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Color for shade
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Posted by sdbrownetal z7 TX (My Page) on Sat, May 29, 04 at 19:42
| Hello,
I have a fair amount of greenery (decidous) but am looking for evergreen green and color for plantings in dense shade. I am trying to avoid shribs as I don't really want the typical "foundation plantings". Thanks for any insight in a dry/clay/hot part of Texas. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Color for shade
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| The best thing I know for color in the South in shade are caladium bulbs. I do not know if they will grow in a dry area, as I lived in Baton Rouge and never in the drier areas in the South. Perhaps putting them in pots that could hold some water? I am trying hard to remember if they come back on their own or if you also have to dig them up in the autumn like we do up here. They come in pinks, greens and creams and are beautiful. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Here is the first site I found
RE: Color for shade
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| How about fatsia japonica (Japanese aralia)- gets big, 5+ feet tall, huge leaves, sort of tropical looking. Also leatherleaf mahonia. Holly ferns are evergreen too. |
RE: Color for shade
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| My astilbe are in bloom right now and I love the red, white and lavender colors they brougth to my shade!! |
RE: Color for shade
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| Shade evergreens that produce colour are not easy to find are they! However I've discovered a few old-faithful shade perennials (in addition to astilbe arcy posted above. I agree with arcy astilbes are gorgeous. Dicentra spectabilis is not evergreen but it is a very pretty shade plant that will grow 2-3 feet wide. Ditto pulmonaria. Lily of the valley are spring bloomers, sweet fragrance, will spread into a ground cover. I discovered Japanese painted fern and it's unusual and very pretty to fill a small area. |
RE: Color for shade
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| For Zone 7, color evergreens, even in sun, are few. One can get blue or yellow confiers, some reddish shrubs like berberry and lorapetalum. Most are shrubs. Your ZOne 7 is ovbiously very different than mine so perhaps you have more options than I know. For us, shade is even tougher. I thought of Bergenia Cordifolia, which is a short plant with red leaves in winter. Many ferns are hardy; various wood ferns, tassel ferns, rock ferns. Some tiarellas are reddish and will survive most of the winter. |
RE: Color for shade
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| How about Autumn fern..can you have that? It is barely hardy here but I have one that is surviving. Their new shoots are rust colored very pretty! I am adding light with hostas other then green. They have a variey of colors. I don't know anything about zn 7 gardening but I love my Bleeding Hearts and Jacob's Ladder. They have been blooming since May here. They are just now going dormant. But again the hostas are in bloom so that makes up for it. Coral Bells and Herculas give color too. |
RE: Color for shade
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| How about Hostas? Great varied color and beautiful flowers. Also, don't forget toad lilies for fall color. |
RE: Color for shade
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| I know all of you mentioned a bunch of varieties, but i didn't see anything that grabbed me. i'm planting for mostly shade, but also in clay soil...and i don't like pink. i would welcome any suggestions.. thanks! |
RE: Color for shade
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| How about great blue lobelia? Or cardinal flower? |
RE: Color for shade
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| There are many different hydrangeas suitable to this area. |
RE: Color for shade
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| Hi I use lots of plants with yellow -lights up the shade bed! onrmamental grasses like hakonchloa aurela. Also lime rickey heuchera and some of the carexes . I also use hostas as they come in a lot of beautiful shades.
Good luck! |
RE: Color for shade
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| Heucheras, Heucherellas, Tiarellas - really cool plants, some with pretty decent flowers (interesting, anyway) but the foliage - oh my goodness! There are so many cool colors of foliage! I sometimes can't believe they're real - and that they are surviving so well in my shady garden! They have become one of my favorites. Of course, Columbines - they really flower well for me - in pretty good shade. Shasta daisies and Echinacea are said to flower in some shade - I'm trying them this year. A variety of Heliopsis is said to also flower in a bit of shade - I can't remember the name right now though! I hear ya about the clay soil. We have a lot of that here, too. Good luck! |
RE: Color for shade
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| Helebores - evergreen and lots of colors of blooms in late winter and early spring. Nice height, spreads nicely. Chelone lyonii has hot pink flowers in late summer and early fall. I can't think of anything with much summer color. If I could, I would plant it. Quite a few people in the south plant campion in shade and have success with it. Irises have early summer color. |
RE: Color for shade
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| I completely agree with the suggestion above for heucheras. You can get a wide variety of color with the foliage, and some even change color in the fall and winter. For example, 'Mint Frost' starts out with silvery leaves with olive-green veining, and in the fall the foliage turns a frosty purple with silver veins. Plant Delights offers a wide variety of heucheras. I think for all-season color you should count on nice foliage rather than focusing on flowering plants alone that may only give you the color you want for a few weeks out of the year. Good luck! |
RE: Color for shade
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| Here is a Texas Extension Office list of colourful perennials for you: http://bexar-tx.tamu.edu/HomeHort/F4Best/nTxLSPerennials.htm Barb
Ontario, CANADA |
RE: Color for shade
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| The only shade lover I've found that grows really well in dry clay shade is lamium. I have a green & white clump form with yellow flowers that I like. White Nancy has pretty pale green & white leaves. Most other shade lovers need to have the soil ammended to do well. Mixing in compost or peat moss makes a ton of difference. Most of the plants mentioned above will probably cook in high heat with dry clay soil...at least they did for me. You can also use SoilMoist to help add moisture. I do this when planting under trees with root competition, but also add compost at least for each plant. I like blue flowers and am using a lot of Campanulas...harebells, poscharskyana, etc. |
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