"Suja" wrote in message
...

Before I actually order these plants and put them in the ground, I need
a reality check from those who have actual experience with them. I am
putting in a shade bed in front of the house (North facing, with morning
sun in the summer), and this is my short list of the plants I'm planning
on getting. The soil is clay (but amended), zone 6b/7a, Northern VA.
If I have left out anything that is a MUST HAVE for a shade garden (no
hostas please, deer problem; much as I'd love to have Brunnera 'Jack
Frost', I can't afford it right now), please let me know.

Short
Epimedium Sulphureum
Heuchera 'Persian Carpet'
Dicentra Exima 'Snowdrift'
Athyrium nipponicum 'Pictum'

Medium
Astrantia 'Hadspen Blood'

Love it, it does really well for me in 4 hours of sun.


Anemone 'Honorine Jobert'

Love it, but after it settles in it will gently spread a little and need to
managed. Not a real spreader, but vigorous enough that if allowed to spread
it will crowd out other plants.


Thelypteris Kunthii
Tricyrtis hirta

Another good one. Forms lovely clumps.

A must have for the shade garden is Celandine Poppy (stylophorum diphyllum)
it blooms for me from June to Sept. It's not the most floriferous plant but
keeps on trucking providing pretty bright yellow flowers.

And don't forget Aquilegia (Columbine), mine get 4 hours on the best day and
bloom like crazy. The little wild orange type grows wild on a hill under
deciduous trees in my yard getting hardly any sun at all.

--
Kristen
Zone 6, SE NY