Deep deep shade

acommondisaster

acommondisaster

Active Member
Need some ideas for some outdoor plants for a deep shade area - things I can plant for fall, as well as things I can plant this fall to bloom next spring/summer. This is a woodland setting, lots of ferns, but that's about all. I'd like to add some color. I don't want anything I'm going to have to lift in the fall.
 
Roman

Roman

Active Member
acommondisaster said:
Need some ideas for some outdoor plants for a deep shade area - things I can plant for fall, as well as things I can plant this fall to bloom next spring/summer. This is a woodland setting, lots of ferns, but that's about all. I'd like to add some color. I don't want anything I'm going to have to lift in the fall.
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What about coleus? Don't know if I am spelling it correctly. There are all different kinds of them with splashes of firey colors. Yellows, orange,red pinks, purples. They are a low light plant, but I'm not sure if they come back every year. But you can snip them, root, and re-plant next year.
 
R

rhenderson

Guest
Coleus are annuals. Need to plant new ones every year. Dogwood and red bud bloom early (trees) bloom early but require enough sunshine to grow. Also, is the shade from deciduous trees or conifers? Hostas do well in shade some bloom with white or lavender flowers around June - mid July.

If heavy shade, do dear have access to the area?? If so forget, hostas or sedum. That's deer salad and they will crop the plants right down to the ground.
 
acommondisaster

acommondisaster

Active Member
I love coleus, and I'll have to figure out a way to include them; hopefully it's not too shady. They're an annual; I'm hoping to figure out some perenniels or bulbs that don't have to be lifted.
 
R

rhenderson

Guest
Depending on your landscape, if you have an out of the way sunny area, you could set up pots with sun loving plants that could be grown in the sunny area and rotated into the shade areas when they actually bloom. Then moved back to the sunny areas for the remainder of the season/year. Most blooming perennials require some sunlight.

Hydrangeas do well in partial shade. Also, Astilbe. Native mountain laurel also works. Azaleas can also do well in partial shade and they do have "everblooming" ones that have some color all summer/fall.
 
acommondisaster

acommondisaster

Active Member
MADPEBS1 said:
http://www.thegardenhelper.com/fs~perennials.html

Googles your friend, find your zone and pick.
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Ya know, I can google with the best of them. I can pinterest and bing and yahoo, and dogpile and ixquick too. I don't consider search engines as friends, but then I don't have a phone attached to my hand at all times, either. I post to forums for interaction with people I am semi-familiar with. I enjoy getting feedback and ideas that are current from those people. Plenty of times the websites I visit are 2 years old and stale. Before there were search engines, we talked to people and asked opinions. I still like doing that. But thank you for the suggested page - it's a good page that I registered on several years ago; it's in my favorites list. :)
Sorry if I sound like a beeotch, I guess it's just been one of those days.
 
acommondisaster

acommondisaster

Active Member
rhenderson said:
Coleus are annuals. Need to plant new ones every year. Dogwood and red bud bloom early (trees) bloom early but require enough sunshine to grow. Also, is the shade from deciduous trees or conifers? Hostas do well in shade some bloom with white or lavender flowers around June - mid July.

If heavy shade, do dear have access to the area?? If so forget, hostas or sedum. That's deer salad and they will crop the plants right down to the ground.
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Shade is deciduous - and we really have very little sun - sometimes I think it must be about to start raining, but when I look up above the canopy of trees, I see there isn't a cloud in the sky. The only thing growing is ferns and in the spring we get a few jack-in-the-pulpits. No grass (kind of a blessing). I'd like a little color so that the place looks inhabited and cared for. Definitely no hostas - we have a deer path in the back yard.
Good thinking about the dogwood - I don't see anyone else's yard having them, but I know driving route 3 in VA every day this past spring I saw a lot of dogwood and redbud growing in wooded areas - I hadn't thought of putting in another tree!
 
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