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Cottage Gardens

Plants for a shade foundation area

16 years ago

Help please

I am planning a shade garden against the north side of my townhouse. I already have been growing some hostas, lady's mantel, ferns, campanula in this area but I'm going to enlarge the space - 20 feet across the building and extending about 6-8 feet from the base of the townhouse. I'm trying to think of some plants/shrubs that would give lots of multiseasonal interest. Any great ideas out there?

Fern

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Comments (11)

lorna-organic
16 years ago
Violas like shade. They make a colorful low border. If memory serves well, I believe they are considered poisonous to dogs. If you have dogs, you might want to check up on that. If the area gets some sun, coleous might be another choice.
Lorna
greylady_gardener
16 years ago
What are your conditions other than shade. Is it dry shade? What is your soil like? Do you face slightly west so that you might get some late afternoon sun (like me:))?

gg
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Not really. The yews can be cut back very hard. Quite possibly the rhododendrons can also. My house faces almost directly north, and while I don't have the dryness I do have too high a pH for anything that wants acidic soil. Once you get past yews, there really isn't a lot, and the deer won't stay away from those. Probably once or twice a year somebody shows up in the LD forum or the Shrub forum, having done an enormous amount of work pulling out their old plantings, asking for suggestions. What they very obviously wanted to do was put in something showy and novel, and really don't like it when they are informed that what they just pulled out is about the only things remotely suitable for the location. And it's going to take a fair amount of time and $$$ to get back to where they had been before doing all that work. So the one thing I would strongly recommend is having a good idea of what the real world possibilities are before doing anything drastic. That's not just what is winter hardy, but also what can probably handle the lack of sun and perform reasonably well in spite of it, etc. For example, a lot of times people recommend shrubs with colorful berries for winter interest. However, if it doesn't flower because it doesn't get enough sun, it won't set the berries, and won't do the job it's supposed to do.
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Clay shade can be pretty harsh. You might consider raising it a little and adding several inches of washed brick sand and some kind of organic material like peat, humus or compost, then rototilling it in. That would free up a lot of options for you. For shrubs, I don't think you can beat Loropetalum, which is also known as fringe flower or Chinese witch hazel. It does well in shade or part sun. If it can survive my mother, it can survive anything. I'd stay away with the acid-loving, high maintenance azaleas, camelias and mahonias; they just take too much work for an area that size. Same with hydrangeas, for different reasons. Crinum, ginger, elephant ears and turk's cap are all good medium-sized plants. They get pretty thick too, which gives a nice lush appearance. Liriope is a great filler plant. It's just a big bunch of dark green grass that makes a 10" mound or thereabouts, then sends up purple spires of flowers right about now. Similarly sized/habit plants are columbine, purple oxalis and purple heart. Groundcovers for shade that have done the best for me are algerian ivy (of which there is a magnificent variegated variety at Calloway's), asian jasmine and vinca (all of these can be invasive to differing degrees.) Small accent plants are begonias, impatiens, violets and ferns. The former two are annuals; the latter two come back most of the time. For planning out your beds, think in terms of trios and loose symmetry. You don't want a bed all of the same plant, but using the same plant in several places ties the space together. Also, pick colors that go together, like purple, pink and white, or orange, yellow and red. Different textures can have just as much impact as different colors, so look for some contrasting texture, too - like elephant ears next to a loropetalum. Shopping online is a great way to buy stuff; the big box stores just can't offer the kind of variety that a local nursery or a mail-order can. Also, be sure to make the plant swaps this fall! They're a great way to get pass-along plants like turk's cap and ground covers!
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In my formerly* full-shade bed here in Southern New England (Zone 6a) are planted many various personally selected, named hostas but also Heuchera/coral bells, variegated false Solomon's seal, Carex 'Ice Dance', Gentian andrewsii, Aquilegia/columbine, Japanese Anemone, Tricyrtis/toad lily, Hellebore/Lenten rose, Pulmonaria/lungwort, Stokesia/Stoke's aster, Alchemilla mollis/lady's mantle, Chelone/turtlehead, Brunnera/Siberian bugloss, daylilies, Dianthus/carnation, among others. * I say formerly full-shade because gypsy moth caterpillars stripped all five of my mature (150+-year-old) oak trees of leaves back in mid-June and will again next June leaving my full shade garden beds exposed to full sun about the time of the summer solstice. The well-established plants are still alive but showing signs of heat stress. I use recycled gallon milk jugs with a hole punched an inch from the bottom opposite the handle with an ice pick, fill the jugs with water and set them at the base of the plant. It's the poor gardener's irrigation method but the plants get watered close to the base. Water remaining in the container when the level drops below the pinhole keeps jugs from blowing around in the wind. I'm in a cooler zone/climate than you are but I hope you find some perennials that suit your site as well as please your eye. My garden pleases mine and it's a huge rush to walk out and think, "I did that!!" each morning. Best of luck to you.
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some ideas based on your location in Daisytown, PA: dwarf yew, skip or otto luyken laurel, Jack Frost Brunnera
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lorna-organic
16 years ago
I forgot to list Jack-in-the-pulpits with the violas. The combination of the two makes an unexpected splash of colors in shady areas.

