What do y'all like for dry shade?

I'm trying to plan for next year and considering a major overhaul in some areas after this year's drought. I haven't yet really found anything other than the native ferns (heucheras are so-so) in my yard that does well in DRY shade...

anyone have some ideas?

Hey Tropicanna!

I planted a bed last July (yes, I said July, in the heat of the summer......! I like to garden dangerously.....) under a maple tree. Very poor soil, extremely dry. My best performers have been Solomon's Seal (mine's variegated), Oak Leaf hydrangea (unknown variety), Colombine (Aguilegia--again, unknown variety) and Christmas fern (slow to start, but really grew well this year). Heuchera 'Purple Palace' also did well, but probably would have appreciated a slight bit more water. I do water occasionally, but by and large, these plants have been fine without it once established. Hellebores are also doing great. Cast Iron plant absolutely the happiest plant of the lot, and has never been watered since planting last year. Is really thriving, but can take almost no sun.

Things that have done poorly in the dry soil---definitely Astilbe needs much more water. It just went dormant almost immediately this year...Hosta has been so-so, though I think it will survive and grow eventually. Tiarella, lily-of-the-valley, and violets have sat and sat. Not dying, not growing. Waiting for moisture and better soil, I suspect. Same for Anemone 'Snow Drop', and a hydrangea serrata.

Hope this helps, keeping in mind that I planted all these plants under the most stressful conditions, and, as you know, have had a drought ever since! I would just make your soil as moisture retentive as possible with lots of organic matter prior to planting. My soil could have been alot better....

my solomon's seal (mine's vareigated too) doesn't look good, but I think it gets too much sun too, and so far my rice paper plant hasn't been picky either....but still need more ideas

I have had good luck with alocasias in shade-esp Sarians and amazonicas. Costus did ok too, and selloums. They all got some sun during the day, but mostly shade. Also some palms that I have in some shade that do ok without a lot of water. Caladiums are really drought tolerant. I am not sure just how dry you mean? Like the Sahara dry-or just have to water once a week if no rain in the middle of the summer dry...lol

It's been so dry here, the ground is all cracked, even several inches down...weird. I'd love to water as little as possible. The area I'm looking at gets a good deal of filtered morning sun, then shade the rest of the day. Hostas, astlbes, dicentras, etc aren't looking good despite my efforts in this drought, and I've replaced nearly all the hydrangeas with rhododendrons (figuring they would be better at adapting?)

I love all those tropical plants and agree (alocasias are picky to me though), but I wish they were hardy here. My kaempferias did great in this weather..lol---I wish some of the natives were prettier

OK , now here's another question. What could do well, get tall on a dry, sunny severe slope? In the spots where there's some shade it's pretty easy...but salvias, sedums, tradescantias have all met their death at the top of the bank

If the salvias died you're in trouble. You need to find a true desert plant.

I would do tangerine lantana, or Miss Huff. They look very similiar and they are both very hardy here and they get about 5-7' after a few years. Not sure how tall you wanted it.

Of the tropicals that I mentioned above-most all of them are hardy here-except the amazonica, which I dig up. This is my first year for the sarian to leave in the ground over the winter-I am hoping that it will come back. the selloum comes back and the costus, and all the other alocasias

Tropicana: I'd agree with tigerlily on the lantana idea for your sunny spot. For your dry shade, you could try Fatsia japonica? It's winter hardy here and has done well under pine trees and among ivy that's got roots about 8" deep. Real dry. Same area, I have a chamaerops humilis (Eur. Fan Palm) and Solomon's Seal (as yotedog mentioned), both of which have done well. I did have to water them pretty well during this drought, though. Last summer, not so much. The fan palm is a slow grower. I've had it 2 years and it's about 18" or so tall.
Deb

Thanks for asking that question Tropicanna. I've got dry shade on one side of my house and haven't been successful with anything I've tried .. the Solomon's Seal looks like just the thing! Next question, anyone have seeds?

X

tigerlily, I really hadn't thought of lantana as all that hardy here but that's sure one way to fix my problem, thanks so much....which costus ..speciosus? I dug up my var. arabicus and spicatus...and I wanna sarian...lol. I 'm going to try more alocasias next year, I killed my first few.

Deb I LOVE Fatsia, and killed one already , maybe with too much water now I see, definitely plan to try again in spring. I probably sound difficult but I'm not having good luck with palm...probably water them too much, but I still want to keep trying

X, lol, I've gotten more info here than from the nursery owners I've asked the same question locally:)

Hey! Yeah, can't sleep for the life of me...There are a couple of lantanas that are supposed to be hardy here, Miss Huff as Tigerlily mentioned is one of them. Seems Tony had some. You know where to look:->> I think that would be pretty spilling over the top of a bank.