"Louis Ohland" wrote in message
...
I'm in Southern Wisconsin (the Banana Belt). Zone 5 (but close to Zone
4)

Ummmm BLUE Spirea????? You mean the flowers are BLUE??

Yes, the true name is caryopteris. They are in available through most
gardening catalogs (Parks, Wayside, Jung, more)

ahhhhh, I have blue Caryopteris. Didn't know it had a common name of blue
spirea....(kinda like the "false astilbe" is Salix......

nice little clump of Ladybells,

Tough as nails, a bit weedy and unkempt, but they perform well, even
under a big maple and 2-3 hours of direct sun.

Monkshood just starting to bud. They should be spectacular. 4 feet
tall.

Ohhhhh Monkshood........

We're high Zone 5. They are in well drained soil, with compost, 2-3
hours of direct sun. I had to clear a bed of Lily of the Valley that I
foolishly started, about 10x30 feet. Now I'm filling it in.

Another little green shocktroop is Leopard's Bane. Boldly incised glossy
green leaves (not like japanese maples, though). Yellow flowers, like
sunflowers, with a central fuzzy disc, surrounded by thin petals. The
blooms last three weeks. Right next to the monkshood.

Can't find a source for Leopards Bane other than teeny little plants. Would
love to find a nursery that had a gallon pot of
this...............sigh....makes me sometimes want to have that perennial
nursery I long to have but after working at Lowe's it's a serious
deterrant...........I found Leopard's bane years ago and I should have tried
it somewhere other than under the black cherry tree first. Never saw a pot
of it again.

Something that has finally caught on is Snakeroot or Cimifuega. Arching
bottle-brush flower stalks on top of a 4 foot plant, smells like lilac.
Same bed, a bit more shade. They do poorly in dry shade.
The Snakeroot is actually a wildflower here, but I am determined to have
Black Cohosh for myself by next spring because my woods ARE dry shade.

Solomon seal might do well for you, shady to part shade, they do need
good rdainage. But they aren't fussy.

I have varigated Solomon's seal, and it does fine, am going to transplant
some to another spot to build up my supply. don't have the regular kind....

Rambling buttercup may work for you, grows in part shade, looks even
weedier than ladybells, but the yellow, "pearlized" blooms are to die
for.

If you mean the true buttercup flower, with the strawberry like leaves,
makes runner plants and the flower rises above the leaves like glossy,
yellow little mums the size of your little fingernail, I lost all mine years
ago and would LOVE some more to establish. I miss it terribly. It was one
of my successful plants I brought with me from Nashville. If you have a few
to spare.....................g as I have NEVER seen a source for those
ever. They came with my previous house and left with me when I moved in
1992. I haven't had them since sharing them with a relative five years ago.

will have one helluva winter......) Gentian is another one.

The winter won't be so bad, if we could get some snow this winter.
2002-2003 was bad, where it got sub-zero for a few weeks, but the ground
had no snow cover.

We had snow last year, but I have a feeling this year we're going to get a
REAL winter.......(just as they're changed our zone from 6b to
7.........we'll see)
Thanks for hollering back. Let me know if you have a reliable source for the
ranaculous rambling buttercup. I'd love a hunk of it to restart a plot.
madgardener up on the ridge, back in fairy holler, overlooking English
Mountain in Eastern Tennessee