Regional Picks: Plants for Dry Shade – Northern California

‘Silver Bouquet’ lungwort

Name:Pulmonaria‘Silver Bouquet’

USDA Hardiness Zones:3 to 8

Size:10 inches tall and 2 metrical foot full

Conditions : fond to light shade ; prefer good drain

This lilliputian clumper has leaves so thoroughly speckled with silver that there ’s not much fleeceable to talk of . With leaf packing this much star baron , you scarcely call for flower , but this bright beauty overdelivers with early - summertime blooms that emerge pink and old age to a rich purply blue . The lenient texture and bouncy flowers of ‘ Silver Bouquet ’ lungwort make an idealistic counterpoint to the leathery unripe leaves of many groundwork works , perk up an otherwise dull border . bear on the theme with silvery gamey conifer to ply solace repetition in the garden .

‘Asahi’ striped cast-iron plant

Name:Aspidistra elatior‘Asahi’

Zones:7 to 11

Size:2 to 3 feet tall and spacious

stipulation : Light to mysterious wraith ; prefer right drain

In Japanese , the wordasahimeans “ morning time sun , ” which conquer the look of this vigorous evergreen . The newfangled leaves unfurl to show off pointed leaf wind drench in pictorial white diversification . Set behind the flabby grain of ferns or woodland perennial , the dramatic spike of foliage provide a surprising burst of color under deep green or cream - variegated trees . ‘ Asahi ’ striped cast - atomic number 26 plant also looks great in winter , when the white - tilted plant life show off boldly against redtwig dogwoods , conifer , and other staple of the winter garden .

Dragonfly™ ‘Sakura’ pigsqueak

Name:Bergenia‘Sakura’

Zones:4 to 9

Size:15 in tall and 1 foot wide

Conditions : fond to light shade ; tolerates heavy soils if well run out

An abundance of lightly ruffled bubblegum - colored blooms in spring give this tough - as - nails perennial a look remindful of cherry blossoms . The rounded clusters of flower are held aloft on au naturel stems and float in cloudlike mounds above the foliage . Though many pigsqueaks have a disposition to sprawl , the succinct Dragonfly ™ ‘Sakura ’ has smaller clusters of leaves and a rounded contour that echo the look of mounded shrubs and adds a fulfill geometry to either courtly or realistic garden . skilful of all is the winter coloration , which is such a deep ghost of bronze that you could almost call it black .

Scarletta®fetterbush

Name:Leucothoe fontanesiana‘Zeblid’

Zones:5 to 8

Size:2 feet grandiloquent and 4 feet all-inclusive

condition : fond to full tint ; opt acid stain

‘ Rainbow ’ mountain andromeda seems to get all the aid , but there ’s a new fetterbush in town . Scarletta ® mountain andromeda has the same sick bronze new ontogeny in natural spring and summer , but at the first signaling of chilly weather , it turns a rich shade of Burgundy wine , which makes it an inst focal point . embed en masse , the bright colour offset the deep John Brown and honey oil of the winter garden . It has a suckering habit that makes it poorly suited to a little - blank garden , but if given a few feet of heart-to-heart earth to get across , this acid soil – loving plant life is a well - behaved partner to a woodland planting of trees and shrub .

Genevieve Schmidt owns Genevieve Schmidt Landscape Design and Fine Maintenance in Arcata , California .

Photos : Friedrich Strauss / gapphotos.com ; Joshua McCullough ; good manners of Terra Nova Nurseries , Inc. ; Doreen Wynja ; courtesy of Genevieve Schmidt

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Regional Picks: Plants for Dry Shade - Northwest

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