I need ideas for shade loving plants in Houston. When I bought my home 2 years ago, the previous owner planted hibiscus under the eaves of the our house. I was planning on moving them, but our rare winter killed them. I also have two large tree in front of my home with flowerbeds around them. The flowerbed next to house get indirect sun/partial shade,and flower beds under the trees are full shade. I need some ideas on which plants would work well in these two areas, and they need to be low maintance , and look great all year around. I am so tired of replacing plants every year.
I really appreciate your help.
TIA,
Patti
What shade plants will survive our heat?
A lot of it is dependent on how often you plan on watering. Hostas do great but will need to be watered regularly. If you don't water you might consider something simple like liriope (monkey grass).
Hi, Patti,
I have very similar problems. I also got tired of replacing plants every year. It was just too hard to replant with all the tree roots in the way.
Some of the things that do well for me under my trees, in full shade, are hellebores, tricyrtis, spiderwort, certain types of hydrangea (Lady in Red does well for me), acuba, some gingers, some hostas, most ferns. If your soil isn't also bad, pigeonberry is a nice blooming groundcover that will grow in full shade. Some people here have had good luck with frogfruit, another white-blooming groundcover. I also grow coleus and (less successfully) columbine in full shade. And I fill in my beds with bulbs like daffs that will get some sun and bloom early, before the trees get their leaves in.
Another thing I've enjoyed is using pots. The soil under my trees was not the greatest to start with, and no matter how much we improved it, the trees would absorb all the nutrients. In some areas I put large, permanent pots and grouped some smaller, less permanent ones around them. We've had pretty good luck with that.
One word of caution about the hostas. I love them and I do grow them, but many types need sustained chill hours, which Houston doesn't usually get. We don't always get enough cold weather for them in D-FW either. :( You might want to check on southern types before you spend a small fortune ordering them from Minnesota.
I've never gotten a hosta to grow. One of the Houston Chronicle's gardening editors said "Houston is hostile to Hostas" and I believe her.
I have a White Crested Iris that blooms well in shade and is evergreen. It's growing under a live oak and is thriving. I also have Crinum Americanum, Southern Swamp Lily, in the same bed and it is evergreen and trouble free. For the foundation planting, I've just replaced my dead oleanders with Loripetalum. They have burgundy foliage, are evergreen and have hot pink fringey flowers in spring and off and on the rest of the year. They are growing in partial shade, only getting an hour or so of morning sun.
I also have ground cover Ardisia Japonica under a couple of trees. It's evergreen, has small pink flowers followed by red berries. It's also very drought tolerant. All these have no disease or pest problems that I've encountered and don't need much tending or fuss.
Hope this helps.
Crow
First of all, I want the thank you ladies for taking the time to answer my post.
You all listed some great plant selections. Watering is not a problem , because my husband takes care of that for me.
I will be shopping this weekend for some of these great plants.
Thanks again ladies.
Patti
Oh, yeah, I'd like to second the lorapetalum. That's done well for me too, in shade, and it's soooo pretty. Might want to check the Plant Files to make sure it won't eventually get too big for your spot.
Just a comment -- I did a google on the lorapetalum and saw a comment that it is an acid soil lover. Have you found that to be true, pbtxlady and crowelli? It looks really pretty and I'm also on the lookout for pretty shade lovers, but the soil is probably too alkaline for where I am.
I haven't found it to be a problem. Our soil & water in this area are very alkaline. I do have some acid-lovers that I treat now & then. But since I didn't know the lorapetalum was one, I haven't done anything special for it.
Mine are in alkaline soil and I've had no problems at all with them. I only feed ocassionally with Ozmocote and use no acidifiers.They do tend to not grow as big in shade as in full sun, but they're still thriving. If your's get too tall, they don't mind trimming at all. A lot of them here locally are trimmed like a hedge and sheared into shape.
Crow
That's good news all around then on the alkaline vs acid. Thanks for sharing your experiences.