Suggestions on plants for a shady backyard area please

[benali]

Hi,

I'm in the midwest in hardiness zone 5a (according to the new map, that's for northern Indiana & Illinois, southern Iowa, etc).

I have a shaded area in my way back yard. It's got some juniper bushes, a white pine tree, a mulberry, and a silver maple tree. It measures maybe 40' by 15'. The underbrush is wild, weedy, and sparse. My little project for next year will be to replace the underbrush with some nice plants. They must tolerate moderate to mild to heavy shade and acidic soil.

This year I made a stone path through the area, and planted hastas and myrtle (periwinkle) in one section. Everything has taken hold well.

What suggestions does everyone have for next year's plants? Maybe ferns or moss (I don't know the types and need help with the names). Or any other ideas you may have.

Thank you for your advice.

[wysteriangnome]

We have a shaded path on one side of the house. I just planted some flowers, specifically asked for 'shade plants' at the nursery, and they are loving it there so far. (I will go out and look for the name tomorrow & get back to you.) But a couple plants that love it over there are; asparagus fern, spider plants (they are spreading and look great) and a huge split leaf philodendron (that one is difficult for some areas), bamboo (I was told it needed more sun but it loves it), just planted a small japanese maple last year (it is growing slowly).

[rainbowgardener]

w-gnome is in SoCal - Western Gardens zone 7, but probably zone 9 or 10 in the USDA system. So none of those suggestions except the Japanese Maple would be cold hardy in USDA zone 5. And it didn't sound like benali was asking for more tree suggestions.

Lots of the spring ephemerals would do well for you - trillium, jack in the pulpit, virginia bluebells, woods poppy, trout lily, etc. But they come and go quickly and needed to be planted with other things. Solomon's seal and false solomon's seal would be listed with these. But there's a hybridized solomon seal, variegated with white edges on the leaves that is much longer lasting in the garden and is beautiful.

Perennials for the shade garden: Camassia, columbine, bellflower, heuchera/coral bells, hepatica, violets, lamium (silver dead nettle), lady's mantle/alchemillia, black snakeroot (cimifugia), bleeding heart, astilbe or its native cousin goatsbeard, creeping wintergreen (lovely ground cover), lenten roses are good for very early blooms, pulmonaria (lungwort), heart leaf bergenia.

Ferns would be lovely if it is moist enough and would include the lady fern, the maidenhair fern, autumn fern, deer fern, shield fern

If you want a few shrubs in there, carolina allspice, hydrangea, azalea/ rhododendron, mountain laurel

Many of these you would have to order on line or find a good native plants nursery near you. If you search on "native plants nursery + your location" you will likely find some.

I love shade gardens and think they can be beautiful!

PS. Watch out for the vinca (periwinkle). I hate the stuff because it is so aggressive and chokes everything else out.

[applestar]

Great list from rainbowgardener

You could add blueberries and huckleberries. Production/amount of berries harvested will depend on amount of sun and how well you can compete with birds, etc. Taller small tree/large shrub could be amelanchier (serviceberry/shadbush) and American elderberries.

Iris cristata, heuchera... native ginger, ginseng....

[imafan26]

I wish I could grow some of those things. I tried heuchera and columbine, but unfortunately they are not perennial here. Send pics when your garden is in bloom so I can have them vicariously.

[benali]

Thanks everyone for the great ideas. I think I'll be able to take this "marginal" area and make it into something interesting and worthwhile.

As Wysteriangnome suggests, I'll probably stop by the local nusery and talk to them about this next spring. Good idea to talk with some local experts before buying.

I love the concept of those berry bushes, Applestar. I have black & red raspberries, and also blackberries growing out in the sunny areas of the yard. Adding some blueberries, huckleberries, or elderberries would be really nice if they would grow in the shadier periphery that I want to improve. I'll ask at the nusery if those would work here locally. My guess is that they would, as long as I put them in locations that are not too deep in shade. Maybe around the edges of the area I'm planting.

Thanks, Rainbowgardener, for those specifics on the ferns and perennials. I'll go with ferns for sure as they'll probably do well in the shady regions where not much else would survive. I've seen ferns growing around the north side of some of the condos around here in deep shade even under trees and they do fine. Nothing like the look of a ferny secret forest! The perennials sound great, too. I'm not sure I'll plant many of the annuals as I hope to plant the area and then have it be largely self-sustaining, other than occasionally digging out unwanted invaders (I hope to save most of my annual work for my vegetable garden).

Any other ideas? This is all very helpful, thank you everyone.

[wysteriangnome]

Sorry, I forget about the zone differences sometimes.

I wish we could successfully grow berries, especially at their prices. Love blueberries...all berries actually. Maybe if I try to plant one in the shade next year.

[rainbowgardener]

"The perennials sound great, too. I'm not sure I'll plant many of the annuals..."

Everything I mentioned is perennial. When I say spring ephemerals, those are native woodland shade perennials that are adapted to forest life. So they pop up very early in spring taking advantage of the increased light since the trees are not leafed out yet. They grow and bloom and die back within the space of no more than 3 months and then spend the rest of the year dormant below the soil. But then they do come back the next year, having multiplied themselves. To me they are precious and beautiful for being so fleeting...

[rainbowgardener]

I wish we could successfully grow berries, especially at their prices. Love blueberries...all berries actually. Maybe if I try to plant one in the shade next year.

There are blueberry bushes that have been adapted for Southern climate. But even those need a certain number of Chilling Units, which is hours below 45 degrees, usually more than 100.

https://blueberrycroft.com/blog/2012/02/ ... roduction/

Still, 150 hrs is only about 13 nights (counting 12 hrs) of below 45. It never has to get to freezing. Depending on where you are in SoCal, you might or might not get that much chill.

That's why imafan said he can't grow heuchera and columbine in Hawaii - not enough cold dormancy.

[wysteriangnome]

Ok, will have to find out more. We have chilly winters, but no chill to be found in the summers, not even at night. I used to live in Vancouver, B.C. where my Gramma had great blueberries. (much cooler)

Thanks

[rainbowgardener]

The chilling units are talking about winter. No one has chilling units in summer!

Chilling units is about does it get cold enough in winter to keep the plant in cold dormancy for a little while. The plants referred to in the link are specially bred for southern climates, so don't require a whole lot of chill. If your climate is suitable, just be careful you get one of the Southern Highbush varieties. The northern ones won't make it for you.

[benali]

Thanks, RBG, for the clarification of the difference between perennials and ephemerals. I never knew that! Cheers.

[rainbowgardener]

Well, no difference really, since the spring ephemerals are perennials, just a subset of them. The spring ephemerals are different from annuals.

[wysteriangnome]

Just reading last months posts.