Tell me about an attractive, relatively large shade plant for side bed along house
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| Do you have a suggestion for what I can plant in the bed along the side of my house that is completely shaded? Something that is actually sold in a garden store around here. I have some hostas but it looks boring and much of it is empty and ready for some plants. I'd prefer a plant that gets relatively large (knee to waist tall) and then I can put hostas in front of it. Some kind of fern, perhaps? Thanks! |
Anonymous
| Get a Rhododendron. They grow in shade, are native, and deer don't like them. Get a variety that will grow 2-8 feet and prune if necessary. |
Anonymous
| Heavenly bamboo. It's a shrub with pretty red berries that can get big. The larger varieties of phlox get very tall -- you have to stake them -- but are beautiful with hostas if you prefer blooms. Second the rhododendron suggestion. |
Anonymous
| Ostrich ferns |
Anonymous
| Camellia(evergreen- two types one blooms in the fall, the other in the spring). If you have a lot...mix the spring and fall blooms up. |
Anonymous
Please don't opt for heavenly bamboo (or Nandina as it's sometimes called). It's invasive: https://arlingtonva.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2013/11/invasive-1.pdf |
Anonymous
|
Does the area you're talking about get rain (i.e. it's not under an overhang of your house, or not too much so) and/or are you willing to water regularly until it's established and then as needed? There are plenty of great plants for shade/part-shade as long as there is adequate moisture, but shade + dry = death. Also on that note make sure you calculate what the plant's max growth is so that you don't plant a baby shrub way too close to the house.
I agree, please don't plant nandina or other non-native. Ostrich ferns are OK but they look terrible in the fall and die off in the winter so I wouldn't personally plant them (I have them in my backyard and looking out the window right now it looks like someone took a flame thrower to the hill they populate). I like Christmas ferns much better as they are evergreen. These fact sheets from the Master Gardeners of NoVA are really useful in looking for the right plant for your space: http://mgnv.org/plants/howtouse/ |
Anonymous
| Hellebores, Acuba and Osmanthus. Mahonia works but is tough to use IMO |
Anonymous
|
Anonymous
Wrong. I will take the word of the U.S. Forest Service and the USDA over yours, thanks -- whether or not it is technically a "bamboo" it is still a non-native, can be invasive in some places, and has zero wildlife value in the landscape. Plus it's boring. I have three in my front that I'm about to pull out and I would never replant them as they are simply unattractive. http://www.na.fs.fed.us/fhp/invasive_plants/weeds/nandina.pdf http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/plants/sacredbamboo.shtml |
Anonymous
| Not sure if these are large enough for you, but I like Jacobs Ladder and Bleeding Heart. |
Anonymous
| Otto luken laurel |
Anonymous
| Aucuba (Aucuba japonica) about the only shrub that can take a north facing darkish shade and still get large. |
Anonymous
| Thank you for the suggestions! Excited to take a look for spring planting. I think it's probably getting a little late now, and I'm feeling lazy. |
Anonymous
| Gingko |