Hostas IF you don’t have deer. They just consider hostas their salad bar. I replaced some of mine with ferns last year and have been happy with those.
pachysandra This is the ground cover I was thinking of.
Sedums also thrive in shade.
In my shade gardens I have hostas, astilbe, vinca, sedum, viburnum, rhodies, azaleas, hydrangea and Japanese Forest grass (which thrives in shade.)
Pachysandra is a wonderful ground cover. However, it is expensive to purchase and it’s somewhat slow growing but once established, it’s very low maintenance. If you know someone who has some, they might be willing to share.
And if you can have hostas - I am very envious!! The deer population makes this plant a non-option where I live. Pachysandra is one of the few plants they don’t eat.
Second Mathmom’s suggestion to contact your local county extension service or a Master Gardener hotline in your area and get a list of native plants that do well in shade. You could also call in a landscapevdesigner and ask for a consult o–shouldnt cost that much. Have tbe person come out and look at the are. Either way you get the plants that work in your area. (Native plants often are tiur best bet.) People can guve suggestions from their experience but what works in New England might not work in Alabama.
It took a good while, but I eventually got a nice mat of periwinkle
Common Name: Creeping Myrtle, Periwinkle, Vinca
Botanical Name: Vinca minor
Type: Evergreen ground cover
to grow in a circular bed radiating around our crimson king maple trees. Fall is actually the best time to plant, as the water needs are less than spring/summer. Our vinca eventually developed into a low maintenance ground cover mat that produces blue flowers in spring. (Do not get the white flowered version, vinca alba, as it is much tougher to get filled in.)
thank you so much to everyone so far…
@bookreader and @conmama
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Pachysandra is a wonderful ground cover. However, it is expensive to purchase and it's somewhat slow growing but once established, it's very low maintenance. If you know someone who has some, they might be willing to share.
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would it have a hard to establish with dogs that are mostly inside, but sometimes outdoor dogs? Would they eat/ruin it?
@abasket lovely pics of hostas.
@emillybee and @consolation @Iglooo and everyone else: I’m checking out yours and others’ lists. I do want variety.
@bay I love decorative pots!
@3boystogo I was wondering about some moss as well.
Everyone has made very good tips and suggestions. Thank you.
I was going to recommend vinca minor (periwinkle), but @JEM beat me to it. It’s evergreen, so a nice covering year round…it looks quite lush and doesn’t get as leggy in the winter as pachysandra. I’ve had it in a shady area for almost twenty years, but it’s the one plant that I keep adding more of in other areas because it’s so lovely and a perfect fit for difficult locations.
My yard is all shade. Mathmom’s suggestions are right on in my experience. Pachysandra and vinca do well also. Pachysandra will spread everywhere. Some ferns do as well.
Some day lilies do ok in part sun.
Hostas. They practically take care of themselves and need no extra watering… They tolerate sun, shade, heat… You can fill it in with impatiens until the hostas fill out.
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was going to recommend vinca minor (periwinkle), but @JEM beat me to it. It’s evergreen, so a nice covering year round…it looks quite lush and doesn’t get as leggy in the winter as pachysandra.
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What zone are you in? I like vinca minor but it completely dies back in the winter.
I may need to get the soil tested. I planted impatiens and they died, and I’ve never had problems with impatiens before.
I had to google pachysandra because I wasn’t sure what it was. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen any?? Or maybe I have and just didn’t realize what it was. I’ve mostly lived in Southern Calif (Orange County).
I love vinca (periwinkle) and hate pachysandra, but for some reason my current front yard has taken an aversion to the vinca and it just won’t grow in a big piece of it. (I think it’s a combination of tree and shrub roots.)It was fine for many years and then all the grass I pulled out ten years ago came back. I’ve actually considered pachysandra or English Ivy as something more aggressive, but so far have done nothing. I’ve had pretty good luck with wild type day lilies in my shady yard.
abasket, those pics are gorgeous. Wish someone would come do that to my shady yard! Our backyard is completely shady, with many large trees (several entirely too close to the house) and overgrown ivy and Virginia creeper. No grass back there. It makes for great wildlife habitat, but not so much for entertaining or actually doing anything out there. We mostly sit on the screen porch and watch the mass of green. We’d have to spend many thousands to trim/take down trees, grade the ground, clear out all the overgrowth, etc. before we could even get to landscaping. The front yard faces north, so it’s shady there as well in the afternoon, but again, there is much I’d want to hack out and replace. Wish DH would see the value in this!
Last year We realized that our backyard wouldn’t grow nice grass anymore, but it used to. Our house was getting more green on the siding faster than it used to. The kitchen wasn’t as bright as I remembered. We then realized that we’ve been here 20 years and the trees had grown a lot! We got them cut back near our house and on the side. The side yard trees were the neighbors, but we trimmed up to our property line in the air. Our grass is much happier now, the kitchen is brighter, and the siding is less green. This month our neighbor in the back got his trees seriously trimmed. We are so happy because they blocked a lot of light from the other side. Can’t wait to see how the grass does next year and this Sept. He did it because the June storm took out a lot of trees around here and he realized how big the trees had gotten near the house. It’s not cheap, but worth it because we like a lawn in the backyard.
I grew up with huge trees all around and half the backyard was woods. My dad became the pachysandra king. That stuff grew great under our giant trees. I spent many summer days in the woods digging it up,so he could plant it around the house under the trees in the front. Scratch that, so US KiDS could plant it. Back then, kids did serious chores.
I think I live in the wrong zone for pachysandra:
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There are several varieties of pachysandra available to choose from. The recommended pachysandra growing zone for U.S. Department of Agriculture is 4 through 7.<<<
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I think I’m in 8. Don’t know if that’s “close enough,” but it may explain why it doesn’t look familiar to me.
I’m not a fan of pachysandra. It takes over your entire universe eventually.
Lucky you! I didn’t know there’s such thing as wrong zone for pachysandra. They take over everything in my yard.
Our pachysandra didn’t do well either. I think the animals mistreated it.
One thing to watch out for, mom2collegekids, is certain trees do not accommodate much of anything below them, in which case decorative pots are your only choice. If your trees have roots dominating the topsoil, you’ll have big problems planting anything. And you’re in Alabama so it needs to be mentioned that if the space now or in the past ever grew walnut trees, just buy big pots now. Nothing grows beneath a walnut tree.
I would go to a local garden center, not a big box store, and ask what they suggest. They will know what grows best in your area. Go during a weekday day when you are more likely to encounter the owner or permanent full time employee.
I am in 8b and ferns do really well for me in the shade. They multiply easily and stay green all year.
My yard had a ton of pachy when I moved in. I ripped it all out. Hate it.
“Wish DH would see the value in this!”
Landscaping has a great ROI. Google and show you H. After our remodel I had to re-landscape all the foundation beds in front and back of house. We also cut down a dying maple which I replaced with a sun garden and a river birch planted far enough away enough so sun garden get no shade. My friend, who is a realtor, said it increased value of my house by at least $15K. We did all the planting so our gain was more than if we hired someone to do it (which is very expensive.)