Where Knowledge Rules

Home & Garden:

Gardening

Get a Widget for this title

Ground covers that grow well in full or partial shade

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


Below are the top articles rated and ranked by Helium members on:

Ground covers that grow well in full or partial shade

  • 1 of 8

    by Denise Calaman

    Groundcovers makes beautiful additons to many garden beds and play an important part in sustaining the overall health of

    read more

  • 2 of 8

    by Glory Lennon

    Just because your garden is situated under so many trees the sun can barely peek through does not mean you have to tolerate

    read more

  • 3 of 8

    by Theresa Rose

    Ground covers are very useful for shady areas, especially when there is an abundance of trees that are the source of that

    read more

  • 4 of 8

    by Pat Merewether

    Shade gardens are lovely, but often take a bit of patience and work to create and maintain. Ground covers are low-growing

    read more

  • 5 of 8

    by Melissa J Luther

    Shady areas of the yard can be a curse for the gardener, refusing to allow in the sunlight that favorite plants need to

    read more

View All Articles on:
Ground covers that grow well in full or partial shade

Add your voice

Know something about Ground covers that grow well in full or partial shade?
We want to hear your view. Write_penWrite now!

Helium Debate

Cast your vote!

Are shade or ornamental trees better for front-yard landscaping?

Click for your side.

150919

Featured Partner

Private Sector Solutions Network

Private Sector Solutions Network is a group of leaders working together to improve the world by developing and implem...more

What is Helium? | Buy Web Content | Contact Us | Privacy | User agreement | DMCA | User Tools | Help | Community | Helium’s Official Blog | Link to Helium

Helium, Inc.
200 Brickstone Square Andover, MA 01810 USA