlight, in order to avoid possible confusion in the future:
Advice: before purchasing, be sure to check with the seller which specific group the flora representative you are purchasing belongs to, since incorrect placement on your site will deprive it of the opportunity for full development.
In addition to choosing plants with different needs for sunlight, you can also optimally plan the placement of shady areas. To do this, just adhere to the following rules:
Tip: if you need to identify dark places in an already planted garden, it is convenient to do this in the spring when the snow melts. Where it lasts the longest, you can safely plant shade-loving crops with your own hands.
The crops in question have many variations:
There are several common summer cottages representatives of bush vegetation that thrive even with limited light:
Here are some of them:
On personal plots There are many shaded places: under trees, along fences and buildings. They can be used to create beautiful compositions from shade-loving plants.
Shade-loving plants are those that normal development enough rarefied sunlight penetrating to them through the crown of trees or they are in the sun just a few hours a day. They have bright, juicy green foliage, because it does not fade in the sun; if they are planted in sunny areas, they grow poorly.
Plants for shade can be divided into flowering and decorative deciduous.
TO blooming shade-loving include: lily of the valley, dicentra, garden geranium, anemone, foxglove, astration major, primrose, aquilegia, astilbe, kupena, beauty hydrangea, periwinkle, Volzhanka, elecampane.
Decorative deciduous shade-loving are: hostas, heucheras, ferns, bergenia, brunera.
The following vines grow well in the shade: actinidia kolomikta, maiden grapes, Chinese lemongrass. They decorate fences and walls of domestic premises.
Shaded areas of the garden can also be decorated for the summer season with flowers in pots, such as evergreen begonia, lobelia, impatiens and low-winter-hardy hydrangeas. In the fall, at the end summer season they are brought into the house, where they spend the winter well until next summer.
Let's take a closer look at shade-loving plants.
Unpretentious perennial a plant that enchants with its tenderness. She has beautiful not only flowers of various colors, but also openwork foliage.
Aquilegia is unpretentious in the choice of soil; it grows in loose, wet soils, but when compost or humus is added to the soil, it grows powerful and blooms profusely. Care consists of moderate watering, followed by loosening the soil and fertilizing once every 3 weeks. Propagated by seeds, dividing the bush.
If you plant a geranium in the most unsightly place, you won’t recognize it in a year. The rapidly growing plant, with its lush, openwork bushes, fills the free space so tightly that even weeds cannot break through.
Perennial garden geranium popular among gardeners due to:
Geranium care consists of watering and fertilizing. In early spring contribute nitrogen fertilizers, and throughout the season once a month complex mineral.
shade-tolerant perennial. When planted under trees, flowering is delayed, but the color of the flowers is brighter. It is moisture-loving and responds well to fertilization. A few years after planting, dicentra forms a powerful, abundantly flowering bush.
Overwatering is detrimental; fleshy roots rot.
For the winter, it is better to cover the dicentra to avoid freezing. It reproduces by dividing overgrown bushes and cuttings.
Perennial frost-resistant a plant 1.5-2 m high and a bush up to 1 m wide, very decorative, one might even say spectacular. A sweet honey aroma emanates from the blooming white panicles, and the lacy foliage adorns the Volzhanka until frost.
Volzhanka is unpretentious, but grows best on fertile soils . It is quite drought-resistant, but it is not afraid of waterlogging of the soil either. After flowering throughout June, faded panicles must be removed so that the plant does not lose its decorative appearance. Late autumn The stems are cut at a level of 5 cm from the soil.
Hydrangea is a luxurious, beautifully flowering shrub, one of the most impressive with its flowering in the garden. Hydrangea loves acidic, nutritious and well-moistened soil. To maintain soil acidity and moisture in it, mulching with fallen pine needles, sawdust, and peat is necessary.
The shrub is practically not affected by diseases and pests.
Hydrangea blooms from late June until frost with large flowers.
Hydrangea has many varieties: tree-like, paniculate (the most winter-hardy), petiolate, large-leaved. Most hydrangeas are winter-hardy, but covering them for the winter is a good idea. Even if they freeze slightly in harsh winters, they easily recover within a season with good care.
