Having wrested a corner of my limited yard back from the dandelions and thistles and coughed up a ridiculous amount of money for 'plantable' edging, I'm now looking for inspiration on what to do with it:
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a223/Achillea/fe794afc.jpg
This picture was taken facing east today at about 5:30pm. As you can see, it's not very big, but needs must when the devil drives. It's right off a patio which hosts small family barbecues scattered thoughout the year, so I'm aiming for a combination that will look halfway decent even at Yule (as it's southern California, that's not as exteme as it might be). I like color and fragrance (there's a Sweet Box around the corner behind the composter on the right). Some advanced search forays into the Plant Files have left me with data overload on individual plants but considerable confusion on what works with what and what will attack each other on sight.
Any ideas from the Shady Side Crew?
Suggestions for a Shady Bed?
Hi Alex! Welcome to DG!
I don't know what zone you are in but if you can do hostas, that would be my suggestion. Do you get any morning sun in that area?
Terrie
I think I'm in USDA Zone 9 (I'm more used to the Sunset Book zones). It very very rarely goes below freezing here. That particular area gets almost no morning sun, since it's pretty completely blocked by the wall, tree trunks, and neighbor's family room. It does get afternoon sun in what passes for winter here when the trees shading it have lost their leaves.
I've never tried to grow hostas, so I'm not sure how they'd fare.
Is the shade moist, moderate, or dry?
On its own it's dry, but I have a soaker hose running through it to provide moisture on demand, which tends to work out to moderate for the soil. The air varies from dry to middlin' mugginess.
I think you could get away with some hostas, but you'll have to choose them carefully. I would check on the zone information that the top hosta nurseries and the hosta society have listed. There seem to be a few that will tolerate zone 9 weather. You could probably get away with pachysandra as a ground cover or a silver lamium if you want to brighten the area up.
Update:
Put in some 'White Nancy' lamiums along the edging, and a pair of 'Fragrant Delight' (they have a wonderful cinnamony scent which, unfortunately, doesn't waft) heliotropes back by the trees. I've stashed some Lily-of-the-Valley (Convallaria majalis) back behind the trees, where it's hard to dig down very far. Between the trellises is a Butterfly Ginger (Hedychium coronarium) -- might be /too/ shady there for it, but I have my fingers crossed. As soon as they arrive, I'll be running a wavy line of shortish purple flowers with staggered blooming times (sweet violets, self-heal, wood sorrel) along behind the lamiums.
Suggestions for things to climb up the two trellises would be most welcome.
I'm not sure what the tall thing in the far corner is. I'm waiting for it to bloom again and I'll take a pic when it does.
Vines in that much shade are pretty hard. I've had distictis buccinatoria work in deep shade but it won't bloom there. How about camellia espalliers on those trellises?
You may have some trouble with your lamium - might have to grow it as an annual.. I have. One really good low silver plant that works for me is brunnera "Jack Frost", if you have to redo the lamium in the future. There are some new forms of dwarf astilbe that would work too. I get them mail order from bloomingbulb just because of the prices.
Another good edging plant is hosta 'golden tiara' or similar small edging hosta. Don't buy hostas from local nurseries. Buy them from dedicated hosta growers because there is a hosta virus that is going around. It's fatal to the plants and spreads.
I can grow hostas.
I hope that your ginger enjoys the shade too. It's such a beautiful plant.
Motherfern is a fabulous pale green fern. Farfugium (or ligularia) -see the photo - . will grow there. and Hosta too although they say that they are marginal for us. Sword fern, mondo grass, hakone grass (or Japanese Forest grass). Ajuga or Creeping Jenny are good ground covers.
Oh, there is a vine that will grow in the dark. It's hard to find and grows slowly. Hydrangea seemanni. You can get it mail order.
Holly ferns grow in the dark too.
I recommend Fancy Fronds for unusual ferns. They have a great search engine that lets you sort by zone and frond condition (eg evergreen)
http://www.fancyfronds.com/
Alex,
You may want to check this site: http://www.laspilitas.com/garden/Dry_shade.html
I live much to the north from you to offer any suggestions from my experience, but I tend to browse through shade garden options even outside my zone :).
This message was edited Jun 6, 2006 2:22 PM
This message was edited Jun 6, 2006 2:24 PM
This message was edited Jun 6, 2006 2:25 PM
doss,
I like the look of that 'Golden Tiara.' I think I'll put a couple in alternating with the lamiums, then expand them to replace the lamiums if they don't work out (right now they seem quite happy, but time will tell). Thanks for the heads-up on the virus. Any particular growers you recommend?
I like the he motherfern, too. The climbing hydrangea seems to get too tall for my purposes (there's already a creeping fig on a sunny portion of the wall that keeps trying to mug my neighbor on the other side). But, if it grows slowly, it's a possibility. I'll check out that Fancy Fronds site.
enya_34
The link itself didn't work, but that laspilitas site is very informative. Thank you.
Alex,
Sorry for the link. It was a dot that messed it up. Now I know better :)
Just wanted to say that a good place to get them is
http://www.directsourcehostas.com/Golden_Tiara.html
They grow quickly and by dividing fairly often you can have a string of them pretty rapidly.
This message was edited Jun 6, 2006 4:23 PM
Alex, here's what I have in my shade garden:
Astilbe
Lobelium
Heuchera (and heucherella)
Toad lilies
Japanese ferns
Hosta (7 varieties)
Lamium
Bugloss
For the backdrop I used Encore azaleas, varigated Euonymous, one Pieris and one dwarf gardenia.
The centerpiece is a weeping Japanese maple.
The garden gets only dappled sunlight, we're deep in the heart of clay country (Zone 7), and the garden is in it's second year. I only had one astilbe not make an appearance from last year (out of over 30 plants in the ground), and other than rabbit damage to one blue, the hostas have turned out beautifully.
My wife told me that nothing blooms in the shade, but the gardenia is in full bloom, one of the hostas is starting, the heucheras have been blooming for a month, the red astilbe is in full bloom, and the white astilbe started the whole chorus off in April.
HTH!
John
For annual color, I use the double impatients. They look like little tiny rose bushes and can take quite a bit of shade.
That's a great list. The only two things that don't work very well in our zone are the Japanese Painted fern and the lamium. Although the lamium is great planted as a short-lived plant, I've never been able to get the fern to take off.
Isn't it fun when the spouse is wrong? Especially over something so wonderful?