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Need Advice For Shady Yard

Gardening Reference » Gardening in 2004
by evol420 on August 18, 2004 04:04 AM
I have an extremely shady front yard, all of my flower beds are shaded in ALL day long and I can't ever get anything to grow in them. I've tried plants that local greenhouses have suggested but they never seem to last long. I've had my soil PH levels tested and there's nothing wrong with it and I 've mulched and kept the soil rich and loamy but I can't even get weeds to grow there. My lawn does pretty well except for a few trouble spots but my flower beds are REALLY bare. Any advice about what to do for my shady flower beds would be greatly appreciated---Thanks A Lot---EVOL
by frustratedattimes on August 18, 2004 04:51 AM
Here are five plants that I can think of off the top of my head that love the shade. I wish I had more shade to build a shade garden.

Hosta
Astilbe
Old Fashioned Bleeding Heart
Lily of the Valley
Hardy Ferns

Good luck, and I hope some of this helps.

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by gardenmom32210 on August 18, 2004 01:56 PM
Heres a few more

Begonia
impatiens
pansy
camelia
caladiums
foxglove
creeping phlox
azaleas
gardenia

Hope this helps!

Karen [grin]
by suzydaze on August 18, 2004 08:25 PM
I am slowly adding more and more plants to my shade list. When I started 2 years ago I had no idea what would grow in a shaded area. So I have run up on these just here and there and added to my list.

Some times you have wet shade areas and sometimes you have dry (I guess you could water if you have dry) mine stays kind of wet. I have a small area between my house, the porch and the garage where my air conditioner unit sits. it's also where the hose turn off is. So betwwen turning the hose off and on and the air conditioner it stays damp enough there, but too shady to grow grass.

most of these will be perennials because I do have a book (on perennials) and it has a list for shade plants.
Fox glove
elephant ears
corydalis
Rose companion
Ballon flower
Chelome (they like wet shade)
Astible
Geranium
4:00's

list from book is latin names you can look them up

acanthus mollis
aconitum
alchemilla mollis
alstroemeria
amsonia tabernaemontana
anemone
aquilegia
aruncus
astrantia major
bergenia
brunnera macrophylla
centranthus ruber
ceratostigma plumbaginodies
cimicfuga
dicentra
dictamnus albus
doronicum
epimedium
eupatorium
filipendula
helleborus
hosta
ligularia
lobelia
mertensia virginica
physostegia virginiana
polygonatum
primula
pulmonaria
rheum palmatum
sisyrinchium
thalictrum
tradescantia
tricyrtis
trollius
ferns

I also use the spot to sit my house flowers out in the summer. Pots and all I just sit them out and I have some larger landscaping rocks in that area too.

Also I found that if I trimmed my trees high enough to mow under with the riding lawn mower then they get quiet a bit of morning sun.

suzy

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I try to take one day at a time -- but sometimes several days attack me at once.
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by larrydb on August 19, 2004 08:56 PM
Don't forget about Aquilegia (Columbine) or Lobelia (Cardinal Flower) if the soil is moist most of the time. Both grow well from S. Alabama to Connecticutt at least and maybe even further North. Hydrangeas of any sort are great too.
WDE
by TomR on August 22, 2004 04:18 AM
Let's not forget coleus! Hundreds of varieties!

Tom

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My memory's not as sharp as it used to be. Also, my memory's not as sharp as it used to be.

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