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Minnesota Gardening

Heuchera or other Shade recommendations?

11 years ago

I'm looking for a low growing, hardy perennial that's any color but plain green (ferns and hostas behind it; an oak tree above) for a north-facing shady area next to the garage. I love purple heucheras, but are any predictably hearty in such conditions? If not, any suggestions? Thanks.

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Comments (7)

garystpaul
11 years ago
Hi, Marita

My experience with the darker heucheras (like purple) is that they need more sun than others. Even though I often go against conventional wisdom, I wouldn't try them in a north-facing site. But how about the silvery-white lamiums? They're certainly hardy enough.
garystpaul
11 years ago
Hi, Marita

My experience with the darker heucheras (like purple) is that they need more sun than others. Even though I often go against conventional wisdom, I wouldn't try them in a north-facing site. But how about the silvery-white lamiums? They're certainly hardy enough.
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I think it kind of depends on the type of shade you have. Is it deciduous or building shade? Is it high-filtered shade. Does it get any bright light? It doesn't sound from your post that there is much sun at all on either side, so I would think that there would only be minor differences between the two sides. However I wanted to mention that when I moved to my current home I had mostly sun, no shade trees. I soon found that heucheras did not do very well in solid building shade, the only kind I could provide. Right now, except for some lime green ones, which will scorch a bit in the sun, I grow most of my heucheras & heucherellas in the sun. I'm talking about 6-8 hours or more of sun. Peach Flambe is spectacular looking in sparkling sunlight & may be bright enough to show up well in darker situations. I just don't know. The dark purple-red heucheras blend into the dark ground color too much for my taste. Pewter Veil does nicely for me in bright light (no direct sun) & looks especially nice with the silver-green Lungwort Majeste, along with the slow-growing Japanese Painted fern & a big fat Bergenia cordifolia Bressingham Ruby. I also have 4 varieties of the Caramel/amber ones (the best of which is Caramel) and they color well in both heavy deciduous shade and sun, being just a bit greener in shade than in sun. The ones in shade are a lot smaller, but that may be a varietal thing as some of the early amber ones were poorish growers. OTOH, I wanted to mention to you that I gave away most of my purple varieties to a niece with a new-to-her home in an older neighborhood. She has huge big limbed-up-high trees providing lots of filtered light & they are all doing well for her. They are doing much better for her under the trees than they did for me in the dark building shade. Hopefully, some people with shade will post their experiences for you.
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I'm growing hosta, astilbe and lady's mantle from seeds I harvested from my own plants and winter sowed. Pulmonaria (lungwort) is another shade lover, as is black snakeroot, Japanese painted fern, bleeding heart, Japanese sedge grass (carex), and toad lily (tricyrtis). My full shade area is packed with all of the ones mentioned so far on this thread. Brunnera (Siberian bugloss) 'Jack Frost' is going gangbusters in that bed as well but I've never had any volunteers and I hear it's not worth trying to grow from seed. They're gorgeous plants for the shade but they're pricey at the garden nurseries. The one I have is 'Jack Frost.' Best way to get more of them is to grow one & divide it every 3-4 years. Another one that's pricey but does produce seeds is Lenten rose (Hellebore), so named because it blooms during the season of Lent, very early. It's evergreen too. I WS coral bells seeds I got in a trade but got zero germination. I may try to harvest seeds from my own plants this year and try again. I figure since coral bells were the ONLY seeds out of 44 different, new perennials I WS, I should probably try at least one more time. The hosta I WS are doing great but they're not variegated like the parent plants. That's the downside of WS hosta seeds--chances are you'll get plain green ones but they're still free plants! They take time to get any size on them--3-4 years minimum. They don't need cold stratification--I grew some last summer in a sunny window, wintered them over and they're back up again this year, albeit still small. For moist shade, turtlehead (chelone) is nice. I WS seeds and have some nice size sprouts. I WS the white since the butterflies supposedly prefer them over the pink. Don't forget hydrangea--the "hydra" part of the name is Greek for water. They want some shade too and there are gorgeous new cultivars coming out all the time. Lamium makes a nice groundcover for shady spots along with ajuga if you don't mind it spreading everywhere. Creeping myrtle seems to thrive wherever it's planted--I've got it growing in full shade, full sun and everything in between.
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In dry shade, I have four o'clocks that are perennial and very happy. From a handful of plants grown from seed about 12 or 13 years ago, I have had them reseed enough to fully populate an area about 20' wide by 40' long. There are on the eastern side of a very large pecan tree, so get early morning sun and dappled shade for the rest of the day. I do not water them and they mostly survived last summer's horrendous drought and heat wave. They are in a sandy-silty area. In dense clay in similar conditions they do not grow as well. I have hollies growing quite well in everything from full sun to dense shade, so I am not certain that the shade is the reason the hollies are struggling. It would depend on what kind of holly you planted because some of them tolerate more shade and drought than others do. I have purple wintercreeper in dense shade in very dense clay and it does pretty well, but had we not watered it some during last summer's drought, it might not have survived. I cannot keep hostas alive in the ground in dry shade, but the deer like to eat them so they play a role in the death and disappearance of all my hostas. For a long time, I grew the groundcover ajuga in the area where the four o'clocks are now, but the drought of 2005 got them. A lot depends on the kind of soil you have and on how much you're willing to water during dry spells. I have grown cannas in dappled shade forever with no irrigation, but only in sandy soil. In the dense clay we have here, without irrigation, they'll slowly decline and eventually die. If you're only interested in annuals, there's several that like shade, with two of the most common ones being impatiens and begonias, Ornamental sweet potatoes have grown well for me in dense shade in both clay and sand. You can dig up the ornamental sweet potato tubers and overwinter them inside so you don't have to buy new ornamental sweet potatoes every year. Crinum lily grows well for me in an area where it gets morning sun and then dappled shade for the rest of the day, and I always plant caladiums in that same area. They're annuals here. Perennials for dry shade might be trickier because in that situation, the type of the soil and how well it drains (or doesn't drain) is very important, so without knowing what sort of soil you have in that area, it is hard to know what kind of perennials to recommend.
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Comments (14)
It feels like a apple and orange thing. IMO Heucheras have a feeling of a compliment plant and Hostas are more a good stand alone plant. If I was looking to win over a gardener with just one I have to suggest it as a compliment. Also since I have a hard time keeping them alive I want the suggestion to be one that is a good survivor. I could plant one in a pot to knock your socks off.......... Dark green pot or Purple Pot.......Heuchera Citronella White/cream color pot,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Heuchera ‘Obsidian In the Garden complimenting plant Japanese Painted Fern................Heuchera Stainless Steel or Steel City and if you love hosta these are such a great plant to kick up the shade garden color and call attention to the hostas Caramel, Georgia Peach, Southern Comfort good winter survivors and love the color with the hostas. .
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icekream
11 years ago
how much sun do you get? I have some purple heucheras in shade (gets about 1-2 hours of early morning sun) that has been doing extremely well. Doesn't multiply as well as the ones in more sun, but still good.

