Photography by Marie Viljoen.
A walk in local woods, mountains, or native-conscious park can be inspirational for a gardener who has been dealt a shady hand. Adapted to the dappled conditions of woodlands, these perennials will thrive in well-drained, humus-rich soil (think compost) in your garden.
A Fringed Bleeding Heart is $12 from Monticello Catalog. Fringed bleeding heart makes an attractive mound of feathery blue-green leaves and self -seeds when it is happy, so expect more plants than you started with.
Fringed Bleeding Heart
Trout Lily
Erythronium americanum has many common names (often a sign of a loved and useful plant): trout or fawn lily (because of the spotted leaves), adder’s tongue (the buds are sharply pointed), and dog-tooth violet (because of the snaggle-toothed corms underground).
These ephemerals are one of the jewels of shady forest floors in the eastern United States.
Packera aurea sparkles with life in shade and will grow in some sun, too. The yellow daisy-like flowers appear for about four weeks in spring.
Golden Ragwort
Trillium species are the woodland aristocrats of the Midwest and eastern United States. Trilliums resent full sun and their rhizomes are best planted in bright shade under high, deciduous trees or in an area with morning sun and afternoon shade.
Wake Robin
A bare root May Apple is $7.49 from Prairie Nursery. Podophyllum peltatum is an unusual eastern native, emerging in early spring like a reptile from a sticky egg sack.
May Apple (American Mandrake)
Doll’s Eyes
One of the best wild perfumes belongs to the woodland native Actaea pachypoda. The common name refers to the Halloween-creepy appearance of the late-summer berries: white, each with a black tip for a pupil, and attached to bloodily red stems.
One of the best known shade plants, the variegated form of Polygonatum odoratum is a cousin of our native and all-green Polygonatum biflorum—a couple of the toughest and most graceful perennials, growing well in sun as well as dense shade.
Solomon’s Seal
And if you have a large enough patch you can enjoy the juicy rhizomes as a crunchy snack.
The bowed stalks of Maianthemum racemosum resemble Solomon’s seal, until they begin to bloom, showing off feathery white plumes at their tips.
False Solomon’s Seal
A Virginia Bluebell is $12.95 from White Flower Farm. With flowers of heartbreaking blue, Mertensia virginica is the native answer to dreams of European bluebell woods, perfectly suited to being massed under deciduous trees, to receive early spring sunshine.
Virginia Bluebells