ELKINS PARK — Tom Steigerwald's the kind of guy who gets upset if the sky isn't blue enough. No wonder he's a gardener.

"It creates a little oasis for me," he says, "a counterpoint to everything else in modern life."

But Steigerwald's oasis, which wraps around a converted 19th-century firehouse in Elkins Park, would intimidate less-adventurous souls. It's almost all shade, a condition many gardeners fear makes it hard to grow anything colorful or fun.

Not so. So not so!

Since moving from Philadelphia 13 years ago, Steigerwald, an artist who specializes in huge floral paintings, and his wife, Patrice, an engineer at Lockheed Martin, have transformed their long-neglected yard into a charming, slightly wild cottage garden.

They ripped out decades' worth of out-of-control ivy, remade the gravelly soil with homegrown compost and wood chips, and set about planting things that not only tolerate the dense and dappled shade overlaying their property, but thrive in it.

Things such as deep purple salvia and pale orange angel's trumpet, tall pink hollyhocks and sprays of creamy plume poppy and oakleaf hydrangea. They have plenty of the more traditional shade plants, too — ferns and hostas installed, for maximum impact, in clusters and waves.

The garden sways with life, inviting guests to enter, stroll around, brush against the blossoms and leaves, drink in the sweet, subtle fragrances.

"It's our summer living room," says Patrice Steigerwald.

Two of their prettiest ferns are cinnamon, which has curly leaves and narrow, erect brown fronds; and ostrich, which grows to an exuberant five feet tall.

The Steigerwalds' hostas range from icy blue to hot chartreuse, some — actually, "Sum and Substance" — with leaves so broad they resemble a magic carpet.

Imagine all this color and texture wrapped around curvy walkways, arbors dense with Dutchman's pipe and starry hop vines, and a pond bubbling with goldfish and frogs.

It's lush, with a feathery Victorian feel. No sharp edges here — and no dread of shade.

After all, shade gardening has advantages: There are fewer weeds, flowers last longer, and plants need less water and maintenance.

Despite a reputation for being difficult, it ain't rocket science, says John D. Martin, a horticulture professor at Delaware Valley College in Doylestown.

Gardeners just need to figure out whether their yard has partial shade, which is three to five hours of morning sun each day; or full shade, which is two hours or less. There are plants for both, including astilbe, bleeding heart, and coral bells for partial shade and Johnny jump-up, barrenwort and Solomon's seal for full shade.

Soil conditions also are important. But there's no need for fancy soil tests, Martin says; shade plants generally like it moist.

"Most people are common-sense people," he says, "so just look at your property and make some observations as to how dry it gets, what kind of soil you have, and what happens in the summertime."

Martin's woodsy backyard in Chalfont is so dry, he jokes, "we could make adobe bricks." Even so, he grows a nice assortment of Christmas fern, barrenwort, yellow corydalis, trillium, hardy cyclamen, and columbine.

Many shrubs do well in shade, too: mountain laurel, rhododendron, azalea and viburnum.

"It's a wonderful palette," says Martin, who conspicuously leaves hostas out of the discussion.

"I'm not too wild about them, and my wife hates them," he confesses.

It's an attitude Eva Jones can't understand.

Jones, owner of the Azalea Patch, a shade nursery in Joppa, Md., is president of the Delaware Valley Hosta Society, which has 150 members in Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. She "lives and breathes" shade gardening and sells 200 hosta varieties.

She thinks they got a bad rap because one or two varieties seemed to grow everywhere, and gardeners got bored.

"The first hosta, the one everybody knows, the green center with the white edge or vice versa, multiplied like crazy, and you couldn't kill it," Jones says, "so everybody gave it to their mother and their neighbor and everyone under the sun."