Skip to content

GARDEN CLUB: Shady characters for your garden

Shade plants are garden club’s September topic
26468198_web1_210913-SNM-Garden-Club-PHOTOS_1

Cory McInnis | Contributed

Shady characters show up in shady places and have been known to do shady things. Are you a gardener with a shady past? Well, this month’s Sooke Garden Club meeting’s guest speaker is someone you won’t want to miss if you’re planning a shady future.

Since moving to Sooke, our yard is full sun exposure, and those shady corners that offer a bit of relief from the heat and the ability to grow fascinating shade-loving plants are not an option.

As it was in my past gardens, there always seemed to be an area with dappled light or full shade, which turned into one of my favourite environments where so many plants could brighten up a dark, cool space. So, for now, I will embrace the sunshine and dream of all the nook and crannies a shade garden offers.

The Sooke Garden Club has lined up Chris Jennings with the Vancouver Shade Garden Society for September’s speaker. She brings with her a presentation around a compendium of shade plants, including annuals, ferns, grasses, ground covers, vines, perennials, shrubs and bushes.

After moving from Ontario to Vancouver, Jennings’ interests in gardening piqued after she went to a summer garden show discovering some magnificent fuchsia standards. She then joined up with the B.C. Fuchsia and Begonia Society and the next seven years learned all she could about these plants.

In 2003, Jennings decided to broaden her horizons and struck out on her own with a few other gardening friends to create the Vancouver Shade Garden Society that has around 60 members.

The group’s mission is to explore and learn all about plants that can grow in full or partial shade as it’s not just ferns and hostas but so many other plants.

For information on any scheduled events, you can keep in touch on these sites, the Sooke Garden Club Facebook page and sookegardenclub.ca or email us at sookegc@gmail.com. We will keep it updated and inform you of all changes in dates and events. Annual membership for the Sooke garden club is $15; new members are always welcome.

•••

Cory McInnis writes for the Sooke Garden Club.



editor@sookenewsmirror.com

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter