i also meant to say i was considering aconitum but i have a small space and worry if it spreads too vigorously?

Aconitum is not too vigorous a spreader. The clump gets a little larger each year, but that's about it.

My first thought was also aconitum. I don't think it is overly agressive; mine is too new to my garden to tell, but I have a friend (who gave me mine) in whose garden it is just lovely. In the five years I've known her it has never gotten out of control. Ours blooms in late summer, but I believe you can get other varieties that may bloom earlier.

:)
Dee

thanks janet and dee. aconitum is beautiful and i would love to have it in my garden. i also know it is poisonous. i have googled around but couldn't find the answer to whether or not it is poisonous by touch? the space where i would want to plant it is by a patio and would be very much near people.

never mind my previous question, i just found out that aconitums are poisonous to the touch as well :(

so any other suggestions are highly welcome!!!

Cimicifuga (Black cohosh) is a possibility.

"at first i was thinking foxgloves, (i know, not native) but i've been reading conflicting sun/shade requirements even for the same cultivar. any insight on those are welcome too!!"

I grow Digitalis grandiflora in dappled shade and they do pretty well. Must be happy because they are trully perennial where I have them and even reseed a bit.They get a bit leggy the more shade you have but your 3 or 4 hours is probably perfect. They are the smaller (not 4', more like 2') pale yellow ones.

If you want something vertical (like aconitum or digitalis) try Bear's Breetches (Acanthus). Not native but nice. Turks cap lilly is a nice VERY vertical (I've seen 'em up to 6') native. It will spread from bulbils if happy but is very easy to control.

Also what about bleeding hearts? This is what I grew and it was very hardy.

You could also try Filipendula rubra. Very nice.

I touched my monkshood frequently (well, now and again) and never had any problems. And I have very sensitive skin. So I wouldn't worry too much about that, if I were you.

thanks everyone! i think i'm going to try the foxgloves.

Why do bloggers throw away proper English, CAPITALISM, sentence structure, puncuation, etc.? It seems to me that this tendency will result in similar trends that occurred when phones acquired memories (can anyone remember anyone's phone number anymore?), calculaters made math competence obsolete, computers made obsolete libraries, museums, encounters of the 1st kind, personal face-to-face relationships with friends, neighbors and associates, and....well, you know.

I just have a real hard time reading this stuff sometimes, sorry.

Chuckiebtoo

chuckie... since i'm not a blogger, i'm not sure how your opinion relates to myself. at any rate, i do find your analogy to be quite lacking of any real truth. and thankfully you were never a contemporary peer/critic of mr. cummings.

however, if you have any other experience with a 4' tall perennial in part shade, your suggestions would be most welcome.

oh yes, and by the way, your double standard seems apparent when you can vent all your grievances towards people's english in people's postings but you can't spell calculator correctly.

The term "blogging" has derivated to include the frequent participation in web forums, so spmimi you are indeed a blogger. Blogging has also come to include the development of a 'language' unique to the Internet, including acronyms, abbreviations, abstracted grammer and a stream of consciousness writing style which may very well avoid or omit proper capitalization and punctuation. So chuckie, if you are truly familiar with the term you shouldn't be surprised or feel the need to make criticisms that contradict the terminology.

spmimi, I wouldn't be overly concerned about poisonous/toxic plants - plants exhibiting some degree of toxicity far outnumber those that do not. With few exceptions, toxicity is limited to actual ingestion of plant parts - those that may cause skin reactions to sensitive individuals are very limited and typically well publicized. So just don't graze through your garden and you should be fine!

Choices for taller plants for a shade garden include those metioned above (btw, foxgloves/Digitalis are also quite toxic if ingested), as well as Ligularia, Thalictrum, Aruncus (goatsbeard), Japanese anemones, some species of Tricyrtis (toadlilies) and various astilbes.

garden gal - thanks, i completely forgot about astilbes! and i had no idea that foxgloves were toxic if ingested, although hopefully are bbqs will be more appealing than any flowers! you are true though, that many more plants than i expected have some form of toxicity, mainly i assume to thwart hungry animals when they grow in the wild.