Native shade plants (Madison: apartments, house, landscaping)

[Civic35805]

Hi folks,

I am currently building some rock walls in my back yard to make ares for planting. I live up on the side of one of the "mountains" so my backyard is very rocky and very shady. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for native shade loving plants. I would like to plant more native looking bushes and smaller plants so that they don't look out of place in my woodsy back yard.

Thanks

[cornutt]

Rhododendron is a classic shade plant for this area. You can see it growing wild in the woods sometimes. We had some planted on the north side of our house in Madison and it did very well. (But don't plant it if you have small children; it's poisonous if eaten.) Boxwood and holly will grow in just about any light.

[Mawoods]

Try native and hardy ferns along with Beautyberry which is full of vivid purple berries in the woods right now. Another native and found in the state of Alabama is the Oakleaf hydranga. Native azaleas along with hostas and shade loving perrenials wold be beautiful.

[cornutt]

I agree that oakleaf hydrangeas are great. I thought of another one: leatherleaf mahonia. Very distinctive plant; Bennett Nursery usually has it. For those who work at Boeing, there's a bunch of it planted around the courtyard between buildings 48-17 and 48-19.

Where do you find true native azaleas around there? Those things always exasperated me, because it seems like every summer one or two of them dies for no apparent reason. They aren't really my favorite plants anyway.

[Mawoods]

Not sure about native azaleas source here but I bet that Bennetts could help you or at least direct you to a source. Natives are usually very hardy if planted well and watered enough to get them established.

[southernnaturelover]

I bought some native azaleas from a place called "MailOrderNatives" last year, they have a website.

Mountain Laurel (Kalmia) may also do pretty well.

[Mawoods]

One plant that is one of my absolute favorites for shade is hellebores. It spreads, stays evergreen and starts blooming in February until spring. Beautiful flowers - either deep rose or greenish white. You can plant them under large shrubs because it is a low growing plant. I justg wish I had more shade here. I planted some under my camellias and hoping that they will shade the hellebores.
If you get any kind of dappled sun in the area , try some hardy camelias and forsythia. You can really have something blooming and color interest all year long.

[33458]

Hot New Heucheras will Sizzle in your Garden!

Heucheras. I thought I'd read somewhere that these could become invasive, so I'll double-check...but if not, quite a variety of colors there.

[Mawoods]

I have tried heucheras here and in Atlanta and I do not believe they can become invasive. In fact, I do all I am suppose to and they seem to die after a couple of years. Perhaps they are a short lived perennial in this area.

Try also perennial geraniums - not the kind that you see in annual planters. They spread and like shade and do great here.

[Civic35805]

Thanks for all the feedback and insight! This is our first house and I've only had a chance to try and grow plants in pots in apartments for the past 8 years.

My wife will be extremely excited to have blooming plants in our back yard, I didn't realize there were this many shade plants that bloomed. Our yard was covered with poison ivy when we bought the house so now that we have removed it (with only 3-4 episodes of skin irritation) I'm excited to be able to try my hand at landscaping.

Sounds like I will definitely have to take a trip to Bennets sometime soon.

Has anyone had any luck with shade fescue grass? I was going to try to plant some of it this fall to help keep my back yard from washing away now that the ivy is gone.

Thanks again!