Help please in finding shade plants

I am making a rock garden and half is in full sun, about 1/4 in dappled shade and the rest in deep shade (or will be when the surrounding trees finish leafing out). I'm using coleus for the deep shade, but wondered if anyone knew of flowering low-growing plants for dappled shade? This year I'm doing annuals but next year will replace with perennials. I'm in zone 8A -- hot Texas.

belfrybat wrote:I am making a rock garden and half is in full sun, about 1/4 in dappled shade and the rest in deep shade (or will be when the surrounding trees finish leafing out). I'm using coleus for the deep shade, but wondered if anyone knew of flowering low-growing plants for dappled shade? This year I'm doing annuals but next year will replace with perennials. I'm in zone 8A -- hot Texas.

My grandmother always had Bromelaids growing in the beds around the semi-shaded and dappled areas. Not sure how they would fare in Texas, but they always did really well here... and it's hot and humid most of the year.

My front yard faces north and my porch gets no sun. New Guina Impatiens do very well on my porch. My hostas also are very happy, but they don't flower until August.

I think there are some sedums (stonecrop) that can take partial shade. I have some near my front porch, under an unknown shrub of some sort. They're succulents that hold water, and are drought tolerant. Maybe it's worth looking into.

Sedums/stonecrop are excellent choices... almost all varieties will handle dappled to deep shade from creeping ground covers to 4-footers. Sedums handle dry & humid well... a lot of shade lovers like to keep their feet wet. Bonus is they all attract butterflies & good bees.

Ferns, hostas of course, some of the coreopsis does well in dappled shade. Ajuga. Balloon flowers. Creeping Jenny. Forest-y wildflowers like wild ginger, lady slipper, johnny jump-ups (violas) should do ok in deep shade if they stay moist.

Azaleas, mahonias, do ok as an "understory" planting.

More for part shade: Hellebores, some hydrangeas, salvia (although it never did well in our heavy clay) foxglove. One pleasant surprise was easter lilies... they did great surrounded by our tall pines. We'd bring one home after church each year and pop it in the ground. They thrived on neglect and bloomed late May- early June.

You really have to try one or two and experiment to see how it goes... sometimes a plant won't thrive in the first hole, but you move it 6 feet over and they love it. Go figure.

Good luck.

I don't know how they'd do in Texas, but add bleeding heart to the list of shade-loving plants that do well in hot and humid Missouri summers.

Caladiums do well in full to partial shade. Picked up some this week at Wally World that had bright pink foliage.

Begonias?

I'm in zone 7b just above you a little bit (but still in Texas!) and I use bleeding hearts and columbine in my shade areas. I've tried azaleas and hostas before with little success here, but that could just be our weird soil.

But you were wanting annuals weren't you? I'd go with impatiens... I put them in our pots on the porch in heavy shade and they do great.

Thank you all! I've planted dragon's blood sedum but only in the sunny part since the tag said full sun. I have a couple left, so will try them in the dappled shade. I'd completely forgotten about impatients and caladiums. I'm doing annuals this year to test out the "soil". I amended our clay/ caliche with sawdust and compost then used Mel's mix for each planting hole. The sawdust will take a year to break down, then I hope to get some perennials going. I'm going to copy out the list you all have suggested -- what a great forum!

I want to help but I am feeling lazy, so....




http://www.backyardgardener.com/shade/zone7.html

Spider Plants are house plants but grow nicely in deep or partial shade here, just outside of Sacramento CA. During the frost they die back but with this spring they are coming back just fine.

Thank you both. I also just received this month's Southern Living magazine and it has a section on both perennials and annuals for "problem" areas in the South. So many plants and such little room!

Try this website

http://txsmartscape.com/

and this one

http://www.wildflower.org/

These are 2 of my favorites. I've found that the natives do sooo much better and are soooo much easier to maintain. Our TX heat is so devastating to many imports and even some of the natives can't handle the heat.

Try good, old-fashioned violets for deep shade. TX gold columbine does much better than the usual mixed colors that like cool nights. I can't vouch for bleeding heart as I just planted mine, but it should do well. I've also got Solomon's seal doing well. For a little shade (the area that borders the sun) you can try blackfoot daisy. It won't bloom as well with shade, but in full sun it will bloom nearly year round in the DFW area. It can get lanky, but I cut it back mid-summer and it booms back.

Creeping phlox can be a bit hard to find, but is doing well for me and takes a bit more shade than many. Heucheras do pretty well in shade, but can be a bit particular about being overly wet during our wetter seasons. Make sure it has good surface drainage and don't plant it too deep or put mulch too close - it'll get crown rot. Tiarellas (near relative to heucheras) also like some shade and both of these have great foliage color for nearly year-round interest. My bear's breeches are looking good, but this is their first spring, planted last fall.

If you have a moister area, there are some ferns that love the shade and can tolerate the heat pretty well.

You might have someone try to talk you into Indian Hawthornes as tolerating some shade. Don't do it, mine look awful - just didn't thicken up/fill in worth a darn. My fringe bush looks good, though, nice year-round color.

Can you tell I've got a shady spot?

Hope this helps.

Sharon