| I've linked below to a thread in the Gardening with Shade forum that might be of interest. Since you say this area occurs in your woodland, however, it might be among tree roots and thus perhaps dry. That makes plant selection a little trickier. I'm not prepared to list all those plants for you as any shade gardening book or nursery can help you on that topic, but I would suggest that in such an area, it is a good idea to grow plants to a vigorous size in a more hospitable environment before planting them there. For years I kept putting hapless 4-inch pots of epimediums, hellebores, trilliums, hostas, and the like in my extremely dry shade area and despairing as I watched them die again and again. If a plant has a significant rootball it has some resources to draw on to continue to grow. Also, plant in fall to give the plants some time to establish in the tough area before the dry season hits. The one thing I will say about hostas is that many are quite ticklish about moisture, and many even need some sun. The hosta forum would probably be quite happy to help you with selecting hostas that will actually thrive in this area if you give them some more information about its moisture level. One that comes to mind is H. ventricosa. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Very Very Deep Shade thread
