by Pat Merewether

Created on: May 26, 2009   Last Updated: May 27, 2009

Shade gardens are lovely, but often take a bit of patience and work to create and maintain. Ground covers are low-growing compact plants that offer excellent choices for dry and moist areas of shade gardens. They add color, texture, and interest while also taking a lot of work out of gardening as they are relatively maintenance free. If you plant ground covers that suit your soil and climate, you'll have a more beautiful and enjoyable shade garden.

Perennial Ground covers for Dry Shade

Corydalis is perhaps the best ground cover for shade. It s ferny foliage adds a light, airy feel to a shade garden, and its delicate yellow flowers brighten up dark shade. It grows in mounds and reseeds itself but is not invasive. There are also varieties that bloom blue and pale lavender. Corydalis mounds grow to about twelve inches tall. It works well along borders or in the front of a shade bed or scattered in a woodland setting. It tolerates dry spells and is hardy to zone 5.

Epimedium is an excellent ground cover for dry shade, especially under trees where little else will grow. It grows in mounds about ten inches tall and ten inches or more across. The leaves are a heart shape of light green with red edges. One of the most charming aspects of Epimedium is the way the leaves quiver in a light breeze and add another dimension of interest to your garden. They produce small red or white flowers in very early spring and are one of the first plants to emerge after a long, cold winter. You can divide the clumps after a couple of years and have more clumps to plant or give away. Epimedium is hardy in zones 4-8.

Lamium spreads quickly and is happy in shade. It prefers a moist area but tolerates short periods of drought. The foliage will die back in extremely dry conditions, but pop up stronger than ever after a good soaking. The foliage is silvery and it produces pretty pink, white, or lavender flowers in early spring. It prefers part to full shade and is hardy in zones 3-8. Loam or sandy loam is its favorite soil type. Lamium grows four to eight inches tall and one plant will form a mound to cover a sixteen inch space. It works well in borders and as a ground cover in woodland settings.

Sweet Woodruff is an herb with lovely lance-shaped leaves and white star-like flowers that form a white carpet in spring. It prefers dappled shade and tolerates drought. The white flowers give off a sweet hay scent and add a magical quality to a woodland garden. Sweet Woodruff will quickly

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