Your Woodland Shade Favorites 4

No "his" and "her" sheds here - just one. I have my little GH to putter in and it's much closer to a water source anyway. I'm thinking that the shed won't be very decorative as it'll have to have a double door setup to get stuff in and out with access to the shed on that main side. I'll probably paint it to match the house though.
DH has already made two batches of beer since Christmas and is now thinking of moving from kits to using actual grains. That'll require even more space in the garage. I think he's most influenced by Three Floyds and New Holland breweries.
I've run into those hollow spots underground but thought some of them might be caused by decaying tree roots. I used to have moles but I think the majority have moved on although I see one occasionally.

Here are a few pix I thought I'd share from my shady yard this last week or two.
1. Arisaema sikokianus.
2. Styrax confusus. It's a shrubby version of the more common styrax japonica.
The flowers are too cute!
3. Rodgersia aesculifolia. A nice bold leaf texture for the shady garden.

1. Podophyllum Kaleidoscope.
You have to get on your hands and knees to see these flowers!
They dangle under the big leaves.
2. Ladyslipper.
3. Sinocalycanthus chinensis.

This message was edited May 15, 2012 4:56 AM

Weerobin, you have the most diverse and unusual collection of shade plants that I have ever seen. I always look forward to your pix.

1. Spigelia marilandica. This one is in high shade - doesn't bloom as densely as those in more sun.
2. Leptodermis oblonga. Small lavender blooms.
Heaviest bloom now, but will keep lightly blooming all summer.
3. Thalictrum kiusianum. A tiny groundcover thalictrum. The leaves are about half-a-dime sized.

Ditto to what aspenhill said. I've never seen any garden with such unique plants. You've done a grand job.

Me too. Your photos are so inspirational. Thanks so much for sharing them.

I didn't know that Spigelia marilandica gets so bushy -- that is really helpful.

I have Thalictrum kiusianum, but it won't spread to save its life. Doesn't die, but you'd need a magnifying glass to see that it is there!

Beautiful pictures, as usual, Weerobin. Have you submitted any of these to plantfiles?
A friend of mine has the thalictrum, and I love it. If Happy is having trouble with it, I wonder if I should ask for some cuttings. Weerobin, do you know if it grows well from cuttings?

Thanks, guys.
Since I can't grow any of those gorgeous sun-loving perennials,
I have to make do with those less glamorous shade-tolerant plants.
Some of them are pretty cool, but it's hit or miss.
You should feel fortunate that I spare you pictures of the misses!

As for the thalictrum, it's so tiny, I can't imagine getting much cutting material.
Mine grows fine, but it's so little that it can't compete with all the weeds.
so has to be pampered a little by weeding regularly to give it a competitive advantage.
As long as I keep it weeded, it spreads OK; several patches are a foot or two across.
But, Happy, you'll always have to keep that magnifying glass handy!

I also wanted to show some shrubs which thrive in the shade and are blooming right now.
Once I cleared out all the choking invasive honeysuckle shrubs, things looked a little barren in the woods.
So these shade-tolerant shrubs provide some structure.
And the blooms are pretty, too.
This time of year, the calycanthus family is doing it's thing.
I posted a picture of sinocalycanthus chinensis above.
Here are a couple of his brethren. Both are pretty big shrubs. A little on the coarse side.
1. x sinocalycanthus Hartlage Wine
2. x sinocalycanthus Venus.
The 3rd picture is a mock orange called philadephus purpurescens.
The purpurescens part refers to the dark purple calyx. It really sets off the pure white flowers well.
I like it best just before the flowers fully open.

Oh, inspiring. I look very closely at your threads, because I have more shade now, and although my part sun part shade plants are doing well, your garden is a primer on "what's possible"..

Thanks

This message was edited May 16, 2012 7:05 AM

Great photos and beautiful blooms, Weerobin. You make magic in the shade.

How long has it taken for your Calycanthus 'Venus' to bloom? I've had one now for about 4 years and it's yet to show any blooms, but it was a small plant from Bluestone to begin with. Mine doesn't get very much sun.

Doug

I love some of the stuff that is popping up in my shady yard. I saw this plant, all alone, with no others like it, and it turned out to be a lamium, but not an invasive one, but possibly laminum galeobdolon. Apparently the species is very invasive, but this one is not. I only found one other, and tore it out, which I now regret, since I like it very much.

