Terry L. Ettinger Horticulture Consulting Services
Meeting The Needs Of Today With A Vision For The Future
Special Topics
Leaves Aren't Trash
Plants for Dry Shade
As discussed previously, the limiting factors to growth under large
trees are a lack of sunlight and water. Fortunately, some plants are relatively tolerant of dry, shaded
conditions under deciduous trees such as Norway maples. I've listed
some of them below for your consideration.
Meanwhile, very few plants can survive the extreme shade and dry soils found under large, low-limbed evergreen trees.
Perennials
- Bugleweed
- (Ajuga reptans)
- Japanese Anemone
- (Anemone x. hybrida)
- Hardy Grapeleaf Anemone
- (Anemone tomentosa)
- White Wood Aster
- (Aster divaricatus)
- Chinese Astilbe
- (Astilbe chinensis cultivars)
- Leadwort
- (Ceratostigma plumbaginoides)
- Barrenwort
- (Epimedium species and cultivars)
- Sweet Woodruff
- (Galium odoratum)
- ‘Karmina’ Geranium
- (Geranium x cantabrigiense ‘Karmina’)
- Christmas Rose
- (Helleborus niger)
- Hybrid Lenten Rose
- (Helleborus x hybridus)
- Alumroot/Coral Bells
- (Heuchera americana)
- Hosta
- (Hosta species and cultivars)
Ornamental Grasses and Grass-like Plants
- Sedge
- (Carex pensylvanica, C. flaccosperma, and others)
- Northern Sea Oats
- (Chasmanthium latifolium)
- Variegated Hakonechloa
- (Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’)
- Liriope
- (Liriope muscari)
Ferns
- Hay-scented Fern
- (Dennstaedtia punctilobula)
- Marginal Shield Fern
- (Dryopteris marginalis)
- Christmas Fern
- (Polystichum acrostichoides)
Bulbs, Corms and Tubers
- Windflower
- (Anemone blanda)
- Glory of The Snow
- (Chionodoxa species and cultivars)
- Crocus
- (Crocus species and cultivars)
- Coum Cyclamen
- (Cyclamen coum)
- Hardy Cyclamen
- (Cyclamen hederifolium)
- Winter Aconite
- (Eranthis hyemalis)
- Spanish Bluebells
- (Hyacinthoides species and cultivars)
- Grape Hyacinth
- (Muscari species and cultivars)
- Daffodils
- (Narcissus species and cultivars)
- Striped Squill
- (Puschkinia libanotica)
- Squill
- (Scilla species and cultivars)