drought tolerant shade plants


Lisa, I think there are quite a lot of plants which will tolerate drought and shade, even if it isn't ideal growing conditions for them.

Under eucalypts (dry dappled shade), and oaks (dry heavy shade) with minimal watering, I grow aquilegias, daphnes, particularly daphne longilobata (the seeds get spread about by birds), various correas and croweas, eriostemon, teucrium (can't remember the full name - the low growing wood sage with puckered curly margined leaves), geranium phaeum (purple, white, slate and "Lily Lovell"), digitalis grandiflora, diascias, turf lily, japanese anemones, pachysandra terminalis, winter flowering lonicera and lonicera heckrotii (not sure if that's correctly spelt), sarcocca ruscifolia. Viburnam burkwoodii also grows in dry shade, not luxuriantly, but is acceptable, helleborus sternii, dwarf blue agapanthus, chaenomeles, and seeding all over is false valerian (red, pink and white).

Given that we are in severe drought, and have been for most of this year, all these plants are coping remarkably well, with absolutely minimal water (and in fact some have had no water at all). Even in normal times most survive on rainfall only.

Does anyone know why there are so few drought tolerant shade plants? There are plenty of shade plants that take regular watering, and plenty of drought tolerant sun lovers, but what's happening to plants in shade that there isn't an abundance of drought tolerant shade lovers around?

Thanks

Lisa
San Francisco, CA
--
Shelley Harvey
Northern Tablelands of NSW
Australia
email: sharvey@pobox.une.edu.au

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