Weerobin, ditto on Doug's question on the Calycanthus 'Venus'. I also have one that I got as a small plant from Bluestone a few years ago. It is slowly growing, and does not look quite shrub size to me yet - blossoms are still probably a few years out? The description in the catalog also indicated that it had a really nice fragrance - have you noticed one way or the other? Thanks, terri

Love the Sinocalycanthus! Alas, it's hardy to zone 6. Do you see any indication of it being a little more cold-hardy than that? I have the species Calycanthus floridus and while it's blooms are pretty and fragrant, not quite as eye-catching as the S.

Weerobin: How much shade will the philadephus purpurescens tolerate? I thought it needed a good bit of sun?

It took several years for the sinocalycanthus to start blooming.
And when they finally bloomed, it was just one or two blossoms.
But now they bloom pretty densely, despite being in fairly dense shade.
They're in fairly open woodland with pretty dense tree canopy above.
The Hartlage Wine plant pictured above already has canes 8+ ft tall.
The brightness of the bloom is misleading since the photo is backlit.
The lower down blooms are dark maroon and so don't stand out too brightly (pic #1).
My complaint about all the calycanthus flowers is they look fresh and nice just for a couple days,
then get some sort of black wilt (?fungus) around the edges which make them look like they've splashed with dirt.
Pic #2 shows the density of flowers, but also some of the black showing up on some blooms.
I suspect they wouldn't do that so much in a sunnier location.
These shrubs get pretty big and have very big leaves also, so they need some room.

Happy, my purpurescens mock orange is also in pretty dense shade.
Open woodland with dense high canopy of trees. Rarely if any direct sun.
It flowers pretty densely despite the shaded conditions (pic #3).
But, being a mock orange, it's a bit of a sprawling thing,
so doesn't have the greatest appearance when not in bloom.

Edited to add: No, aspen, I haven't noticed any fragrance, but I'm not much of a fragrance guy,
so I may just not have noticed.

This message was edited May 17, 2012 5:44 AM

Well I guess I still have hope! I noticed a few days ago that mine is finally starting to take off growth-wise. Maybe it will bloom before I'm too old to walk up the hill!! It is in what I'd call 70% shade as is most of my woodland garden. It gets dapples(?) of sunlight at various times throughout the day but never with any intensity.

Sounds like my situation; should do fine for you.
Patience, patience...

Doug, I looked at my records and got the sinocalycanthus 'Venus' with a half price special at Bluestone for spring planting 2009. I wonder if we took advantage of the same special. My woodland conditions are the same as yours and weerobin's. It would be interesting to compare how soon ours finally bloom knowing that they started out at the same size from the same place... The race is on LOL.

Terri, mine was exactly about the same time!

After several days of on and off rain, I took a look at my lovely shade garden to find a forest of weeds! Looks like I am going to be pulling forever.

I keep explaining to them that the compost isn't for them but they don't listen. And the billion maple tree seedlings? AARRGH!

As much as I regret the loss of three trees last year, I can honestly say I don't mind not picking out the zillion maple seedlings at all - not one bit.

As for weeds, a lot of mulch was the answer for me. I very seldom have to weed, mostly it's just errant clover.

The house I moved into has large areas of wild strawberries, creeping Charlie (which I remove whenever I can) and violets. I like the violets. But it also had hundreds of lily of the valley, which destroy everything else. I'm down to the last hundred, which I may actually try to dig up and sell. And ditch lilies, which I have almost gotten rid of, but monitor them coming from my neighbors' yards on both side. I actually reach under the fences to rip them out.

To replace those plants, I am germinating a lot of hardy geraniums. And a lot of parsley, which I used as a ground cover at my old house. Nature abhors a vacuum, and it's a battle of the toughest. Lily of the valley is the worst of the bunch.

The tough part is that, on the borders, along with the ditch lilies, as well as within my own yards, are maple seedlings that were allowed to get serious over the years and grow ten feet tall. Even if you cut them down, they resprout. I am hoping that repeated cuttings will do the trick, but knowing what I know now, I would never move into a house with mostly shady yard and a negligent owners.

On the other hand, the greenery and cool loook of a mostly shady garden is delightful. And once I figured out when the sunny areas peak through, even through the leafed out trees, I was able to locate some plants that like a bit of sun.