Perennial undemanding a plant to care for that brings to flower beds and gardens bright accent. It pleases with its variegated foliage from spring to autumn. The composition of the soil for planting is not particularly important, the main thing is light and without stagnant water.
You can feed once a month, but the dose complex fertilizer should be reduced by half compared to others. Outlets in winter needs to be hilled up and mulched.
Gardeners and flower growers value it for:
Hostas do not like frequent division of bushes. It is enough to perform this procedure once every five years.
The variety of colors of hosta leaves is impressive: from soft green to dark green, there are variegated varieties with white and yellow stripes. Hosta sizes are also different: from dwarf to giant. The height varies from 5 cm to 1.5-2 m. There is plenty to choose from.
Astilbe is the little princess of the shadow. Plant moisture-loving and unpretentious. Astilbe is beautiful, both in flowering and before and after it, thanks to its carved foliage. After flowering, faded inflorescences do not need to be removed; they also decorate it.
Astilbe blooms with white, pink, and red panicle inflorescences in the first half of summer. The soil for growing must be fertile and moisture-absorbing. It is advisable to mulch the plant to maintain soil moisture.
Every 5 years, astilbe needs to be rejuvenated by dividing the bushes and transplanting to a new location.
Fern is herbaceous perennial shady a plant that loves moisture and shady places.
At the same time, the plant is drought-resistant; if in extreme heat without watering the plant dries out, next spring it will delight you with its appearance again. Planted in the shade of trees, they give the area the appearance tropical forest.
For planting, seedlings no older than 4 years of age are used, because adult plants do not take root.
To obtain a harvest of berries, it is necessary to plant 2 plants (male and female), because dioecious plant.
IN summer days shady areas of the garden are developed and used for relaxation, where you can enjoy the coolness and hide from the sweltering heat and scorching sun. The recreation area can be decorated with shade-loving plants, creating flower beds or islands of lush greenery. The choice of plants for this is large and varied.
According to the requirements for lighting conditions, it is customary to divide plants into the following ecological groups: 1) light-loving(light), orheliophytes,– plants of open, constantly well-lit habitats; 2) shade-loving(shadow), orsciophytes, – plants of the lower tiers of shady forests, caves and deep-sea plants; they do not tolerate strong light from direct sunlight; 3) shade-tolerant,orfacultative heliophytes,– can tolerate more or less shade, but grow well in the light; They adapt more easily than other plants under the influence of changing lighting conditions.
Light adaptations of heliophytes and sciophytes. Heliophytes often have shoots with shortened internodes, highly branched, often rosette-shaped. The leaves of heliophytes are usually small or with a dissected leaf blade, with a thick outer wall of epidermal cells, often with a waxy coating or dense pubescence, with a large number stomata per unit area, often submerged, with a dense network of veins, with well-developed mechanical tissues. A number of plants have photometric leaves, that is, they are turned with their edges towards the midday rays or can change the position of their parts depending on the height of the Sun. The optical apparatus of heliophytes is better developed than that of sciophytes, has a larger photoactive surface and is adapted to more complete absorption of light. They usually have thicker leaves, smaller epidermal and mesophyll cells, and two-layer or multilayer palisade parenchyma (in some savannah plants West Africa– up to 10 layers), often developed under the upper and lower epidermis. Small chloroplasts with a well-developed granal structure in large numbers (up to 200 or more) are located along the longitudinal walls.
There is less chlorophyll per dry weight in heliophyte leaves, but they contain more pigments of the I pigment system and chlorophyll P 700. The ratio of chlorophyll a to chlorophyll b is approximately 5: 1. Hence the high photosynthetic capacity of heliophytes. The compensation point lies in the area of higher illumination. The rate of photosynthesis reaches its maximum in full sunlight. In a special group of plants - heliophytes, in which CO 2 fixation occurs through C4-dicarboxylic acids, light saturation of photosynthesis is not achieved even under the strongest illumination. These are plants from arid regions (deserts, savannas). There are especially many C4 plants among the families of Poa, Sedge, Aizaceae, Purslanaceae, Amaranthaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Cloveaceae, and Euphorbiaceae. They are capable of secondary fixation and recycling of CO 2 released during light respiration, and can photosynthesize at high temperatures and with closed stomata, which is often observed during the hottest hours of the day. Typically, C4 plants, especially sugarcane and corn, are highly productive.
