A simple combo for lots of color

By: Garden Gate staff

You don't have to have lots of space to get striking color. Try these 3 low-maintenance plants in any shady corner.

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Shine in the shade

Not all of the most eye-catching parts of your garden are large beds or borders. Just a few plants that look great together can create lots of impact.

Here, a skirt of ‘All Gold’ hakonechloa below bigleaf hydrangea softens the edge of a path. Its golden-yellow leaves take on a hint of pink in fall, which ties the combo’s color scheme together even more. This grass grows best in shade — too much sun can scorch the leaves and cause them to fade to white.

Click ahead to find out more about this combo.

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Combo recipe

‘Glowing Embers’ bigleaf hydrangea blooms on old wood, so if you’re going to prune, do so just after flowers fade in late summer.

‘Split Rock’ dwarf hinoki cypress grows very slowly, making it perfect for small spaces. This shrub adapts to a variety of light and soil conditions and is drought-tolerant once established.

A – ‘Split Rock’ dwarf hinoki cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa) Shrub; blue and green evergreen foliage; full sun to part shade; 2 to 4 ft. tall and wide; cold-hardy in USDA zones 5 to 8, heat- tolerant in AHS zones 8 to 1

B – ‘Glowing Embers’ bigleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla) Shrub; rose-red flowers from summer through fall; part sun; 4 to 6 ft. tall, 6 to 8 ft. wide; cold-hardy in USDA zones 7 to 9, heat-tolerant in AHS zones 9 to 1

C – ‘All Gold’ hakonechloa (Hakonechloa) Perennial; golden-yellow foliage; part to full shade; 12 to 18 in. tall and wide; cold-hardy in USDA zones 5 to 9, heat-tolerant in AHS zones 9 to 1