Suggestions of Plants for Fairly Deep Shade

Is there a thread on plants (ideally perennials or flowering shrubs, but I know I am asking a lot) that will handle fairly deep shade? Or better still, do you have suggestions? I have an open area that is so shaded by trees that I am having trouble finding plants that will handle it.

I'm not an expert, but my back yard is shaded by many trees like yours. I have two old books on shade gardening you might be able to find in used book stores, both titled "Gardening in the Shade". One is from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (ISBN 0-945352-31-X) and one is by Margery Fish (ISBN 0-571-13142-5).

Some perennials I have managed to grow under these conditions are Japanese Anemone, Columbine, Asarum* (Wild Ginger), Asperula (Sweet Woodruff), Astilbe, Bergenia, Brunnera, Lily of the Valley, Bleeding Heart, Epimedium, Geranium (Cranesbill), Helleborus, Heuchera, Heucherella, Lamium*, Pachysandra*, Polemonium, Polygonatum*, Tiarella. Hosta* is great, but unfortunately the deer think so too. (The starred ones do well in deep shade, the others better in medium shade.) I have left off a few that did too well and choked others out!

Some Azaleas, Rhodos, Mountain Laurels and other flowering bushes do ok in the shade as well. Coleus, begonia and some other annuals are worth trying also. Good luck, and let us know how your garden trials turn out.

Thanks!

The Natural Shade Garden is another excellent book with stunning photography. Don's suggestions are great. In particular, I've had great success with Astilbe, Brunnera (lovely, lovely perrenial for the shade garden), Heuchera, hostas and bleeding hearts in my mostly shady yard. There are many, many options - but you do need to do a little more research than you would for a sunny garden. I find that the average nursery doesn't have a huge selection of shade loving plants. Often mail-order is the way to go once you identify the things that suit your conditions.

Most of my garden is shady and I have a lot of luck with it. But I am looking for suggestions for areas that never receive any direct sun at all. I am dubious the Heuchera and Astilbe would do there, though I could be wrong. I find Hostas struggle a bit in the area I am describing. I'll try bleeding hearts, but I think of them as liking a partly shady spot.

My astilbe and heuchera have done very well in an area that gets maybe an hour of sun per day and that is early morning sun (as in just rising). The astilbe flower beautifully. I think if you give them the soil they like, they will perform quite nicely in shade.

My previous yard had an area of very dense shade under a Norway Maple - the heuchera (palace purple), lamium (beacon silver) and a few hosta did great as did a few spring flowering bulbs that basically did all their growing before the tree leaves grew in the spring. The astilbe died on me, probably because I didn't water it enough to compete with the tree roots. Lady's mantle did ok, but not as well as in an area that got some sun.

I second StPaulPeg--the Astilbe and Huechera will do great in full shade, but the Astilbe can never dry out--they just kick over and die! Also, don't forget the wonders of different groupings of ferns, especially the ones that are evergreen (Christmas fern is all I can think of off the top of my head...). I've also had great luck with Celandine Poppies in full shade--they bloom beautifully in spring and early summer, and reseed each year.

autumn fern,dogwood,sweet bubby,trillium,EE,impatiens is the best one it is an annual but mine reseeds,blue loelia,it is an annual also but you will need some annuals to give you some color,

ohhhhhhhh and coleus is a good one also but annual as well

what is sweet bubby?

here you go.
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/550/

Thanks...I know the shrub but never heard it called "bubby bush" what a name!

sweet bubby that is what we call then in nc
common name

Think of walking in the woods and what are the wild flowers you see?.....Erythronium americanum (Trout Lily, Adder's-Tongue), Sanguinaria canadensis (Bloodroot), Trilliums, Hepatica's, Ferns!!!, Actaea pachypoda (White Baneberry (Doll's Eyes))....
.....

I have found this site invaluable, I like how it is organized: Connecticut Botanical Society,Gallery of Connecticut Wildflowers http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/galleries/galleryindex.html

Shady

In the deep shade you see all in the spring and then nothing except green......all the ephemerals.

I want to walk around in shadyfolks's woods. Ours are mostly needle duff around here. It is fun to see those Indian pipes (Monotropa uniflora) though! They don't require any light. This photo comes from: http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/oct2002.html

Apart from the one's mentioned above,

I can still think of Woodland Oxalis species (f.e.: Oxalis acetosella), Corydalis flexuosa, Allium ursinum, Euphorbia robiae, Lamium-species, Epimediums. All these do well in my shady garden.

happy_macomb,
I know it was already menationed but it's worth another mention...what about Hellebore, their color can last a long time!
I don't believe Itea's, or Clethra's have been mentioned yet. We also planted an under story tree- Halesia carolina which has done very well and bloomed every year, Service berry (Amelanchdier), violets they can be kind of weedy here, but they can put on a show...