Sciophytes- these are plants that are constantly in conditions of heavy shading. At 0.1–0.2% illumination, only mosses and selyaginella can grow. Mosses are content with 0.25-0.5% of total daylight, and flowering plants are usually found where illumination on cloudy days reaches at least 0.5-1% (begonias, impatiens, herbs from the ginger, madder, and commelinaceae families). In northern broad-leaved and dark-coniferous forests, the canopy of a closed tree stand can transmit only 1–2% of PAR, changing its spectral composition. Blue and red rays are absorbed most strongly, and relatively more yellow-green rays, far red and infrared rays are transmitted. Low illumination is combined with high air humidity and increased content it contains CO 2, especially at the soil surface. The sciophytes of these forests are green mosses, mosses, wood sorrel, wintergreens, bifolia, etc. The leaves of sciophytes are arranged horizontally, often with a well-defined leaf mosaic. The leaves are dark green, larger and thinner. Epidermal cells are larger, but have thinner outer walls and a thin cuticle, and often contain chloroplasts. Mesophyll cells are larger, the palisade parenchyma is single-layered or has an atypical structure and consists not of cylindrical, but of trapezoidal cells. The area of the veins is half that of heliophyte leaves, and the number of stomata per unit area is less. Chloroplasts are large, but their number in cells is small. Sciophytes have less chlorophyll P 700 compared to heliophytes. The ratio of chlorophyll a to chlorophyll b is approximately 3: 2. Physiological processes such as transpiration and respiration occur with less intensity. The intensity of photosynthesis, having quickly reached a maximum, ceases to increase with increasing illumination, and in very bright light it may even decrease. In deciduous shade-tolerant tree species and shrubs (pedunculate oak, cordate linden, common lilac, etc.), the leaves located along the periphery of the crown have a structure similar to the structure of heliophyte leaves and are called light leaves, and in the depths of the crown - shadow leaves with a shadow structure , similar to the structure of sciophyte leaves. facultative heliophytes,orshade-tolerant plants, depending on the degree of shade tolerance, have adaptive features that bring them closer to heliophytes and sciophytes. This group includes some meadow plants, forest grasses and shrubs that grow in shaded areas of the forest, and in forest clearings, edges, and clearings. In bright areas they often grow stronger, but their optimal use of PAR does not occur in full sunlight. In trees and shrubs, the shadow or light structure of the leaf is often determined by the lighting conditions of the previous year, when the buds are laid: if the buds are laid in the light, then the light structure is formed, and vice versa. If in the same habitat the light regime regularly changes periodically, plants in different seasons can manifest themselves either as light-loving or shade-tolerant. In spring, 50–60% of solar radiation penetrates under the forest canopy in oak forests. Leaves of rosette shoots common dream have a light structure and are characterized by a high intensity of photosynthesis. At this time, they create the bulk of the organic matter of the annual production. The leaves of the summer generation, which appear when the tree canopy is developed, under which an average of 3.5% of solar radiation penetrates, have a typical shadow structure, and their intensity of photosynthesis is much lower, 10–20 times. A similar duality in relation to light is shown by hairy sedge , light-loving in spring and shade-tolerant in summer. Apparently, this is also characteristic of other oak forest broadgrass plants. Attitude to light mode changes in plants and during ontogenesis. Seedlings and juvenile plants of many meadow species and tree species are more shade-tolerant than adult plants.
Light as a condition for animal orientation Sunlight for animals Not is like this necessary factor, as for green plants, since all heterotrophs ultimately exist due to the energy accumulated by plants. Nevertheless, the light part of the solar radiation spectrum plays an important role in the life of animals. Different species of animals require light of a certain spectral composition, intensity and duration of illumination. Deviations from the norm suppress their vital activity and lead to death. There are light-loving species ( photophiles) and shade-loving ( photophobes); euryphotic, withstanding a wide range of illumination, and stenophotic, tolerating narrowly limited lighting conditions.
