A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Types of flowers/plants

I have an area in my yard that is approx. 36 feet by 13 feet. In the middle is a huge, old river maple. Needless to say, this is a shade, part shade and full sun area because of the tree. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what to plant in this area. I would like things that bloom at different times so I will always have flowers and I'm not real excited about planting anything that has to be dug up for the winter. I do have two bleeding hearts and a burning bush there but am at a lose on what else to put there. I live in Northeastern Pennsylvania. I believe its area 5. Thanks for your help!! (I'm not real good at gardening.....lol)

Probably zone 6. Some nice shade plants to try are hostas, astilbe, columbine, brunnera.

I love researching these types of questions. Hope something I find will be of use to you.

Acanthus spinosus - Bear's Breeches: Some types of bear's breeches are hardy to zone 5. Just be careful to get the right ones. The flowers are white with purple hoods. If I remember correctly dads bloomed in August.

Acer palmatum 'Atropurpureum'- Maple, Japanese: these are my favorite trees and they grow so slow that they are more like a shrub. And the leaves are so great that flowers aren't necessary. Or at least that's what I think.

Monkshood: blooms from mid to late summer. Comes in a variety of blues and whites.

Lady Bells

Bugleweed: These are grown covers for shady areas that you might like. I love the darker ones.

If you can put a trellis up this is a nice vine Chocolate Vine

Anemone crispa - Parsley Leaf

Windflower: Many of these will grow in partial shade

Japanese Anemone: Many of these will grow in partial shade

Columbine: These come in every color imaginable and bloom spring and fall.

Sea Thrift

Asters

False Spirea: Multiple colors

Masterwort: multiple colors

False Indigo: Multiple colors

Blackberry lily

Pigsqueak: All shades of pink

Chocolate flower

Bellflower: I have some of these in my garden and can't wait for them to bloom.

Red Valerian

Quince: I love quince and it usually beat the lilies of the valley for early blooming when I lived in washington state. But they do have big thorns and they do travel.

turtlehead: multiple colors

lily-of-the-Valley: comes in pink and white

Tickseed: nice variety of colors and shapes

Dogwood, Redtwig: the stems provide winter interest.

Corydalis

Winter Hazel

Daphne, Winter Variegated

Dutchmen's Breeches

Foxglove

Evergreen Solomon's Seal

Shooting Star

Dragonhead

Alpine Willowherb

these are just a few of the flowers that will grow in diffent amounts of shade. I also grow miniature snapdragons in partial shade and they don't seem to mind at all. Maybe later I'll list some more for you to look at.

WOW....thank you sooooo much!! I will look these up and see what will work best in this area..........again thank you!!!!!!

Your welcome

One thing about Bear's Breeches in your zone is that it will probably never flower because of the cold even if you get one that is hardy. The flower buds usually get killed by frost, but you'll still get nice foliage. They are a huge plant, so you'd have to leave a lot of space for it.