Levilyla,
You are sooo right, welcome to my world :) I guess for us folks with woodland properties, we have to take it when we can get it, LOL! I try to work with textures & colors of foliage for the rest of the season.... Actaea pachypoda (doll's eyes) and Cimicifuga's (same family) bloom later in the season.

Buckthorne, interesting link thanks, I had never hear of Indian pipes! Sounds very cool.
I am very fortuneate that Trout Lily, Bloodroot, Trilliums, Ferns, White Baneberry (Doll's Eyes) a cimicifuga are all native on our property. I have yet to try and grow Hepatica's (they are hard to come by around here) I keep an eye out for them in hopes that one of the local nurseries will carry them for a season.
here is a picture taken last spring of the native stand of Sanguinaria canadensis starting to unfurl-makes me wish April wher here!

I would love to take credit for this pretty picture, but this is nature at work...at the bottom of a stone step

Shadyfolks,
I have wooded lot too, but nothing close to what you have in plants variety. I love the little happy community by the stepping stone!
Have been watching this thread for a while, taking notes mainly. Please keep the comments coming. I appreciate info on both successes and failures.

This year I have started spreading the seeds from Solomon's seal and Jacks around trying to aid the spread of the plants. Both take two years to sprout.

Another plant that does quite well for me in the total shade is wild geranium (Geranium maculatum). If only I could figure how to collect the seeds. I wait for them to dry and then they are gone before I have a chance to collect them.
One more plant that takes care of itself in the full shade on the north side of the house is Jewel Weed http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/1431/index.html It grows in a totally neglected corner and is happy.

here is my hellebore as we speak,in total shade and blooming NOW!!!!!! i want more of these for my shady garden they bloom when nothing else is blooming WINTER TIME!!!!!!!!

moretz, Beautiful!

How about this for some color in a shade garden! Dryopteris erythrosora 'Brilliance'
I picked up a few two years ago and I was told they were Dryopteris erythrosora. Well, having them now for a couple of years I know they are 'Brilliance' because the out perform my other Dryopteris erythrosora by a long shot!! With 'Brilliance' on the market I see no reason to have plain old Dryopteris erythrosora
The color is so much more!

Shadyfolks, your little wild plant community is superb!
There is one among them I fail to ID: What is the one with the grayish blue-green strongly divided foliage ?

Asiaticanursery.com has some very nice Hepatica in their inventory. It's a good site to find some very unusual perennials. Additionally, senecahillperennials.com has some very fine plants, if people are hanging around their computers today!

Isn't "the grayish blue-green strongly divided foliage" Dutchman's Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria)?
Did they form the colony or were planted so densely?

Found another reference book:
"The Complete Shade Gardener" by George Schenk, Houghton Miflin 1984. ISBN 0-395-35397-1 or
0-395-36564-3 (paperback). Forgot to mention before that I had a white bleeding heart that was going gangbusters in the shade surrounded by teucrium.

(afterthought)
Also, you can get lots of ideas from public gardens. I think I remember from a tour several years ago that the National Arboretum on NY Ave. had a shade garden. Several of the open estates around DC also had shaded areas (Hillwood, Bishop's, Dumbarton Oaks?--it has been so long, I can't remember which were best.) There also was one in Maryland near DC, it may have been McCrillis Gardens in Bethesda--they are big on azaleas and should be able to advise you on flowering bushes for shade.

This message was edited Jan 10, 2007 1:54 PM

DonShirer: Great point -- I had forgotten about the local gardens. Many have more sun that my garden, but I bet you are right about the Arboretum. Dumbarton Oaks has an absolutely stunning garden, but I remember its wooded areas being more open. In any event, I'll put some garden tours on the calendar for this spring.

I have Schenk's book. I need to re-read it. It has been a long time since I looked at it, but I don't remember it being that helpful. I probably am not doing it justice.

I am one who learns/takes in a lot by looking at pictures so I really appreciate books with quality color photos. Another little book that I have found useful is 'Ortho's all about Shade Gardening' by Meredith books. it's paper back and I paid about $12 a few years back, I think I picked it up at Home Depot or someplace like that.

As for the wild flowers in my picture Mother nature put all of them there (I wish I could do so good). The tiarella have reseeded from other plants I planted, but the rest are native...Mayapple, Trout Lily, voilets (2) and that other wild flower that is not in bloom all the way on the left margin of the picture, (it has the deep cut leaves that form a circle) if I remember right it has a pale lavendar small trumphet type flower...anyhow, I believe the bluish deep cut leaf plant is either Dicentra canadensis (squirel corn) or Dutchman's Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria). It's the only place in my yard where it grows. I just did a Google search and they say that the squirel corn flower is more rounded, so I might lean more toward the squirel corn. I have mother nature to thank for all that!! This all pretty much dies back by early summer and is not in the way of the steps.

