Plants for shady north side of house?

North side of my house 6 feet deep 40 feet long, now just dirt and weeds. What would look good and grow without much work involved?

The soil is neutral, I had a basement wall cave in from a flood, after it was fixed, it was filled in with "regular black dirt" as the workers told me.



This message was edited Feb 21, 2011 1:35 PM

I sort of have the same location problem with other challenges - I live in Colorado, so I need drought tolerant plants and due to being close to the foothills of the rockies, I also need deer-resistant plants.

I have had success so far with the following: painted lady ferns (though they stay quite small in my area, they are very pretty), huechera of any cold and drought -tolerant variety, spring bulbs, bleeding heart, bugleweed, columbine, and even a hosta (though the deer ate it down to a nub the first year, it keeps coming back). I put ligularia in the ground last fall and am anxious to see if it survived its first winter since it has been so cold here this year. I saw it in a garden in the neighborhood and loved its large leaves and bright flowers. I also have some "volunteer" purple berried holly that is very happy. I fill in with impatiens and coleus as annuals to brighten up the space and have been testing to see if any foxglove will grow or not. I had one grow up fantastically last year, but the stem got so tall it broke in strong wind (we can get 20-60 mph here). I'm still looking for great tall plants for shade/part shade.

While my front yard is north-facing, my house is only one story, so in summer when the sun is straight overhead, the middle section does get direct sun for a couple of hours a day between my two large trees (one oak and one locust). We also have a few aspen out front and the only trouble they have is deer gouging their bark (an ongoing battle).

I'd love to see what others have had success with as well!

Is your soil acid, neutral or alkaline?
Is it clay, loam or sandy?

I started a shade bed this year.

This message was edited Feb 21, 2011 1:12 PM

I have all of the above in a very shady yard. Let me add Toad Lilies to the bunch - they are fall blooming and spread slowly and in general are just easy going. And their variagated foliage adds interest even when they aren't blooming. I also have had success with a plumeria. I'm guessing you have winters similar to ours in IL. Do you have that good rich topsoil or are you stuck with clay like I am (western IL)? I also fill in with a few annuals - like begonias. And I've noticed that my hydrangeas and astilbes are rather forgiving of shade.

Cast Iron, Aucuba (love gold dust) def. some ferns (Jap. Painted is my favorite due to the silvery hue), bleeding heart, hosta's, Rhododendrens if you decide to make the bed more acidic (add holly tone) gardenia's, Brugs and Daturas..

You can pick up at big box stores right now for a very reasonable price as bare roots, Bleeding Heart (3 for 5) Hosta's (same $) tried some of the ferns and not had too much luck with them bareroot -but find a local nursery and buy the 4" pots at alike $4 because trust me within a year they will be 2-3 feet and area great bargain - mine were always evergreen)

Have fun! Let us know what you decide

For perennials in my shady area north of our garage (4 x38' that gets no direct sun) I have many of those mentioned above. I have 'Dora Bielefeld' lamium - a very pretty shade of pinkish purple. I also have variegated Jacob's ladder. This will be its third year, so I am hoping this is the year it "leaps". Last year it was a bit thin. I have astillbe, but I'm moving mine this year and trying a blue corydalis in its place because it just didn't do much - corydalis are supposed to like shade too. For annuals the ones I use that weren't already mentioned are alyssum, and fuchsia and bacopa in a window box. The dirt was "left over" from new construction, but I dug out the cement chunks, nails, and wood and amended it. Each year I dig in plenty of dead leaves and acorn tops from the near by oak tree that I've ground up with my mower. This area is very rarely completely dried out, but not overly wet. I had a bergena (spelling??_) but I dug it out and gave it to a friend because it got too big for the spot - it did so well. It had beautiful dark pink flowers very early, but it tended to get brown spots on the leaves by mid summer.