I grow both Caradonna (Black & Blue) and Guaranitica (Argentine Skies) in areas with about 3 hours of afternoon sun, and they do/bloom just fine and spread. This is in Zone 7B in hte Washington DC suburbs.

LynnT

Thanks, LynnT! I will check into those!

If you contact me in March or April, I can send you a piece of each -- got anything to trade?

Lynn

Probably not at the moment. My little balcony is pretty small and I traded a lot this fall. Sorry :( But thank you for the offer! That was super awesome!

My sagittata and macrophylla are doing fantastic in my shade garden.

Not a salvia or nepeta, but pulmonaria (lungwort) loves the shade and has charming flowers in the spring that start out pink and turn blue. The variety I have in my shady garden turns a wonderful cobalt blue. After the flowers are gone the silvery-spotted leaves will continue to brighten the shaded garden throughout the season. This plant, like our native mertensia virginica (bluebells) is in the borage family and you will see the similarity of the clusters of nodding flowers.

Indeed! My favorite pulmonaria is Benediction -- the leaves aren't fancy, but it has the most intense blue flowers! I also love the small bulb with sapphire bells Scilla sibirica, which I have scattered through my front lawn along with crocuses, chionodoxia, and other ephemerals. I won't let my husband mow until they have faded, usually by mid-April.

talking about pulmonaria....I love mine, but it has been flopping. I had salvia as well in a part sun location. It would open up in the middle and flop all the time after bloom. Moved it to a sunnier spot. Seems to be better off now.