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plants for shaded area

what plants (flowering or non-flowering with good looking leaves) can be grown in the shade? i just moved to a new house and there is an area about 4' by 4'. it has soil and everything, but there are no plants there currently, so i dont know what could be planted there. the area is not too dark, but it is considerably darker than a well-lit shade. so what kind of plants could i plant there? by the way, im in houston, texas.
 
Well. On one of those house-makeover shows I saw this.........

some Eunonomys who's growth points are bright white, and the rest of the leaves are meidum green... It was like a green bush with white spots (growth points) here and there. Nice looking.

Hostas grow like mad, and they are really easy to care for. I suggest you get one of the more attractive varieties... There aresome pretty ugly ones out there. They make nice light purple flowers too.

If you manage to get a concrete birdbath you can make it mossy by putting sheetmoss, whole milk and some yogurt in a blender, then painting it on the birdbath. That wya you get a moist fairy grove type feeling...

My own idea... If you decide to do that, then you can get some really big rocks from a garden center, and you can put varnish on them to make them look permanetnly wet... Looks spiffy.
 
Hey, aloe vera grows well in shade. So does purple basil. (If you want to go the useful plant way. Purslane does well anywhere and is a ground cover with pretty pink flowers and green thick leaves. (Also a good source of vitamin C, great for salads! But if you eat too much it could cause kidney stones.) I like Parasuco's idea with the bird bath and moss. If you want any purslane I can send you some but it is kind of weedish so be warned. I don't think it's that agressive.
 
Hi

I love my shade garden! There are so many nice shade plants including wildflowers.

I am terribly addicted to hosta...you can't go wrong there. There are literally thousands of varieties (ike so many other plants, people have gone hybrid nuts with hosta). But you can get a nice color range with them...light green, blue/green, green and white, lime colored, lemony yellow and all kinds of mixes. They produce tall flower scapes from early summer to fall depending on the variety. and some have a nice scent like Honey Bells or plantaginea.

Other plants include ferns (another favorite of mine), astilbe (feathery plumes), columbine, solomon's seal, coral bells, toad lilies, lily of the valley, foxgloves, bleeding hearts!...so many nice plants! Wildflowers include trillium, jack-in-the-pulpit, Virginia blue bells...and if you are really daring you could try a cypropedium (terrestrial ladyslipper orchid). You can do a lot in shade!

I have photos of some of these plants if you want to see them. Let us know what you end up doing with your space.
smile.gif


Suzanne
 
i currently planted some aloe vera that i had before in a pot..ill look into the plants yall told me about. now i think the shade is pretty dark most of the time...especially since i planted the aloe in front of the planting area (its shaped like a square-attached to the house) the back of it looks pretty dark. which of those plants will look good growing behind some aloes?
 
some other really cool plants that do really well in shade and dont take over are rattlesnake plantain and shooting stars. the rattlesnake plantain is related to orchids and grows very easily. the shooting star has flowers that hang upsidedown and the petals are swept straight back, giving it the look of a shooting star. great plants really!

-josh
 
and maiden hair ferns are really stunning!!! they grow excellent in shaded forests! well, good luck with the shade garden!!

-josh
 
Pygmy calla lilies, azaleas, carnations, geraniums, and gardenia live in the shady part of my house.
 
hostas havs very nice leaves and there are meny kindes some even have verigated leaves and most ferns will work in the shade
 
  • #10
are any of those plants common in garden centers? and what time of the year are they available?
 
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