Some of Your Shade Favorites to Help Me Out

18 years ago

Here's some pics of my shade garden:
{{gwi:1254871}}

You can't really tell from the pictures, but there are two in there that are just beginning to grow: heavenly bamboo, next to the white wall, and foxglove, in front of the bamboo. There is also ivy, lilyturf, and 5 rhodendendron shrubs that I am getting rid of. (Anyone want 5 year old rhodendendrons? Free, if you arrange shipping or pick up.)

This was probably the worst time to take a picture of a shade garden. :) My side yard gets a little afternoon sun, around 5-8, not strong because of the two trees.

Most of it is filled up with coral bells, hosta francee, and various annuals. Sad to say but I couldn't figure out what to put there!!

Anyone have some of their favorites to suggest? I'd like to plant some perennials this fall. After I get rid of the rhodedendrons, I am going to put astible there. I'd prefer some flowers that have a range of bloom time, and ones I don't have to do much with except for the usual mulching, watering, and weeding.

Thanks all!

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Comments (11)

virginia_w
18 years ago
I like to plant a lot of spring bulbs in my shade garden. You can plant other perennials (like hosta, astilbe, bleeding heart) near the bulbs to hide the foliage as it dies. Also there are many woodland wildflowers that look lovely in early spring--bloodroot, trillium, spring beauty, Dutchman's britches-- that would look good under your bushes. There are a variety of Huechera that have different colored foliage from deep purple to chartreuse. For the back of the border you can use ligularia, and cimicifuga. Some campanulas also bloom in shade. With a little planning you can have color most of the season without using too many annuals.
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charlottev
18 years ago
From my own experience, I would not recommend astilbe as they really like moist soil and if it gets hot, they just wilt away even in shade. Here is what I have in my shade gardens. These gardens get total shade, or semi-shade:

Epideums
all sorts of hostas
tiger lilies
lady's mantle
primroses
silene
candytuft
salvia
evening primrose
yellow loosestrife
mosses
ferns
bleeding heart
false bleeding heart
woodland violas
columbine
some gentians
campanulas
lemon verbenas

So, a few more to add to your list.
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karen_b
18 years ago
I've recently fallen in love with corydalis. About 1 foot tall tiny yellow long blooming flowers.
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carex
18 years ago
Lobelias if you have wet soil, are blooming here now and they are beautiful but you must have wet soil.
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Ina Plassa_travis
18 years ago
:) another fan of the corydalis... it's one of the prettiest foliage plants I've ever seen, and it reseeds freely, will grow in a crack in the wall...and while I don't think much of the flower spikes, they're easy to remove. I've got them growing in almost full sun, and almost full shade (their color is better in the shade) and all from one sad, lonely plant I picked up for a buck three years ago :)
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marquest
18 years ago
I have daylilies in my shade garden and it appears you get more light than I get. There is shade and there is shade. I also have oriental, asiatic lilies in the shade garden.
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josie_z6b
18 years ago
Those inexpensive little primroses from the grocery store hold up pretty well and are perennial if they get enough water. They bloom all spring if deadheaded.

There are other fancier primroses too, but I have no personal experience with them yet (since they're not $1.00 at Home Depot) lol

Hardy geraniums come in lots of nice shades of pink, white, and purple, and spread and are very easy to grow with little to no care. They bloom through the summer, after the primroses have said bye-bye.
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Chris_in_the_Valley
18 years ago
Hmmm, Charlotte, down here in zone 7 my candytuft didn't do well in shade at all. I moved it to a west facing garage wall under a rose bush and it has grown vigorously. Go figure.
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sugarhill
18 years ago
Solomon's seal and Siberian irises will both add some height. If the soil stays damp enough astilbe should do fine - be careful though - the areas close to my house are usually the dryest in my yard. Heucheras would do well. Lenten roses like those conditions. Almost any fern you can think of. Maybe geraniums - don't know how strong the light is in zone 6 - you might need more. Also the annual tourenia for soft color all summer. If I had to pick just one from this list - try Solomon's seal - beautiful from March through frost.
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birdtalker
18 years ago
I love the way Lamium fills in and around things, and there are many different ones. Also I planted some Japanese Tassel ferns in my shade and they really look lovely in only a few months.
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susanlynne48
18 years ago
I like the variegated Solomon's Seal. Once astilbes are established, they really don't take that much care. However, in our Oklahoma heat, the foliage dies back in August, but resprouts the first of September, so you're not without it too long. Eupatorium 'Chocolate' would look great.

I just bought a new shade plant (well, besides the Thalictrum flavum 'Illuminator', which is a GREAT plant) called indigofera kirlesii, leaves opposite, with pink wisteria-like blooms. Even as a new plant this summer, it has bloomed continuously. Gets about 2' tall by 2-3' wide. Striking plant.

Other successes in my semi-shady, dry shady back yard, are campanulas, heucheras, heucherellas, hydrangeas (a dwarf would look cute, like the red foliaged one), Virginia sweetspire, holly ferns, Japanese Painted Ferns, hardy begonia (not the bedding type), Japanese butter bur (petasites variegata), lamium (ground cover), azaleas, hellebores, epimediums (great for dry shade after established), typhonium divaricata (great little ground cover; voodoo lily).

Susan
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Some of Your Shade Favorites to Help Me Out

Comments (11)

virginia_w

charlottev

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