Your woodland shade favorites

Here's a much showier polygonatum - polygonatum odoratum Doublewide.
Still just a couple years old, but appears to be quite vigorous.
I'm hoping it will look great when it expands a little.

Shooting star (dodecathon).

Finally, epimediums are blooming everywhere.
So many colors, shapes, sizes. Colorful, interesting foliage, too.
Maybe my favorite woodland shade plant genus.
Don't worry, I won't launch into my epimedium pictures.
Here's just one from yesterday. I don't even know which one it is.
Record-keeping is not my strong suit.

Lookin' good in St Louis! My Arisaema have just now broken thru the ground but my Solomons Seals are standing guard.

Doug

I've been waiting patiently for ten years for my variegated solomon seals to fill in.
I planted about a dozen plants about a foot apart back then.
I've still got the dozen plants. They look healthy, but they're still about a foot apart.
I keep reading how it's such an easy woodland plant.
And I see pictures like yours of a nice clump, but mine don't want to spread.
I'm suspecting they're in too deep shade, but don't know for sure.
Anyway, yours look nice.

I love epimediums. Mine will get photoed in a few months.

weerobin - More desirous plants! I have my little Anemonella species and really look forward to the small white flowers every spring. I have variegated Solomon's seal that does multiply but it travels more than I'd like so no nice grouping like you have, Doug.

Gorgeous, weerobin and Doug! I'm still waiting for things to pop around here. It's been so stupidly cold that just when you think things are starting to get going...we're reaching daytime highs in the low 40s and freezing overnight. Into next week we have chances of rain mixed with snow. It's ugly and depressing...so it's nice to see photos that people have of actual blooms.

My clump started out just two years ago as probably 2-3 plants in DEEP shade. The thing is they start popping before the leaves fully develop on the trees so they do get some early spring light. They are in beds behind my greenhouse/pottingshed/barn and don't even get morning sun. I also have another clump in the woodland garden that has spread in little over a year. Must be the soil??? Very acidic to begin with; lots of manure,compost and mostly natural leaf mold added later.

Doug

Doug - maybe the key to a good clump is the organic matter. My light conditions sound pretty similar to your's but sounds like you've amended your soil more than I have. Mine is clay that does get amended oh, every several years.

Cindy I think it may have more to do with the acidity then we realize now that I think about it. Up on that hill where I have my woodland garden there are hundreds of native Solomons' Seals that come up every year. That soil tested 2 years ago at a ph of 4.5. That's blueberry heaven acidic!!

Doug

Too bad blueberries don't like shade. :) I have a lot of oaks and a few shagbark hickory. My lower garden borders on wetlands (yes, mosquito heaven) but the upper yard is all contractor imported soil (a thin layer) over clay. Have a little kit to test the soil this spring but have never had it "really" tested. I do have a few wild Solomon's seal but I think the clay is a toughie even for that.

I did plant two blueberries up there anyway last year. Mainly for ornamental reasons.

Very pretty fall colors on them.

It sure would be neat if you actually got some edible berries as well.

They did have a few on them last year, but that was right after I bought them!!

Keep us posted on any crop you may get. Us shade people would sure be happy with growing fruit of some sort.

I had not visited this site before but did so hoping to identify a plant in a friends garden. I knew it started with an A and then on a preceding post there was the name...;Anemonella thalictrodes. Daves garden is a wonderful resource!

Picture #2

# 3

Here is a Trillium...I need to go me friends garden and see if it is in bloom yet.

Primrose in my garden

Primrose #2

nice pix

Primroses #3

Beautiful plants, Paul.
Btw, is that a 4-leafed trillium in the right side of your trillium post?
Or an optical illusion? I've never noticed one before.
Are 4-leafed trilliums lucky?

Those Anemonella thalictrodes are so sweet! I also planted some primrose in my shade garden and am happy to report that not only have they not died yet, they rebloomed a little bit since the first big bloom when I bought them. I am almost positive they will not survive the heat of a Houston summer but I couldn't pass up the vivid colors! I'm a sucker for vivid colors... :) Happy digging! Janet

Primroses are not always reliably perennial here but they are not expensive in the spring so I always buy a few. Their cheery colors are so tempting. Some make it to the second year, others don't, but they are worth it.

#2

#3

Primroses are never perennial for me--those are very nice, Paul!

Love those colorful Primulas! Not hardy for me though. I do have a type of Primula vulgaris though whose yellow flowers are always very cheerful in the early spring.

Hi, Paul, and welcome to Dave's! Thanks for sharing your beautiful blooms with us. I want to try primroses this year. I never had them before, and there are so many colors to choose from!

OK, so finally I got out to check out what's happening between rain showers, tornadoes, etc. Lo and behold, I found the relentless progression of spring. Here's what I found in my woodland this past weekend.

We'll start w/ a pretty yellow-flowering japanese perennial, hylomecon japonica.

This is an asian version of forget-me-not, myositis rupicola.
Also a spring bloomer. A very petite plant, so you can't hide it in the back.

This one is a big-bold azalea, Komo Kulshan.
One of my favorites. Really brightens up the woodland.

Next, a lady slipper. This is it's third year blooming in a row.
This year, sent up a second stem. I hope that means it's settling in.

Here are some primroses. Valuable for some bright color in the shade.

This asarum is a great woodland ground cover. Spreads slowly, steadily. I love it.
Asarum takaoi.

This trillium definitely needs a bath.
It's nodding trillium, trillium catesbei.