Help!!!!

Can anyone help me to figure out what will grow in a dry shady spot? I plan to make a raised bed around my old boxelder tree.The area is in a back corner of my yard would kind of like to make it into a nice area to sit & not care about the world(if that can be done...lol).Like a type of secret garden. Thank you,
Jen

Don't put any soil on top of your tree's roots or you will smother it from lack of oxygen, or the roots will just climb upwards into your garden. Instead, investigate your tree for "pocket's" in between the roots, and add a bit of soil there and plant a plant. Then, you can put a very shallow amount of soil on top of the roots and allow a groundcover to take hold in this thin surface over the rest of the area--watering until it is well established. Of course, the dry shade under a tree is one of the most challenging of spots to grow anything, but you have to be careful because some trees cannot take any additional watering, as it will rot the roots. And, the tree will always win in any competition for water or nutrients. However, if you've gotten past all of those negative points, :*) then here's a list of plants that will survive in dry shade. Note that I don't say THRIVE.

Lamium--can be invasive, but it's pretty.
Euphorbia
Dicentra- Bleeding Heart--needs water to establish
Vinca--major and minor
Buxus sempervirens
ligustrum ovalifolium
acuba japonica
symphoricarpos
mahonia aquilifolium
iris foetidissima
rubus tricolor
hypericum calycinum
pachysandra
epimedium grandiflorum
cornus canadensis

Those are the most tolerant of dry shade. Here are some more that tolerate dry bright shade.

Ilex aquifolium
Melissa officinalis
digitalis (foxgloves)
Bergenia
Anemone nemerosa

Of course, if you have an area that is shaded, but doesn't have teh tree roots, then you can plant azalias, rhododendrons, mountain laurel, hydrangeas, and dogwood and other understory trees. However, they'll need a bit of additonal moisture to be happy.

If you planted some evergreen hollies at the edge of your tree away from the competitive roots as sort of a "screen" and then put what perennials you could in the root pockets, and then covered it with a groundcover with a stepping stone path through it,a and maybe put in a pot or two of impatiens in the summer along with a statue for a focal point, it could be quite simple, and yet be spectacular. Shade gardens are all about the lovely variations of green, anyway.

Thank you sunflower !
Ididn`t realise there was that much of a variety! Ohh sping come SOON!!!!!! Jen

You can also use container plants. I love hostas, but hate to water so much in the summer to compensate for the water lost to the trees. I use large pots. If the pot is not pretty, I plant something tall in the center and something vining around the edge.

Jennifer,

You might want to check with local nurseries or garden club members (if any) about what plants already suggested might be adaptable to zone 4 Minn. I couldn't begin to guess coming from subtropical California!

Marsh

I am in Madison WI, in a 4/5 zone; the lakes make for a mini-climate. The plants that I have growing under the ash trees, shaded also by the three story house right next door,(ie:no sun) are sweet woodruff and ladybells-adenaphora (they can spread a lot, but I love them-when they are done with summer bloom, I just pull the whole stalk up and I get a shorter bloom for in the fall. The wild geranium from a friends woods does quite well there also.

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Thank you all ! I have way too many ideas in my head (as dh would say oh oh ...your thinking again :)
Jen