Light for animals is a necessary condition for vision and visual orientation in space. Scattered rays reflected from surrounding objects, perceived by the visual organs of animals, provide them with a significant part of information about the outside world. The development of vision in animals went in parallel with the development of the nervous system. The completeness of visual perception of the environment in animals depends primarily on the degree of evolutionary development. The primitive eyes of many invertebrates are simply light-sensitive cells surrounded by pigment, and in unicellular organisms there is a light-sensitive region of the cytoplasm. The process of light perception begins with photochemical changes in the molecules of visual pigments, after which an electrical impulse occurs. The organs of vision from individual eyes do not produce images of objects, but perceive only fluctuations in illumination, alternation of light and shadow, indicating changes in the environment. Figurative vision is possible only with a sufficiently complex structure of the eye. Spiders, for example, can distinguish the contours of moving objects at a distance of 1–2 cm. The most advanced organs of vision are the eyes of vertebrates, cephalopods and insects. They allow you to perceive the shape and size of objects, their color, and determine distance. The ability for three-dimensional vision depends on the angle of the eyes and the degree of overlap of their fields of vision. Three-dimensional vision, for example, is characteristic of humans, primates, and a number of birds - owls, falcons, eagles, and vultures. Animals with eyes located on the sides of their heads have monocular, plane vision.
The maximum sensitivity of a highly developed eye is enormous. A person accustomed to the dark can distinguish light, the intensity of which is determined by the energy of only five quanta, which is close to the physically possible limit.
The concept of visible light is somewhat arbitrary, since individual species Animals vary greatly in their ability to perceive different rays of the solar spectrum. For person area of visible rays – from purple to dark red.
Some animals, for example rattlesnakes see the infrared part of the spectrum and catch prey in the dark, orienting themselves using their visual organs. For bees the visible part of the spectrum is shifted more shortwave region. They perceive a significant portion of ultraviolet rays as colors, but do not distinguish red ones. The ability to distinguish color largely depends on the spectral composition of the radiation at which the species exists or is active. Most mammals, descended from ancestors with twilight and nocturnal activity, do not distinguish colors well and see everything in black and white (dogs, cats, hamsters, etc.). The same vision is characteristic of nocturnal birds (owls, nightjars). Diurnal birds have well-developed color vision. Living in dim lighting often leads to eye hypertrophy. Huge eyes, capable of capturing tiny fractions of light, are characteristic of nocturnal lemurs, loris monkeys, tarsiers, owls, etc. Animals navigate using vision during long flights and migrations. Birds choose their flight direction with amazing accuracy, sometimes covering thousands of kilometers from nesting sites to wintering grounds. It has been proven that during such long flights birds are at least partially oriented by the sun and stars, i.e. astronomical light sources. If forced to deviate from the course, they are capable of navigation, i.e., changing orientation in order to get into desired point Earth. In partly cloudy conditions, the orientation is maintained as long as at least part of the sky is visible. Birds do not fly into continuous fog or, if it catches them on the way, they continue to fly blindly and often lose their course. Birds' navigational ability is innate. It is not acquired through life experience, but is created natural selection as a system of instincts. The exact mechanisms of this orientation are still poorly understood. The hypothesis of the orientation of birds in migration by astronomical light sources is currently supported by experimental and observational materials. The ability for this kind of orientation is also characteristic of other groups of animals. Among insects, it is especially developed in bees. Bees that have found nectar transmit information to others about where to fly for a bribe, using the position of the sun as a guide.
Depending on what degree of illumination one or another likes houseplants, they can be divided into four main groups: shade-loving indoor plants, shade-tolerant, light-loving and plants that are undemanding to the light regime.
“Love” or “dislike” for light is determined by the place where the houseplant’s ancestors grew in natural conditions. Briefly about each group the following can be said.
Under natural conditions, the ancestors of shade-loving houseplants grow in the lower layer of tropical rainforest and almost never receive bright light.
Shade-loving indoor plants include asparagus (some species), aspidistra, helxina, clivia, tuberous begonia, some types of ferns, ophiopogon, ruscus, tradescantia, rhipsalis and others, less popular.
Shade-loving indoor plants do not tolerate bright light at all; it is not recommended to take them out of the room, even to a shaded place. The most favorable location for them is the northern and northwestern windows.
