Re: needs list of plants for z 5 and deep shade was:InterestedInShade Gardens

Hi Marilyn and Kathy

I have the gooseneck loosestrife too but find that I am going to have to watch it closely as its starting to spread after the 2nd year in the garden.  My neighbour gave me some as it got quite invasive in her garden.

I planted some frittilaria meleagris fall of 98 and nary a one showed up spring 99 :-(.  I guess I'll give them another try and they are so beautiful looking.

Re the physostegia- false dragonhead.  Perhaps because I grow them in a part sun/part shade situation I'm not sure, but they became very invasive and I had to remove them - no small task - and I am still finding offshoots.  

Penny in Halifax, N.S.,5/6a



marimuse@EARTHLINK.NET 01/28/00 06:28PM >>>
Hi....I had a shade garden in zone 6, and here are some of the things
that worked really well.....

* goose-neck loosestrife....this is not the purple loosestrife that is
choking the waterways all over the place.  Although I have heard that
this can also be a bit invasive, I never had any trouble with it, and it
was beautiful.  Its blooms were white, about six or seven inches long,
bent so that it resembles a goose neck, thus the name.  I grew this in a
bed under the stairs of a deck, so it was almost complete shade, plus
quite dry.

*alchemilla mollis- is a wonderful chartreusy green, and dew drops
collect on the edges of the leaves and in the center, looking like
silver

*frittilaria meleagris- this is one of my favorite plants........a bulb,
comes up on a short, thin stalk with a wonderful flower at the tip,
either white or black and purple checkerboard.  The cutest little thing!

*iris cristata- a very small iris that spreads over the ground to form a
groundcover.... a beautiful white and yellow flower which blooms in
early spring....also flourished under the deck stairs.

*iris reticulata- another small iris, this one with a blue, white, and
yellow flower...blooms a bit later- I think it was later- than the
cristata....very sweet

*hellebores-lenten roses....another favorite....these have mauve, cream,
and green saucer-shaped blooms which come up very early, and last most
of the summer.....super plant

*monkshood- mine grew very tall.....with incredible purple blooms in the
late summer, looked like the inside of a clam shell...

*astilbes of many varieties....I love how the tall blooms bend in the
breeze...these also last for quite a long time and are nice in the back
of the garden.....also the astilbe pumila chinois, which is a small
groundcover....spreads quite nicely

frittilaria meleagris Mine had beautiful pink blooms in an
upside down cone shape.....late bloomers, about two feet tall

Well, I guess that is enough from me!  Hope this helps.

marilyn

Marge Talt wrote:
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