For mothers day my DH has created me a shade garden! Now I just have to fill it... and I have no experience with shade plants. I took a trip to home depot and everything says for full sun. Do you guys have any suggestions for what I can plant? I'm looking for perennials with flowers in mainly pastel colors. The area gets morning sun but thats about it.
TIA!
~Cassandra
Shade plants for texas heat?
Look into native flowers, tho with spring about gone, summertime even in shade is rough. You could go with herbs as well and make an aromatic area with things like incense bush. A lot of us plant salvias and blooms for the butterflies as hummers and monarchs pass thru on migratory routes- zinnias, rocket larkspur, mexican petunia(can be invasive!)
Most plants that require full sun will do well in your area if they get am sun and afternoon shade. In fact, full sun in tx will welcome a shady break so don't hesitate to plant them in your new shade garden.
Native petunia, East Texas Mistflower, Toad Lilies, Heart Leaf skullcap, Lyre Leaf Sage, Texas Cedar Sage, White Avens, Inland Sea Oats, Oakleaf Hydrangea, and Native violets all do well in the shade. Also, Texas Columbine and the gold columbine like shade.
Columbines are lovely and they do like shade, I put some in sun and they petered out
You have to keep them well watered in the heat of the summer, too.
Thank all of you for the replies! I'll definitely be adding some of the to my want list, especially the Columbine :)
Ruellia should do well with morning sun—perennial if >20-30°. Abelia, a blooming shrub with a beautiful, arching growth pattern, should love your shade garden. Don't forget caladiums. They are annual, but the bulbs are only ~$1 and are quick to emerge and do their thing. Don't forget ornamental trees. Yaupon holly can be pruned to be very pleasing, doesn't get very big and it doesn't mind partial shade. It is evergreen, and the females produce attractive red berries throughout the winter.
For a big payoff in color, consider geraniums. They don't mind a little shade and can be perennial with some winter protection. One of those small plastic greenhouses that zip up is all you should need. Prune them back after their fall blast of blooms. The dark red ones do best for me.
If you need fill, purple wintercreeper is very reliable. Control the rhizomes though, it can be invasive.
Enjoy your shade garden! ~ pen
I have had success growing yarrow in shade, (it also comes in a few colors aside from the standard white). A few others I've either grown myself or have seen others grow successfully in TX shade are cedar sage, lyre leaf sage, parrot lily, spiderwort, beautyberry and even some cacti and agave if it's dry enough in tgat shade.
I am considering doing a shade garden under my live oak tree but it is 12 months not much sun, and its canopy will only grow larger. Not sure if it is a good idea.
the only plants that will grow under an Oak tree are: tons of oak trees !
Ha!
Its true, oaks soak the ground under themselves with tannic acid- even their own acorns have a hard time - on purpose so as to NOT threaten the parent tree. Chuckl.
I have a gigantic oak tree underplanted with clay pots full of purple wintercreeper. It is beginning to climb up the tree trunk, but that could be easily discouraged. I kind of like it.
~ pen
what is purple wintercreeper?
Thank you! I'm going with plain mulch in the raised bed. maybe a strawberry begonia or heartleaf scullcap every foot or 2 near the edge. the wintercreeper looks like snake habitat I've seen around ponds, not something I want to get into.. (I carry a pocket knife because snakes are a problem out here if there is a good place to hide, and not just small and bug eating ones either)
Am a bit wetter than you guys, tho Vossner may be having same problems. The red things came back after Roundup and 3yrs of dormancy, chuckl, all under shade. Tradescantia, liriope, mexican petunia, more liriope, vinca
Please don't plant purple winter creeper. I've already made that mistake. It's impossible to get rid of. And will grow from a broken stem. If it's growing up a tree, I'd worry that it could choke out the tree. Penner, be careful if you cut it back. Make sure you pick up every little leaf or piece of stem or they will begin to root and multiply. Quickly! (I do agree it can be pretty, but it's very invasive.)
A customer is trying to give me some chenille plant - picture 4 of Kittriana's post, do I want this?
I have been kicking ruellia to the curb repeatedly. Don't mind the wandering jew as it stays put fairly well, I don't water a lot. The viney variegated stuff looks aggressive
flowerchild, I haven't been able to propagate wintercreeper even when taking growing tips, removing the bottom leaves and trying to root in potting soil. No way does it root from a fallen piece of stem. I have some shoots in water that are just now beginning to show tiny roots after 6 weeks. I didn't think our growing conditions in Dallas vs Midland would be that different, but it really isn't that easy to grow here. Wonder what the difference is?