I just have to show some more pix of my spigelia.
It's really at it's peak this weekend.
I have 4-5 plants, most scattered in light shade.
All flower beautifully, but the one which flowers the best is this one.
It is at the base of a big oak, but gets pretty direct afternoon sun.
The bright flowers really stand out. One of my favorite plants.

What a beauty! You really do have the talent to put the right plant in the right spot.

Oh, Wee, it is always wonderful to see your glorious plants!

If you can imagine, my neighbors just cut down all the shrubs on their side of a fence so thay can "see me better". Now they can look in my windows and see me in the kitchen, and see me every time I go into the yard. Then this squabbling, nosy family interrupts me with pruners in my hands and start to whine about each other. I'll go into the garden and one or two of them will literally run toward me and start yelling "Donna".

I hate it.

So I just went on trees and shrubs begging for something I can put in a mostly shaded yard that will give me my privacy back. My yard seems nicely balanced between alkalinity and acidity.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Desperate Donna

#1 This is a deutzia Godsall Pink, but you'd be hard pressed to see any pink.
Maybe just a touch of pink on the outside of the petals.
It blooms fine despite fairly deep shade in a woodland setting.
Maybe the shade causes it to lose it's pink?
Like many other shrubs, it's listed as wanting full sun,
but has done fine in my wooded situation for 10+ yrs.
#2. Deutzia gracilis variegata. I think it's prettier in bud than in bloom.
#3. Indigofera amblyantha. Hard to get a good photo, but zillions of upstanding blooms.

#1. Buddleia lindleyana. Blooms throughout summer, but tends to sucker.
#2. Itea also suckers. Makes a nice hedge even in shady situation.
#3. Aesculus x carnea Ft McNair is a light pink horsechestnut which after 15yrs is just now becoming a tree. The blooms are very pretty, but it's getting to tall now to see them well. Needed my zoom lens to get the pix.
It grew up in the woods,but is now becoming part of the canopy I guess.

Donna, several of my shrubby plants get big and dense enough for a screen, even in shady situations.
The deutzia Godsall Pink is 8ft tall. My deutzia gracilis variegata is also 6ft tall. Both are dense.
I have a shrub called neviusia which is 5ft tall and dense. Flowers in April
(#1 shows how dense it is in winter; #2 are the flowers).
I have several viburnums in shade, but none of mine are particularly dense.
Sorbaria is another suckering shrub which is dense enough for a screen.
Again you'll find it listed as sunloving, but has been perfectly happy in shade here.
It's lining my shaded driveway, as you can see in #3. Blooms mid-summer (July).

OMG! Godsall pink! YES! Bless you! I admired it earlier! I was trying to figure out how to fit it into my garden! Forest Farm has a size 1, which is 2-3 feet. You are a genius!!! An ultimate 8 feet would ROCK!

I am so grateful to you.

Thank you.

Weerobin - loved your photo of Melittis last year so I bought it and here it is in bloom. Thank you. It's a garden gem.

Weerobin, what a beautiful specimen of spigelia. I wish mine looked like that!

You all have the best things growing. Flowering bushes that are beautiful and things plants I never heard of.

I went out to visit my shade garden after the last rain (it's raining again today) only to find so much tall growth it is hard to find my old favorites. And I don't know what happened to my lady's slippers.... Hmmm. This garden has always been a spring performer, and I hope everything is still there. The epimedium and Japanese fern are still there. I'll be weeding and cutting forever. I guess this is the good ol' northeast weird weather.

Wow, what great pics y'all are sharing here, and Wee, I LOVE your Spigelia!!

I'll try to share a couple pics of my favourites that seem to be loving the new back shady area DH and I put together.

One of my 2 Hosta Alba Marginata (they are twins)

One of my Coleus Defiance (also one of a set of twins)

My Aegopodium, which I'll keep potted so it doesn't take over the neighborhood. ;)

Pirl, your melittis looks great. Mine is looking a little puny this year; not sure what's wrong with it.
Rouge, my spigelia is blooming now; started about 2 wks ago, still going strong.
Maybe for another 1-2 wks, then the show will be over.
My biggest specimen is about 2x2ft, not so big.
It's about 10yr old & still looks great, so it's long lived. I've never divided it.
The one with more sun blooms best. This one gets mid-afternoon blazing sun; shade rest of the day.
And speedie, I'm glad you've got that aegopodium under lock & key.
It brings back nightmares of gardening past...

Same nightmares about aegopodium here.