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Gardening ideas--flowers for a very shady area?

It is under a maple tree--partially.

Public Comments

1. hostas, hostas, hostas! ferns are good, astilbe, impatiens, colius. My entire backyard is shade... I love it!
2. lily of the valley - they love shade, and they smell good too.
3. Hostas will work well. They will come back every year. As far as flowers, impatients dont need alot of sunlight. Happy Planting!
4. Torenia, geum (a perennial), bruneria (also a perennial), begonias, both wax and tuberous varieties. The above answer covered a bunch of good things too.
5. My inlaws have a lovely moss and mushroom garden in the shady parts of their back yard. It's quite lovely - especially after you eat one of the shrooms.
6. impatiens
7. If the Maple is mature, very few plants will do well there because of the enormous number of surface roots sucking up water and nutrients. (If theres no grass, flowers won't do well either) Try planting impatiens, etc in sunken pots so you can keep them hydrated without the competition.
8. Periwinkles. They are small blue flowers. Wintercreeper also is good in shade. My favorite is hostas. There's all different kinds to choose from and they come up every year.
9. plants that will flower in shade Campanula porscharskyana (check spelling! Serbian Bellflower - full bloom (blue-purple stars) in full shade! Impatiens Lady's Mantle (greenish flowers, subtle) Bleeding Heart (Dicentra)
10. Try impatiens! Beautiful colors, easy to grow and shade lovers that will tolerate a little sun too. They grow quick and fill in to make a carpet like spread of gorgeous flowers that will last through fall. To see what they look like, go to google.com and search for impatiens under the "images" selection rather than "web."
11. impatients love shade, but they are annuals, hostas love it too and their perrenials....