The advantage of cultivating shade-loving indoor plants is that they can be grown even away from the window and under artificial lighting.
Shade-tolerant indoor plants differ from shade-loving ones in that they can grow in both light and shaded areas. However, they require more intense lighting to bloom.
The group of shade-tolerant indoor plants includes begonia, bougainvillea, aloe, laurel, myrtle, ferns, philodendron, ficus, hoya, schefflera and others.
Shade-tolerant indoor flowers grow well on windows facing south, southeast and southwest. Direct Sun rays V summer time are often destructive for such plants, therefore, for normal well-being during the period of intensive development, some of them must be removed to western and eastern windows.
Variegated types of shade-tolerant indoor plants require more intense lighting, especially on winter days. To ensure normal living conditions at this time, they can be illuminated with ordinary fluorescent lamps.
Light-loving indoor plantsUnder natural conditions, the ancestors of light-loving indoor plants grow in open spaces. These are plants such as agave, abutilon, akalifa, gardenia, belopelone, geranium, hibiscus, irezine, cacti, camellia, bells, cordyline, poinsettia, oleander, setcreasia, date palm, citrus fruits and others.
It is recommended to place light-loving indoor plants on southern or southeastern, as well as southwestern windows. However, care should be taken to ensure that they do not get sunburn in the form of brown spots on the leaves. If indoor conditions do not allow creating the lighting necessary for light-loving plants, then they must be illuminated with fluorescent lamps.
Such plants develop best in moderate light, but, if necessary, they do well in both a south and north-west window. These include some types of cryptomeria, rapis, ficus, aucuba, monstera, bignonia, chlorophytum, chloranthus and others.
Light-loving trees and shrubs
Shade-tolerant trees and shrubs
How to determine the light-loving nature of a tree
Most reliable way– refer to the dendrological directory. In addition, there are signs that make it possible to determine with great accuracy a tree’s lighting requirements.
Signs of light-loving plants
Signs of shade-tolerant plants
Changing lighting requirements over the life cycle
The plant's need for sunlight is not constant. Tree seedlings have little light requirements, since their nutrition comes largely from the supply of substances in the seeds. As the plant grows and develops, the need for light increases and reaches a maximum in mature trees that flower and bear fruit intensively.
Changes in light requirements depending on temperature, humidity and nutrient availability
When the temperature rises (to a certain level), the intensity of photosynthesis and oxidation increases. Since photosynthesis requires light, the need for lighting also increases. In low light conditions and high temperature plants try to “reach” the sun, forming long thin shoots and leaves.
Much the same can be said about humidity. Company specialists landscape design They believe that water is also necessary for photosynthesis: therefore, as soil moisture increases to optimal levels, the need for light increases. At excess humidity and insufficient lighting, tree growth slows down, and their resistance to infectious diseases decreases.
Macro- and microelements that plants receive as part of mineral salts do not directly participate in photosynthesis, but are part of enzymes and structural proteins. At the same time, plants react differently to the application of fertilizers in low light conditions.
An increased content of potassium and phosphorus with a lack of light does not have a significant effect on plants.
With an improved supply of microelements, even in conditions of lack of light, trees grow better. This is due to the fact that microelements play an important role in the formation of enzymes, and when they are added, the plant uses the “light potential” more effectively. Foliar fertilizing with manganese is especially good, the effectiveness of which has been repeatedly proven by relevant studies.
How to provide plants with light
We cannot increase the intensity of solar radiation. In relation to trees local area we can't even increase the duration daylight hours, since their artificial evening lighting will require huge and pointless costs. The only way to provide our trees with light is reasonable approach to their placement and thoroughness. To do this, it is necessary to competently draw up a landscaping project for the site.
Photoperiodism
The length of day and night plays an important role in the life of plants. Plants react in a certain way to changes in the length of daylight hours - in this way they “prepare” for the onset or end of winter. These reactions are called photoperiodism.
Features of photoperiodic reactions of plants should be taken into account when they are atypical for a given climatic zone. For example, typical plant short daylight hours, white acacia when grown in Leningrad region will not stop growing with the onset of autumn and will most likely suffer greatly during the first frost.
