Although “Fifty Shades of Grey” is a title many people are talking about today, it got me thinking about my favorite color – green. I’ve renamed my shade garden 50 shades of green. 

Green is a restful, serene color, and there are so many wonderful shades of green that the shade garden is the perfect place to showcase my favorite color. 

For groundcover, I like Lamium maculatum  or “White Nancy.”  The silvery green-centered leaves with dark green margins are perfect companions for the 50 shades of green in the garden. I also like that the white flowers that appear off and on throughout the season blend easily with the shades of green. 
An old garden favorite is bleeding heart – Dicentra spectabilis or “Gold Heart.” While this variety has pretty heart-shaped pink flowers, the reason I love this plant is the bright chartreuse green leaves. Pink blooms last a few weeks but the bright, green foliage stays until the arrival of summer heat. Plants will go dormant in the summer so take that into consideration when designing.