I spent many years with a shade garden filled with hostas, astilbes and a few ferns. The transformation from lush summer growth to little more than an undulating bed of mulch in winter left me disappointed. I experimented with heuchera (coralbells) and tiarella (foamflower). There was a little more winter color, a smattering of semi-evergreen foliage, but not enough. Over the years I've made it a point of observing gardens in the winter and have learned that there is no shortage of interest from foliage and flowering plants, especially in our zone 7. Now I design a shady garden for interest in all seasons and winter is just as important as the other months. Filled with semi-evergreen and evergreen perennials, the study in greens alone is of great interest with olive greens to blue-greens and black-greens. The world around will turn drab and brown but a well designed shade garden can still serve as a focal point in the landscape.

A planting of Vinca minor 'Miss Jekyll' does a great job as an evergreen groundcover. Dainty foliage with small white flowers carpet the ground in March and freely exhibit a few open flowers in various growing seasons of the year. Underplant with snowdrop bulbs or galanthus for late winter blooms of pure white that look their best against the lush green backdrop. February is usually the month that snowdrops begin to bloom. Arum bulbs can be interspersed, the highly variegated foliage types are preferred, sending up their leaves in the fall and remaining handsome all winter long. Arums exhibit one of the most unique forms of variegation, technically referred to as bubble variegation. The leaf surface contains pockets of air and these areas appear more silver or white.

Taller plants for mid-border or back would be helleborus, I prefer Helleborus foetidus which has been in bloom for me since late October. Upright stalks hold medium green leaves that are topped by pale green flowers. The flowers are not true flowers. What appear to be petals are actually sepals and they remain on the plant through April. For contrast plant a number of euphorbias, the three most handsome are Euphorbia wulfenii, E. amygdaloides 'Purpurea' and Euphorbia amygdaloides var. robbiae. Flowers on all three are acid green and will arrive in April.

For winter you will be pleased with their foliage, a rich gray-green to dark purple and black-green respectively. Reserve a spot for epimedium or barrenwort with evergreen foliage and flowers in March and April. Enjoy the foliage of epimedium until late February and then cut it off at ground level. The flowering shoots uncoil at ground level and rise with flowers that precede spring foliage. This drought tolerant perennials is one of my favorites for all year interest and is undergoing much hybridization. I suspect that in the next 5 years epimedium will be as common a perennial as astilbe. This is a good thing since they grow so well for us.

Include lots of hardy cyclamen, Cyclamen coum flowers in the dead of winter, often January and February! Their foliage is gone by June, summer dormant, returning in September and remaining all winter. The hardy cyclamen display handsome leaves all winter long and I would have them even if they never flowered. Small plants that grow from underground tubers, they are slow to establish. In time they will seed and colonize. Add a half a dozen rohdeas or Sacred Lilies for their long, evergreen, rigid leaves, they require a protected site, away from winter wind. Iris reticulata bulbs must be planted in fall but don't hesitate to include them in your shady garden for they will flower in February with flowers that precede foliage. With multiple varieties of Iris reticulata the show will continue well into March.

In March the primroses begin and I consider this one of the finest harbingers of spring! With the arrival of March, the dreary days will have come to an end. Sounds of spring peepers will fill the evenings and the rest of the garden will begin to green up. The passing of winter days may even be missed, the garden was lovely.