Plants for dry shade
- To: m*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: Plants for dry shade
- From: K*@aol.com
- Date: Wed, 14 Apr 1999 11:01:20 EDT
In a message dated 4/14/99 5:21:55 AM EST, valhalla@iafrica.com writes:
< it adapts well to dry shade,
behaving itself when competing with established roots! This sounds like
a good plant for those of us with these conditions.>
<Yes - less of a thug but I think you also have less flowering with it. I've
got it growing under a plum tree here, being watered about once every 4-5
days >
I'd just like to share an observation and make a recommendation. Quite by
accident, I've discovered that Rose Campion, Lychnis coronaria, makes a
wonderful foliage plant for dry shade. In my garden, it outperforms the
similar-foliaged Stachys byzantina in this situation, has (to my mind) a more
attractive form, and requires less supplemental watering. It has self-seeded
under my deciduous fruit trees, and looks good year-round. It competes well
with tree roots and will grow right up next to the trunks of the trees. The
ever-gray clumps have endured for several years and more appear every year.
Although it flowers less in this situation than in full sun, the foliage
alone makes it worth the minimal effort it takes to establish.
Kurt Mize
Stockton, California
USDA Zone 9