Try the Japanese fern, see my link below. They're very pretty and fairly low to the ground (has some purple in it). This will do well in shade for sure! Mine is going on the 2nd year and still quite small. My neighbor has a full grown bush and they don't get any higher than 12 inch.

Here is a link that might be useful:
kaptainkr
11 years ago
I love Japanese ferns. I think they look great mass planted. Another plant I like is the Color Flash Astilbe. The leaves are green, purple and burgundy. They do get about a foot or so high but they are really cool and I've had good luck so far.

Here is a link that might be useful: images for color flash astilbe
boyle014
11 years ago
Ajuga does great in shade, even dry shade. It's also called bugleweed. It's low to the ground and has pretty blue spikes of flowers in the spring. Looks nice even without the flowers though. Look for a varietal that has purple leaves. I think mine might be "chocolate chip," but I'm not sure. Some varietals make a beautiful contrast with Japanese fern, which others have recommended.
Rudebekia
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks for the suggestions! I ended up planting two rather sizable "Blackout" heucheras and so far (knock on wood) they seem to be thriving in the location. I just fell in love with them in the nursery--love, love, love the color! Behind them are some lime green ferns and dark green hostas, so the effect is quite striking. I have other shady areas to fill in, so your suggestions will come in handy.
peege04
11 years ago
Sounds like you've got it figured out. Some other heucheras you might want to check: Crimson Curls (very red tones), Carmel (nice warm tones), Snow Angel (very nice variegated green and white with bright pink flowers), Key Lime ( yellow/green).

Tradescantia does well in shade, flowers and some have variegated foliage.

I have to work with loads of shade,nso have tried many things.

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