Wednesday, September 17

Pretty Shady Characters

Nine underused plants for low-light gardens

It has been said that the purpose of a garden is to paint beautiful pictures with plants. So here are my nine favorite - but underused - perennials for endless beauty on your own shady palette.

Allium zebdanense
A great onion for the dry-shade garden, Allium zebdanense produces compact clumps of deep green, carex-like foliage. I find the gracefulness of the May flowers - clusters of snow-white blossoms held nimbly aloft - quite inviting. A slow grower, A. zebdanense has fallen out of favor with 'must-mature-NOW' gardeners, so is a bit harder to find but worth the effort.

Lenten rose (Helleborus x hybridus)
Discretely charming, this plant has taken the gardening world by storm recently. A carefree perennial, hellebores bear beautiful, open flowers in white or shades of green, red, and purple - plain and with dots, streaks, and shadings. Over time, each plant forms a sturdy, long-lived clump. Their value lies not only in the lovely early-spring blooms, but in the attractive foliage as well. Once established in the garden, they are wonderfully resistant to heat, humidity, drought, and cold; and better still, deer, rabbits, and voles leave them alone.

Japanese wood poppy (Glaucidium palmatum)
This hellebore relative is a slow growing Japanese native, which displays its large, silky poppy-like, lilac-pink flowers above rich-green, maple-like leaves. Preferring moist, humus soil, it is a relatively early bloomer, opening in my garden just as the hostas begin to unfurl their leaves.

Lungwort or Bethlehem sage (Pulmonaria ssp.)
Long oval leaves speckled in silver, give this low grower a nice presence in the garden long after the flowers have faded. From the sky blue and floriferous, Pulmonaria ‘Baby Blue’, to the old stand-by, P. ‘Mrs. Moon’ - with her pink and blue flowers and speckled leaves - I can't imagine a garden without these early bloomers.

Comfrey Axminster Gold (Symphytum ‘Axminster Gold’)
If you like hostas, you'll love this comfrey. It features variegated, gray-green leaves widely banded in yellow and flowering stems that rise 4 feet into the air. A top-notch addition to any partially shaded border.

Asian mayapple (Podophyllum ‘Kaleidoscope’ and/or P. ‘Spotty Dotty’)
Bold, exotic, and breathtaking - those are the only adjectives I can think of to describe these way-cool relatives of our native mayapple. Brilliant umbrella-like hexagonal leaves, splashed with dramatic and bizarre markings, can, in a mature plant, reach up to 18 inches across. Add to this cranberry-colored 2-inch flowers found in clusters of seven to 20 blossoms under the leaves, and what's not to like about this plant?

Celandine poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum)
Native to some parts of Illinois, Celandine poppy is a wonderful early spring bloomer for the shade garden. Clusters of showy yellow, 2-inch buttercup-like blossoms, followed by nodding green hairy pods, are held above lobed, blue-green leaves. Celandine poppies prefer rich, moist soil. Typically, the plant may flower on and off into fall, however, if faced with extremely dry conditions, it will go dormant in midsummer.

False anemone (Anemonopsis macrophylla)
This is an elegant woodland plant with cimicifuga-like leaves, which are topped in late summer and early fall by graceful, wiry stems supporting unusual nodding lilac-pink waxy flowers. This 2- to 3-foot clump former is a slow grower, but definitely worth the wait. It hates hot summers, so for an edge on success, be sure to plant in it in a sheltered spot away from hot, dry winds.

Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema spps.)
Jack-in-the-pulpits are surely one of the oddest flowering plants in the woodland garden. The native Jack-in-the-pulpit (A. triphyllum) is familiar to all. One to two large, glossy leaves, divided into three leaflets, are followed by a large, cylindrical, hooded flower, usually green in color with brown stripes. Though our native Jack is indeed beautiful - and belongs in every shaded garden — it's the countless Asian cousins that intrigue. Once you get started collecting these bizarre beauties, you'll find it's really hard to stop.

Author of "In Search of Great Plants: The Insider's Guide to the Best Plants in the Midwest," Betty Earl is a Master Gardener, photographer and lecturer. She writes for numerous regional gardening magazines, is a garden scout for both Better Homes & Gardens and Midwest Living magazines and also serves as a regional representative for the Garden Conservancy. She lives and gardens in Naperville.