Cardinal flower, Lobelia cardinalis, Made for shade!
Got Shade? Are you living in a shady spot but craving a beautiful wildlife garden where you can support and enjoy birds, butterflies and interesting pollinators? Are impatiens and begonias the only flowers you know that grow in shade? You know that impatiens and begonias have zero wildlife value, but wonder which native plants look good in the shade and give the birds some food, too? Good news! Shade is a natural component in many ecosystems, and there are wonderful, functional, native plants that have adapted to thrive in the lower light conditions that are common in many suburban and urban settings. Let’s talk about them!
Kathy Landis, a Landscape Architect and Master Naturalist in Arlington, VA, was generous in sharing her expertise for this post. Kathy recently designed a shade garden expressly for showcasing the plants we are interested in here, native shade lovers. The entire plant list can be found at the bottom of the post, and of course, the Mid Atlantic palette is made of plants that can be found growing in a wide range of planting zones. The garden itself can be visited at Potomac Overlook Regional Park, also in Arlington.
Plants that made Kathy’s list had to:
- be able to get along without supplemental watering after becoming established
“Green and Gold,” Chrysogonum virginianum, super native groundcover
- look good in a typical homeowner setting
- be well-behaved, not overly aggressive
- be somewhat deer resistant, or at least, not a deer favorite
- have wildlife value
Kathy had some general advice for getting started, which included the license to experiment. Each spot, even within one garden, can have differing amounts of shade, types of soil, and abilities to receive and retain moisture. So don’t be afraid to experiment. If you are unsure of suitability, go ahead and put in a few plants for a trial before you commit to a plan. See what is easy for you to care for, what you like to look at, what attracts the most things to your garden. Your ultimate choices will depend on your goals.
Two structural elements Kathy emphasized for the beautiful wildlife garden:
- layering – using plants at three levels
- massing – using enough of a single plant to make a visual statement
Native Plant Shade Garden at Potomac Overlook Regional Park
Layers are necessary for two reasons: fullness in the design, and utility for the wildlife.
The layers of groundcover, shrubs and canopy fill in the bottom, middle and top of the picture, and give niches for different creatures to rest, eat, hide.
Let’s take a walk through the garden, and focus on some individual plants in these layers.
The garden entrance is framed by a willow oak, and you can see that it truly is a shady garden
Springtime blooms of Golden ragwort
The groundcover forming the crescents behind the rock border is Golden ragwort, an awful name for an awesome plant. In spring they sport cheery yellow flowers held aloft on stalks from one to three feet. They colonize underground from rhizomes, so they are spreaders. (See more groundcovers in the list at the bottom.)
Shrubs are perhaps the heart of a garden, and here are a couple of native gems. The Spicebush, Lindera benzion, has small yellow flowers in spring, leaves that turn yellow for color in fall, and red berries, or more properly, drupes, loved by many birds. These bushes are dioecious, so you need a female for berries. Wildlife Garden blogger Ellen Sousa has a great post with more information about Spicebush.
Calycanthus floridus, blooming fragrantly in spring
Calycanthus floridus, and Latin is important in identifying this bush because it has many common names, including Sweetshrub and Carolina allspice (talk about confusing!). It has glossy green leaves and outstanding fragrant flowers in spring. In fact the leaves, twigs and flowers are all fragrant.
Arrowwood viburnum, another native that blooms in shade
Two viburnums are also recommended for the native shade garden. One is the Viburnum acerfolium, or mapleleaf viburnum, and the other is Viburnum dentatum, or arrowwood viburnum. The mapleleaf, at four to six feet, will stay lower than the dentatum, at six to ten feet; but both have the same lovely white flowers.
I hope you are getting the idea that a beautiful wildlife garden is quite possible in the shade. Time grows short, but you can continue the walk through the garden by perusing the list below. All gardening is an adventure, but your native garden is also an investment in a sustainable future. Native plant sales are a great place to get plants, support your native plant nursery if you are lucky enough to have one, and happy gardening till we meet again!
