Can you clarify what you mean by tall? In general, most OG's tolerant of shady conditions tend not to grow too tall.

well, i'd like to plant them along my fenceline, which is shaded by 100 year old trees . . .

i'd imagine i'm talking about a grass that, at a minimum, would grow to 5' or taller.

thanx gardengal148 :-)

Sorry, that's going to be pretty hard to achieve. The tallest shade tolerant OG I am aware of is Chasmantheum and you might get 3' out of those. You can attempt to grow some other, taller grasses, but most prefer full sun and growth will be spindly and weak.

Bamboos are a possibility - many are very shade tolerant and will provide you the height but few are very drought tolerant. And many will need some form of containment as well.

thanx gardengal -- that's just as i thought. bamboo scares me. even if i contained it, once it's in, it's in. I'm not so sure I want something that permanent . . . sigh.

just thought I'd validate my hypothesis ;-)

j.

Look for clumping (not running) bamboos. The Fargesias in particular are quite shade tolerant (but not necessarily DRY shade) and extremely well-behaved. They are nothing more than just clumping, shade tolerant OG's....on steroids!

Here is a link that might be useful: Fargesia

There aren't really any large grasses that will grow in dry shade. The best option would be trying to grow a couple large grasses that have some shade tolerance and see what happens.

I have 4 large clumps of Miscanthus sinensis 'Gracillimus' growing along the street, maybe 8 feet from the pavement. I do not irrigate this border at all, except for new plantings/transplants. I haven't given the grasses extra water since they were transplanted several years ago, even when we had a 10 week drought last summer (that is a pretty serious drought for us here in the Northeast).

3 of them are in dry sun, and the fourth is growing in dry shade. It catches maybe a couple hours of the setting sun a day. It is growing JUST fine there - the difference is that it is about 4 feet tall instead of 6-7, and has many fewer flower plumes.

There was also a thread recently on the New England gardening forum where a poster talked about having success with Miscanthus zebrinus in the shade (same results though, they grow smaller and with few/no flowers). Note that we usually have pretty regular rainfall through the year, and I don't think these grasses would be happy in very dry conditions.

thank you both for your comments. I'm thinking miscanthus. I *really* like their rounded shape and drought tolerance :-) I bought the book "grasses" by nancy j ondra this weekend -- which has a lovely picture of miscanthus 'morning light' on it's cover. it's got me droolling!

Morning light might just be a good choice for you. I don't know how dry, dry is for you But, I am growing both Morning Light & Variegatus in shade (shade for me = 2 - 3 hours of sunlight) and both are doing quite well. As Terrene commented, they are shorter than they would be in a sunny location.
I tried these two cultivars after reading that they might be the most shade tolerent Miscanthus.
good luck - at the very worst you might have to move them if they are very unhappy.....
A.

I have 2 very large Miscanthus Variegatus growing in this border too. In my experience they are not nearly as shade-tolerant as the Gracillimus. They are also terribly floppy - to the point where I am thinking of removing them! The Gracillimus, on the other hand, is very upright and doesn't flop at all, not in the sun or shade.

so glad to hear it's not just MY misc varieg. that have always been floppy. what a drag! i think i will whack them by half next year and see if that helps get them sturdier.

trying for a similar look,i have lost Cosmopolitan TWICE now. do you grow it and does it flop?

best,
mindy

i grow it -- in full sun in a barrel -- and it doesn't flop for me! :-)