~ pen
soil is MUCH different between Dallas and Midland, and the water is a lot different too, more alkaline mainly. Anything that roots well in Dallas would likely root well in an organic potting soil with a high peat content and RO water for watering. Dallas - things just grow like weeds (I lived in Midland Odessa in the late 70's and for a while in 1987)
What's invasive in one area may not be invasive in another. Simple difference in climate (temp and humidity) can influence a plants ability to grow or not grow.
Penn, have you tried potting it up, trimming off some of the leaves, watering with warmish water and then placing the whole thing in a plastic produce bag and tying off the top so the moisture can't escape? I've had some success doing it that way. Give it about 2 weeks and check progress.
steph, I did almost that with my present group of stems in water, but I didn't use a plastic bag. Some of them are rooting and some are not. All the leaves still look green and healthy after 6 weeks, though, so I think they are all alive and just need more time.
I lived in Dallas while attending SMU, but I didn't grow anything while matriculating. I do recall that the humidity was greater there and it did rain occasionally. And yes, Gypsi, soil here is very alkaline, but I have been treating mine with alfalfa tea for many years, and my garden soil is pretty good now. We have so little rainfall that I water frequently with tap water, and that alone could be the difference. A lady who owns a plant nursery here has a big R/O system on a water well for her nursery plants. She says if she uses city water it kills seedlings. Our water is AWFUL! I guess it's little wonder that I can't even root invasive plants here.
I just received a second online order of rooted wintercreeper. I am planting them in my alley in hopes they will eventually take over the weeds. Of the ones I ordered last year, about 20% died in spite of my tender ministrations.
If you want to talk invasive, trumpet vines love it here. Actually, even they are hard to establish, but once they do—look out! ~
Well, very interesting about Penn's experience with winter creeper. And I do agree about trumpet vines. Think crossvines are same.
I'm surprised at some of the plants listed above as being shade plants. If I feel like digging, I may just move some plants to different areas and experiment. I have some very shady spots. Mostly planted with a mixture of ferns and a few heaters, lenten roses, etc mixed in.
Most of my backyard, however, gets morning shade and afternoon sun. Now that just ain't right!
Does anyone know anything about the chenille plant, whether it becomes invasive? Actually I used PlantFiles to look it up. There is a lady in Hurst who has it and it appears to have overwintered for her. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1821, fairly deep shade
I don't know. I see it a lot in Dallas garden centers but only in hanging baskets. If I remember, I'll make a few phone calls for you. (They're all on speed dial!)
My across the street neighbors have had their house since the early '50s. Here are 2 pictures of Southern Wood Ferns that have taken over. They do die back in the winter but come back with a vengeance so don't overlook using ferns en masse. One picture shows them when they had just begun to come back. The pictures were taken in early April.
This message was edited Jun 8, 2015 12:42 PM
Another flowering plant that likes shade is the Lenten Rose. (Not really roses, I don't think.) They start to bloom in the winter. Mine still have a few blooms. I got 3 itty bitty plants at a penny sale about 3 or 4 years ago. They are spilling over my pathway now. Also, they now come in some incredible colors, none of which I can afford. Sigh.
Hellebores. That's their name. But if you look up Lenten Rose in the Plant Files you'll see a couple hundred of them. Don't know what I have but the bloom is a pale green. Just nice to have a bloom in winter.
This message was edited Jun 8, 2015 12:56 PM
Gypsi - since I'm procrastinating on going outside in the heat, I went ahead and called 2 garden centers. (One is a favorite and one isn't.) Both agreed that they'd only seen Chenille plants in hanging baskets, sometimes in pots. One thought it might be an annual. The other wasn't sure b/c he'd seen them in hanging baskets inside as opposed to outside. Agreed that it's a shade plant. Neither knew if it could be invasive if in the ground. And that's all I can tell you unless I hear something totally different.
I should have taken pictures, I was in Hurst and this gal has the chenille plants in footwide borders around her ferns, but she also has huge Leopard plants, which are fairly delicate too and appear to have been there for years. This stuff doesn't like dry soil, and upon further research courtesy of DG library the chenille is toxic and my dogs are liable to eat anything, so I might get enough from her for a pot or 2 but not putting in the ground.