~all photos by author~
Comprehensive Native Plant List in Shady Garden
Potomac Overlook Regional Park
Wild ginger, Asarum canadensis, another groundcover
++ denotes spring/early summer interest
** denotes later summer/autumn interest
Trees
Amelanchier arborea (Shadbush)++
Cercis canadensis (Eastern Redbud) ++
Cornus florida (Flowering Dogwood)++and**
Hamamelis virginiana (Common Witchhazel)**
Ilex opaca (American Holly)++ and **
Juniperus virginiana (Eastern Red Cedar)++ and **
Magnolia virginiana (Sweetbay magnolia)++
Prunus serotina (Black Cherry)++
Native Shrubs
Blue sedgewood, evergreen groundcover
Calycanthus floridus (Sweetshrub)++
Lindera benzoin (Spicebush)++
Myrica pensylvanica (Bayberry)
Physocarpus opulifolius (Ninebark)++
Viburnum acerfolium (Mapleleaf Viburnum)++
Viburnum dentatum (Arrowwood Viburnum)
Native Perennials and Ground Covers
Asarum canadense (Wild Ginger)++
Aquilegia canadensis (Wild Columbine)++
Chrysogonum virginianum (Green and Gold)++
Dicentra cucullaria++ (Dutchman’s Breeches)
Dicentra eximia++ (Wild Bleeding Heart)
Eurybia divaricata (White Wood Aster)**
Fragaria virginiana (Wild Strawberry)++
Geranium maculatum (Wild Geranium)++
Helianthus strumosus (Woodland Sunflower)
Iris cristata (Crested Iris)
Jeffersonia diphyllum (Twinleaf)
Liatris spicata (Blazing Star or Gayfeather)**
- Tiarella in spring bloom
Mitchellia repens (Partridgeberry)
Packera aurea (Golden Ragwort)++
Phlox divaricata (Woodland Phlox)
Phlox stolonifera (Creeping Phlox)++
Pycanthemum incanum (Hoary Mountain Mint)**
Sedum ternatum (Wild Stonecrop)
Solidago flexicaulis (Zigzag Goldenrod)**
Tiarella cordifolia (Foamflower)++
Uvularia grandiflora++
Uvularia perfoliata++
Verbesina alternifolia**
Sedges
Don’t forget the interest ferns add to texture and line
Carex flaccosperma (Bluewood Sedge)++ and **
Carex granularis (Grain Sedge)
Carex plantaginea (Plaintain Sedge)
Carex intumescens (Greater Bladder Sedge)
Ferns
Adiantum pedatum (Northern Maidenhair Fern)++ and **
Athyrium filix-femina (Lady Fern)
Diplazium pycnocarpon [formerly Athyrium pycnocarpon] (Glade Fern)
Dryopteris goldiana (Goldie’s Fern)
Osmunda cinnomomea (Cinnamon Fern)++ and **
Osmunda regalis (Royal Fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas Fern)++ and **
Woodwardia aerolata (Chain Fern)
Sunny strip (from 11 to 4)
Batisia australis, Liatris spicata, Rudbeckia,
Ruellia caroinensis, Aesclepias tuberosa
Coreopsis verticillata, Lonicera sempervirens, Gelsemium sempervirens
© 2012, Suzanne Dingwell. All rights reserved. This article is the property of Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens. If you are reading this at another site, please report that to us
About Suzanne Dingwell
This is an important post, because diversity within the landscape is so important. Thanks.
Ginny, thanks, diversity is the spice of life!
THANK-YOU!!! Yes, we live in the shade AND under walnut trees. I’ve killed more plants than I care to count trying to grow food for pollinators and butterflies under these conditions. This article was MOST helpful!
Heidi, I am so glad to have been of any help. You do face challenges – but gardening is a journey, right? I am sure you have already helped lots of critters; keep experimenting!
You had a note in the list of plants about Rudbeckia; which you used with a question mark. I’ve tried Rudbeckia hirta. They reclined and then laid there and rotted. I’m trying Rudbeckia fulgida next year. It will bloom later, but hopefully can better handle the shade. Like you said, it’s a journey. The borders are much shadier this year than when we first moved here as the surrounding woods grow taller. Limbing up has been a help and so has switching to natives.
Welcome to the team Sue! I’m so thrilled to have you joining us with your wisdom
This is a very timely post for me as I’m redoing my entire wildlife garden, and I have to deal with the dense shade produced by all the Norway Maples in my neighbors yards. Thanks for this great list of plants that will help me create a beautiful shady wildlife garden.
Carole Sevilla Brown recently posted..The 5 Pillars of Ecosystem Gardening
Thank you, Carole; you have created such a valuable platform with this blog. I look forward to growing with it!
Excellent article with a lot of good suggestions. I guess I need to improve my “visual statement” because currenty I ain’t got one.
