Blooming beauties for the shady garden

I thought it might be interesting to start a thread where we can share each others pictures of blooming perennials that give interest to a shady garden and now is the right time because most shadow lovers bloom in the spring before the deciduous trees get back their foliage. Of course we are all grateful to the helleborus family for its early blooming, but there are already some very great threads created for just that family, so we could now focus on others.

I'll start with one of my favorites which is Trillium sessil, the only one I have of this family, but I love its foliage as well as its intriguing original flower, it has that mysterious aura emanating from it.

Another of my favorites that doing very well in my shady garden is Corydalis flexuosa. In the last soft winter it even kept most of its foliage. I grow it in full and partial shade.

I also love its foliage.

And then there is the lovely Viola labradorica.
Its flowers are tiny but more than worth to have a close look at it. It makes a good groundcover with evergreen heart-shaped leaves. Some might consider it as being invasive and it can pop up in places you've never planted it, but I don't mind.

bonitin,
Your flowers are beautiful! I don't have too many shade blooming beauties right now. Last week I took a pic of my viola labradorica blooming. Not a great pic but glad I got one after the freeze here last night - not sure what will be left. I too love that little plant. It is not invasive here. Now and then little babies pop up but they are welcome in my garden.

right now... i have nothing on in the shade... this cold snap killed the bit of growth I had on my ferns
but the bleeding heart is still growing -- though i've covered it with mulch.

A tiny bulb that can take quit a lot of shade is Chionodoxa luciliae

Thanks agebhart! Your picture shows well its beautiful foliage!
Your turn will certainly come tcs! I am in a much warmer zone than you.

I love the Brunneras and specially the cultivars 'Jack Frost' and 'Looking Glass'. They have such a pretty heavenly blue forget-me-not flowers and their beautiful heart shaped foliage lights up the darkest corners in a garden.

This is brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost'


This message was edited Apr 7, 2007 3:57 PM

and 'Looking Glass'

Close-up of the flowers.

Of course there is also the large family of the Pulmonaria's.
I lost the tag of this one, but it proved to be very strong and vigorous in my garden.

This one is not spectacular, (they don't have to be all stars !), but I find it a modest, charming little wild beauty that grows wild in European forests usually around edges of brooks in shady places.
It blooms before the deciduous trees are casting heavy shade with their foliage.

Chrysosplenium oppositifolium

I'm getting more and more jealous - We're still in a spring freeze here, and everything that was starting to bloom is frozen. It was 24F when I took the dog out this morning with winds that cut right through my jacket.

This was last year on Easter weekend.

Your bleeding hearts are gorgeous sstateham!!
Mine are only coming up, not blooming yet. I have the white variety.
I feel sorry for your frustration!

Thanks bonitin :) I have several dicentras, a white one included, but I think I like the plain old fashioned ones best.

I think we have similar tastes in shade babies. I have trillium (bloody butcher is native here), several brunneras, a bunch of varieties of pulmonaria, and I love chionodoxa. Too bad you lost the tag on your lungwort - I'd love to know that the variety is. Great color in the bloom.

Stacy

This is the only shade-bloomer that I have a picture of right now. I've got Solomon's seal blooming but no pic. If it makes it through tonight's freeze, I'll try and get a photo. My trillium, iris cristata, soapwort, cardinal flowers are up but no flowers yet. Should have more soon though! :)
Deb

This message was edited Apr 7, 2007 7:53 PM

Here are some astilbes early in the season

Tiarella Spring Symphony blooming now.

Viola Penny Lane

Kurume Azalea "Hino Crimson" also blooming right now and an hellebore on the right.

This message was edited Apr 7, 2007 4:41 PM

A new batch of polygonatum variegatum. These are only in their second year so you can see how they will fill in.

gorgeous doss!

Doss: you have some lovely plants! That's the same polygonatum that I have, but it's just one lonely little thing at the moment. :) I wish I had planted more, but it was my first try with it and I wasn't sure how it would do.
Deb

Don't worry. It will spread if it's happy in your garden. You might want to buy some more or find a trade depending on the effect you want.

Gorgeous combination Doss. What is the variety of hosta you have at the front? How far apart have you planted them? How long did it take for them to get the size they are right now?

Deb, I have the same dicentra spectabilis 'alba', but mine isn't really blooming yet. I love it!

Beautiful pictures and plant combinations Doss!

Very pretty, these polygonatums. They are among my favorites of forest plants. Mine are only sticking up their nose at the moment. Fascinating to observe the same plants blooming successively according to the different climate zones!
I also have 'Tiarella Spring Symphony' that is just showing signs of flower buds, so I'll have to be patient.
Thanks for sharing!

Here's a photo of them blooming. All of these came from 6 I originally planted years ago. I've got an entire set of them elsewhere too. They are 'Golden Tiara'. Be careful if you buy them though to go through a good hosta website because 'Golden Tiara' is subject to the hosta virus HVX. They are very fast increasers.

I believe that they are available on the current coop for hostas at Foxfire garden.

This message was edited Apr 9, 2007 10:11 AM

another tiny beauty; hepatica americana. Mine is growing in almost full shade under a Japanese maple.

I also love its foliage;

The flowers of Hepatica nobilis looks identical to the americana, but its foliage is different in shape and colourings.

Wow, that is a stunner. Love the foliage. I'm not sure that I've ever even seen that plant before. Ah, it doesn't grow in my zone. Perhaps I should push the limits?

Doss, you could always try it in the coolest and shadiest spot you have.
I've seen the hepatica nobilis growing wild in Norwegian forests.

They have it on line. Thanks.

Bonitin: I planted hepatica this year for the first time in my deep shade "woodland" garden. I'm glad to see your pics, as it may be the only flowers I see this year! I planted about 10. 4 have emerged and at least one has since been destroyed by squirrels. I think that may be what happened to the ones that didn't come up. I'm hoping the other 3 will make it to flowering. :)

I had the same thing happen with trillium. Planted a dozen, and got 2. Oh well. That's gardening. Try and try again.

Doss: I love your plantings along the walkway.
Deb

Deb, in your woodland garden, what kind of trees do you have ? Are they evergreens or also deciduous trees ?
Woodland with mainly deciduous ones has plenty of light before the foliage grows back and then you could have plenty of things blooming there in the spring, like Anemone nemerosa, Corydalis, woodland oxalis, snowdrops, narcis,Chionodoxa, Saxifrages, euphorbia robiae,Salomons seal etc...etc...


I also tried many places for my hepaticas and lost a lot in the years, but once you found the right spot they come back loyally every year! I also lost a lot of trilliums, but I don't give up, because I really like them.

Sometimes you only need to clear out some branches here and there. If its done with care and respect for the natural shape of the tree that could improve a lot your possibilities for plants growing below the tree canopy.

Another natural woodland lover is Anemone nemerosa

...and a close-up;

Anemone thalictroides, is a beauty but not easy to keep happy!
Picture from last year; I think it failed to come back this year, haven't seen a sign of it yet. I'll try it again because I like it.