Lorna
sierra_z2b
16 years ago
My shady foundation garden gets morning sun. I have a collection of hostas in there as the main plants. I also have a bleeding heart, 2 astilbes (one low and creeping and the other a taller variety. There is also coral bells, purple liatris and bergina in there. And for a spring show, tulips and other small bulbs.

For the other side, still a shade garden and same conditions, I have pink asiatic lilies...they lean toward the light though, but still bloom nicely. I have had zonal geraniums, fiberous begonias, asters, marigolds and petunias in there. This year I might plant some of the tuberous begonias in there, with lobelia. I also have double tulips in there, for spring colour.

Sierra
faltered
16 years ago
Daylillies will bloom in the shade, heck, they'll bloom anywhere!

You may also want to try lily of the valley for spring blooms & groundcover, sweet william, hydrangea, dicentra, and heuchera.

Hope that helps,
Tracy
christinmk z5b eastern WA
16 years ago
Hi fernsk! I gave several shade gardens, and am always looking for shrubs that will grow well there. Hydrangeas, of corse, grow well in shade, as do dogwood shrubs and Japanese Maples. I have a Taxus (evergreen yew) 'Densiformis' in part shade, and it does well. Chaenomeles japonica (ornamental quince), Cotinus, Symphoricarpos (Snowberry), and certain Honyesuckle shrubs also do okay in part shade for me. Larger sorts of Artemesia do well as shrubs too. Hope this helps you!
CMK
louisianagal
16 years ago
I have a north side shade garden with mahonia, pieris, camellia, ferns, astilbe, hellebores. There are many choices for camellias and also ferns.
minnesuing
16 years ago
How about brunnera, pulmonaria, astrantia, aruncus dioicus, cimicifuga and tricyrtis? All pretty plants.
sierra_z2b
16 years ago
Ummmmm Fern's name has z2 beside it. Many of the plants and trees/shrubs that are listed here will NOT grow in zone 2.

Sierra
duluthinbloomz4
16 years ago
According to Bachman's, these shrubs are listed for zone 2, but shade/sun requirements would have to be researched:

Grey Owl Juniper
Microbiota
Procumbens Spruce
Bayberry Myrica
Hedge Cotoneaster
Alpine Currant Ribes
Falsespirea Sorbaria
Common White Lilac Syringa
Donald Wyman Lilac Syringa
Minuet Lilac Syringa
Mount Baker Lilac Syringa
Pocahontas Lilac Syringa
Royalty Lilac Syringa
Sensation Lilac Syringa
Ninebark Physocarpus
Many Varieties of Potentilla
Serviceberry Amelanchier
Smooth Sumac
Tamarisk Tamarix
Compact American Viburnum
fernsk
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks all for these ideas. I had thought of including bleeding heart - possibly the fern leaf variety. I love astilbe but seem to have a black thumb in past attempts at growing it. The area will be watered by the maintenance man during weekly waterings and I can water in between those waterings. I really like the idea of a cranberry [viburnum] I currently have a bird feeder in front of the window to entertain Mocha [my ragdoll cat] - he enjoys supervising all activities in the courtyard from his kitty condo so it would be great to include a bush that would have fruit for the birds. I hadn't thought of bulbs but that would be nice in the spring. Thanks again - you've all given me plants to think about

Fern

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