I was at a seminar and remember the speaker saying to take a walk in the woods and take a look at how mother nature has done it...

enya_34,
I never seem to pay attention to the solomon seal and watching when it goes to seed. When do you collect the seed?

Shadyfolks: Are those cute little white violets by your steps? What type are they? I love them!

happy_macomb,
I believe the white violets to be: Sweet White Violet (Viola blanda) My book says they are similiar to V. pallens but V. pallens doesn't have a reddish stem and when I look at my picture close up the stems do look reddish.

I love the hellebores. They had some at Lowe's but as they were pretty pricey, I used will power and didn't get 'em. Anyone growing these in zone 8 or warmer? If so, do they bloom well?

Enya-I never saw that Jewel Weed before, but to have nice orange in my "woods" would be great! Plant Files doesn't indicate how far south it can grow. Hmmm. Need to do some research. (I can't grow the "regular" impatiens in my deep shade because it's very woody and they need too much water.)

I'm enjoying all the ideas! My yard is about 10% sun, 40% pt shade, and 50% deep to dappled tree-filled shade with a carpet of ivy. A challenge. So far I've had good luck in this area with ferns, coleus, and persian shield. So I'm always looking for more candidates. :) I'm going to try iris christata and some trillium.

Deb

I am really really happy reading all these suggestions -- you have opened up a number of ideas for me when I thought I was bone dry of new ideas.

The Labrador violet grows in deep shade and has purple leaves and tiny flowers and makes a LOW ground cover. Fern leaf corydalis ..phlox divaricata...solomons seal...anemone canadensis...herb robert...geranium macrrorizom (sp)....carex....corydalis lutea...begonia grandis....eupatorium rugosa...va. bluebells...pulmonarias....lobelia siphilitica....aquilegia canadensis...anemonella thalictroides...geranium phaeum....galax...arum italicum pictum...aruncus...

Excellant list levilyla
That reminds me I have carex siderosticha growing in deep dry shade it finally started to take off last year after three years of very little growth. there is a wide variety of textures &colors in the Carex family, you should check them out if you are not already familiar with Carex (sedge).

I have that carex also and love it.....(couldn't remember how to spell it!)

Thinking back to my days of being a gardener in zone 6, I used to have a nice gound cover called, Sasa veitchii. Warning, it is a running bamboo and could be a problem for some as such. (Interestingly, I had it growing next to Petasaides and the Petasaides actully outcompeted it!)

In any case, the reason that I liked it so much was that the margins of the 8" long leave died back about 1/2" in the winter creating a very attractive cream colored edge to the leaf. The "variegation was very pretty on the winter. In the Spring, I'd cut it all back to the ground so that the old leaves would appear to bt tatty next to the new years growth. This also kept the height down on the stand and kept it at about 2' high. This plant looks especially good at the feet of Rhododendron vaseyi whose cinnamon colored bark plays with the green and cream of the Sasa in the dormant season. Combine 3 of the Rhododendron, one Rhodotypos scandens (Which is lovely all year round), 2 yellow stemmed dogwoods, a Hamamelis 'Arnolds Promise' and the Sasa and you get a very pretty and "choice" combination of plants. And it all works in the shade.

P.S. If this planting is place on the edge of a lawn, the lawn mower will prevent the Sasa from moving into the lawn. If it gets too out of hand, one can always dig up the stuff that gets out of bounds and sell it or give it to a local plant sale. For some reason, such an aggressive plant always seems to cost a lot of money.

Solomon's seal has green turning bluish berries in place of flowers by the end of summer. I leave them on till the foliage turns brown.
Just to keep the arches a bit longer. Then I clean the flesh of the seeds and wash them and plant. But this year I did not have time to
plant, so I put the seeds into the fridge. Then winter turned warm and I planted both gingsen and Solomon's seal right after the New Year :)

DebinSC,
The part of the woods my orange Jewel Weed grows is not watered but for the mother nature.
It is dry and very shady. It's under tall oaks on a slope. I first saw Jewel Weed right by a lake and was
laughing when my son was trying to collect seeds. The pods popped at the lightest tough.
Later found the plant on my property. It self-saws and seem to be happy.

I just remembered a plant that grows next to the patch of Jewel Weed -
Large Bellwort (Uvularia grandiflora) http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/1373/index.html.
This one formed a little colony and always comes back strong.

Buckthorne
I've seen this Bamboo grown and it is something.

enya_34
Thanks so much I will have to try this, this year.