Kevin, if you mean you don’t think you posses the ability to “see” a visual statement, may I suggest that you visit natural areas where your plant palette grows. See how plants there, make notes of what you like, and if you wish, use some colored pencils or crayons to make a map of the placements for your use. Go to gardens and look at them with design in mind. I know you can!
I LOVE gardening with native plants in the shade. My favorite group of plants …. Native Azaleas!!
Great idea, Terri!
Enjoyed reading this while admiring the cardinal flowers I planted by the pond earlier this summer. They are now in their full glory in a somewhat shady spot under the hardwoods. I am happy and so are the hummingbirds. Thanks for all the info…
Winnie! SO great to hear from you here! Cardinal flowers make a wonderful connection!
As a novice..I really enjoyed this post..and I am bookmarking it..thank you..Michelle
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Michelle, so very glad you enjoyed it, and when you get the chance, if you follow the links you will be led to lots more detailed information. Good luck with your gardening!
This post is going on the desktop for easy reference. Thank you.
Mary Pellerito recently posted..Waiting
Fabulous comprehensive post…so many of my favs and some new plants to check out..thanks!
Suzanne, Thanks for putting together such a comprehensive list of native plants for shade. I’ve recently started using lots of tiarella in my garden and I love it. It is such a versatile groundcover and if you’re open to using cultivars then the possibilities are endless.
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Thank you for this article. In our yard, my wife is responsible for the sun and I am responsible for the shade. We have had a lot of luck so far with wood poppies (Stylophorum diphyllum) and we’ve got some paw paw started. Any thoughts on these two plants? Thanks again.
Glen, I have a lot of wood poppies in my garden, and I love their early spring cheery yellow blooms! I’m actually moving some of it over to the abandoned property next door to me because when this plant is happy it will spread quite quickly, so I’m hoping that I can use this and some other natives to try to hold back all the invasive plants springing up there.
I’m a bit too far north for paw paw, but I have friends not too far away in south Jersey who have begun planting it because it’s the host plant for the Zebra Swallowtail butterfly and that beautiful butterfly has been spreading further and further north over the past several years, so keep your eyes out for this gorgeous butterfly in your garden.
PS, I love the division of responsibilities in your garden
Carole Sevilla Brown recently posted..The 5 Pillars of Ecosystem Gardening
I live in south-east Indiana. We have several pawpaw patches in our woods along our creek. We occasionally see a zebra swallowtail but haven’t figured out yet how to get them to stop and lay eggs on our 50-75 pawpaw trees/bushes. We do enjoy eating the pawpaws each year though! Any suggestions on how to lure the butterflies to stick around and lay eggs?
This post feels like a cool breeze on this hot, hot day. I love using ginger in the shade, but we tend to use more Hexastylis species in the south rather than Asarum.
Ellen Honeycutt recently posted..Rain gardens, wet spots and the native plants that love ‘em
Sue, thank you for a nice article about our native plant garden. As the designer of the garden Sue writes about, I realize I need to clarify the Listing of Plants. As is often the case with many gardens, our site for the shade garden is predominately shady, however there is one edge of the garden that has southern exposure and is quite sunny from about 11 am to about 4pm – so we had to plant sun loving plants in this location. The names of these “Sun loving plants” are mixed in with the list of “Shade loving plants” – sorry for the confusion!
So, the following plants are native sun-loving plants that are listed in Sue’s blog:
Perennials: Batisia australis, Liatris spicata, Rudbeckia (they can take light shade), Ruellia carolinensis, Aesclepias tuberosa, Coreopsis verticillata
Flowering Vines: Lonicera sempervirens, Gelsemium sempervirens
Suzanne, welcome to the team! Great post!!! So many terrific shade-loving suggestions. Kathy Landis, thanks for clearing up my confusion with the inclusion of Coral Honeysuckle as a shade plant. We’ve found that you can plant it in a shady spot, but it will only bloom in spring before the trees overhead leaf out. When planted in full sun Coral Honeysuckle will rebloom again and again, from spring through late fall (and even into winter if it’s a mild winter), with fewer and fewer flowers each rebloom.
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Apologies to Kathy for not mentioning that I was going to use the plant list, which was still a working document! The park has only been in existence for a few months now, and it took many helping hands to conceptualize, design, fund, and plant as you can imagine. Audubon of Northern Virginia took the lead, and received grant money from Toyota, with the Arlington Master Naturalists giving major support of every kind. I interviewed several people in connection with the post, and got the plant list from one of them. The history of how the park came into being is a chapter in itself. Anyway, I’ve corrected the list in the post now, so hope it will prove useful.