Shade Plants

Hello, I am trying to find some shade plants. I need to find low growing shrubs or groundcover that will grow rapidly but will not overtake the slower growing plants that are already in the bed (for example, something like Jasmine or Vinca that would twine and grow up the plants). I have read that Teucrium may tolerate some shade, but may look leggy. I am trying to find essentially a shade loving equivalent of Malephora lutea, which I have growing in the sunny areas and is filling in the bare ground until the shrubs can fill in the space. The beds receive about 2-3 hours of sunlight a day, mostly filtered. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

The ones i grow in shaded areas are euonymus.
I've got varigated 'emerald and gold' and a 'silver n cream' example.
They do well in shade, spread well and can be pruned to keep shape.

 

Hello, I’m looking for plants for a shady area too, and plan on getting hostas and alchemilla Mollis ( do well, according to Monty Don.)Smaller ground over could be Arabis, which spreads well, or maybe some hardy geraniums, the evergreen type.

 

+1 for hardy Geraniums. Macrorrhizum, sanguineum, endressii, 'Rozanne'. Campanula, Violets and Vinca minor. That last one's got a much tidier habit than major, with lots of choice of variegation and flower colour.

 

+1 for Hosta. They grow well in the shade, but are not unhappy If they get more sun.

I would like to throw "Galium odoratum" (sweetscented bedstraw) into the ring. They grow in the darkest of woods, and you can make lemonade out of them (but don't overdo it)

 

In the shade of my trees deciduous one end conifers the other and pretty dry in summer. I grow a lot of snowdrops and anemones and some ferns. A couple of Japanese anemones got stuck in there as they spread too much elsewhere. There are a number of hardy geraniums some of which self seed. Rubus pentalobus (rolfei) and Rubus nepalensis are spreading well as ground cover, as is Reineckea carnea a Japanese woodlander. Dianella tasmanica and Iris foetida also do well in dappled shade. Arum maculatum and A italicum also thrive there.

 

+1 for Reineckea. I'd forgotten that one And Liriope 'Big Blue'....

 

+1 for Liriope; @noisette47 the Reineckea only flowers occasionally with me, summers not warm enough, but it is a steadlily spreading patch of green most noticeable after the Arums have died down.

 

It's not spectacular, is it? Another little-known spreader that I got from the same nursery was Jabarosa integrifolia. Not to be recommended to anyone who might change their mind! Like yellow archangel, Lamiastrum galeobdolon, Houttuynia 'Chameleon' and Oenanthe 'Flamingo'. Complete thugs!

 

I find Ajuga makes a nice ground cover in shaded parts of the garden. The purple leaved ones might be the better option but I got a mixed leaf colour variety that has some nice bright colour even when not in flower that is nice to have as well.

 

Have just made a list of all your suggestions for plants in shade to take to the garden centre.
Dry shade is perhaps the most difficult.Since retirement am on a learning curve but loving it.
It can be expensive though, when a harsh Winter night or two kills things off!
Two helianthemums seem to have gone, or almost gone, there are some green bits but mostly
Brown and am wondering if I should simply cut it all out now, or wait and see if it recovers.

 

I'd move the helianthemums to a brighter area if you can. The clue is in the name, most things starting with helio, helia, etc means of the sun or close enough to not mean shade

 

That’s true flounder, but they do get some sun, possibly not enough, but think a very hard frost one night did for them.I will allow them time to recover, but dig out and re plant if not.