You can have flowers in the shade

I've been asked to write about plants — not including annuals — that bloom in shade.

There are so many that I wrote a whole book about them. These include many large families of plants, each of which offer many choices: azaleas, bromeliads, caladiums, camellias, gingers and orchids. Here are a few of my favorites:

Blue or false ginger is a perennial that thrives in partial to light shade. It starts easily from cuttings, and over the past 20 years mine has been damaged by cold only during the last two, and it's coming back. The plant is evergreen, grows 3 to 5 feet tall and has deep blue to purple spires of long-lasting flowers in late summer through fall. It does well in poor soil and, once established, needs little water.

A good companion for placement in front of blue ginger is the flamingo flower. It has flushes of showy flowers several times a year in shades of red, white, pink, apricot, rose purple and two shades of yellow. I have pink at the moment and a very tall yellow that blooms only once in the winter, when it isn't too cold. I prefer the smaller, more reliable ones. They're easy to start from cuttings, and they will grow in partial shade to full sun.

Angel trumpets, tall shrubs that have fabulous fragrant flowers that open each evening and stay for much of the next morning, and daturas, smaller shrubs that bloom day and night, grow in sun to partial shade and feature large, gorgeous flowers. They are easy to start from cuttings or seeds.

Mine have been zapped the past two winters but are up and blooming again, though it will take all summer to get them to their previous size. This plant is poisonous but not tempting to a child. They can be fatal to drug seekers, so plant them in the back part of the garden.

I also love the fragrant yesterday, today and tomorrow that bloomed not long ago, my voodoo lily that blooms in May and the pinecone ginger that blooms from early summer until cold comes.

And I try to remember to eat a leaf a day from my Jewels of Opar plant that loves shade but also grows in the sun. It has lovely spires of tiny flowers and seeds, but it is the leaves that keep me healthy.

Those are just a few of the plants that flower in the sun.

Today's pick

Confederate jasmine is another plant that outdid itself in bloom this year. It takes coastal sun to medium shade and has a wonderful fragrance. It can grow as a vine, a ground cover or a shrub. There is also a cultivar with variegated leaves.

It's not a rampant vine, but some chain-link fences in the area are completely covered. It has medium drought tolerance once established and can be started from cuttings.

Now's the time to ...

Get in the habit of saving kitchen scraps to improve your soil. A compost pile near the back door is handy. But you also can compost on the spot. Just keep a covered container at your sink and whenever it's full, take it out and spread it around the plants you want most to encourage.

Cover it with a few leaves or grass clippings or a layer of soil. If you go out two weeks later and dig in that spot, you'll be surprised to see how the soil already has improved. You can put in anything except meat, soap and grease, and if a small bit of those does get in, it won't hurt.

This doesn't bring more unwanted critters to the garden. Instead, the plants thrive and have fewer insect and disease problems, which usually attack stressed plants.

A recent visitor added a bag beside our kitchen wastebasket for thin papers like used napkins that also rot quickly. She even bought me a large ice bucket at a thrift store to hold any water that otherwise would be wasted when you wash vegetables or pour off the extra water after cooking or rinse off the dishes, etc.