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Wildflowers that are good for shade

18 years ago

A friend of mine loves flowers and would like to plant some, but her entire yard is shaded. She doesn't want to cut down her trees, she just wants some color in her yard. She lives in east TN. Are there any native, shade-loving (or tolerating) flowers that could help her out? I'm not really familiar with the flowers in our area and don't know a site to visit, otherwise I'd look myself.

Thanks!

Abby

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Comments (2)

Iris GW
18 years ago
There are lots of white flowering things, but color - lasting color - is harder to come by. I'd look into Green and Gold (Chrysogonum virginianum) and Mouse eared coreopsis (Coreopsis 'Nana) first. By the way, my Home Depot north of Atlanta is stocking both of these as pint sized perennials right now.

There is also Iris cristata (tiny iris, so cute!), Monkshood (Aconitum species), Phlox divaricata (cultivars often available), Campanula divaricata (bellflower), Bellworts (Uvularia), solomon seals (true and false).

Hope that gets you started.
phantom_white
Original Author
18 years ago
Thank you! :)
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Hmmmm, certainly is one of those two! Curiously, I actually HAVE a Stylophorum diphyllum which I got at a plant swap a year or two ago. But I planted it on the other side of the yard, in a wooded glen (I am going out right now to compare the two!) Is there a definitive way to tell the two apart at this stage of growth (before they've bloomed but while they are in bud)? I'm guessing it's far more likely I've got a boatload of the non-native (and undoubtedly invasive?) Chelidonium majus, but wouldn't it be wonderful if that boatload was of the natives instead!
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