Perennial Shade Plant Suggestions Needed

[ducks4you]

That is one Stunning Rhodie

That is REALLY pretty.

 

[thistlebloom]

I don't remember if this one got mentioned, but it's a favorite of mine.
Actea racemosa, which used to be classified as Cimicifuga racemosa, which goes by about a thousand common names it seems, which is why I first mentioned it's formal botanical name to lessen confusion.
......anyway, Bugbane, Snakeroot, Fairy candles, Black Cohosh, are some of the names you will find it sold under.
It comes in a green leaved and a dark purply black leaved varieties. I prefer the dark one. It's a unique plant and has a mid to late summer bloom of long "candles" of tiny fragrant, white or pinkish blooms.
It can take sun, mostly morning to early afternoon, but does better in light shade. I like it planted against a contrasting wall.

 

[Nyboy]

Fairy candles great plant, I planted one when I lived in Westport.

 

[Smart Red]

I don't remember if this one got mentioned, but it's a favorite of mine.
Actea racemosa, which used to be classified as Cimicifuga racemosa, which goes by about a thousand common names it seems, which is why I first mentioned it's formal botanical name to lessen confusion.
......anyway, Bugbane, Snakeroot, Fairy candles, Black Cohosh, are some of the names you will find it sold under.

That is one I have. It is one of the taller shade plants.

 

[ninnymary]

Good news, the ornamental varieties are no where as rampant. I wish the one I planted up on the lattice wall of my garden room would get the lead out, 3 years and it's still pretty sparse.
Annette

Is the one with the pink leaves considered an ornamental? How big is yours Annette? And how old is is?

Mary

 

[aftermidnight]

@ninnymary Yes it is, only grown for it's ornamental foliage, although as I said earlier if you get the female too it will produce tasty grape sized fruit I got mine back in the 80's, the colored portion of the leaves turn a rusty color in the summer, so I usually cut it back to force new growth.
It's hard to say how big it is as it's mixed in with the Ivy but it still pops a lot of color in June. Although the flowers are tiny and hidden by the leaves they give off a lovely lemon scent, bonus.
Annette

 

[ducks4you]

I want to take pictures of the yard from about 5 spots at different times of the day to determine what is 100% full shade, and when the other places get some sun, or full sun, like the outside fences. When they say partial shade, does that mean when the trees are leafed?
Seems like those spots would be FULL shade by May here.
I've be researching the suggestions to see what would work. I have dismissed a few for 2016, because I won't have time to prune them, and my DD's say, "prune?...do mean eat one?", so they won't work THIS year, although, like the hardy kiwi, I'm thinking of that for one of MY fences.
I know that I'll be planting vinca, because I've lived with that for the last 16 years and it self sustains. It also won't grow outside of the shade.
Two plants that came with MY house are some ferns and 2 hostas. They are in FULL SHADE on the north side of the house and they refuse to spread. I'm pretty sure that they would prefer Some sun, and I need to know this before buying any for this project.
I also need to avoid anything aggressive.
I'm going to start some coleus indoors late this month, after I get back from a cruise later this month. Can I start them in a plastic bag, like in the seed starting thread?
I also loved the impatiens that I bought last year, so maybe I'll try starting that, too. Is it hard to start impatiens by seed?
I will also start them a few nasturtiums. I grew less than 10 plants last year, started them in a small full sun bed around my satellite dish and they exPLODED. i don't even think I bothered to water them, but we Did have a very wet June in 2015.
Please let me know about your experience with petunias, too.
I know that I will need to space all perennials to give them space to grow, so I will also need to fill in annuals. I told my DD's that I need $100.00 to spend, and I'd like to be as frugal as Possible, so the annuals I think it would be wise to start from seed. Although I can buy clearance tomato plants, soak them in a bucket overnight and separate them and get a good crop, I also know that a lot of clearance plants are sick, so I should be careful. I think my best clearance buy has been my magnolia tree, which I bought for $9.00, and it is LOADED with 2016 buds. I need to start thinking about pruning to start shaping this year, like the sucker that is coming out of the ground.

 

[thistlebloom]

Ducks, the light requirements that are given for plants like part shade, full shade, full sun etcetera are meant for the bulk of the growing season.
So don't plant something that requires a lot of sun under a deciduous tree that will shade it all summer.

You can look up exactly how much sun each of those terms mean, but off the top of my head, part shade means 4 or so hours of sun, full sun is at least 6 hours and full shade is just that. Plants that need shade should only get their sun in the morning as it's not as harsh as afternoon sun.
Like most things, there are exceptions to this of course, but taken as a general rule, you can play around with where they ultimately do best.

 

[ducks4you]

@thistlebloom, that's what I thought. I find that it's good to ask dumb questions for clarification. It's going to be interesting. I should take some shots to show you'all the sidewalks that are also in the backyard, which you can't see in the snow photos.
Starting cleanup this week. I had my DD buy 15 paper lawn bags to collect sticks. I'll take them home and burn them there. I Think that they can get and use a burn barrel at their house, but NOT with all of the leaves that we ran out of time to pick up--fire hazard! I will dig out as many weeds as possible before amending the soil with the leaves we didn't pickup and decayed horse manure. Done this is my own garden, and I own a nice middle of the road tiller. I'm not going to put any seeds in this Spring. The previous owners tried planting grass where it won't grow, and the weeds did their job to try and fill in the gaps. Where there was some grass on the south side I am thinking filling in the gaps with native plants and see how that goes, instead of ripping up all of the sod. There is already gonna be a lot of labor. The biggest first expense will be Preen. I won't have any time to weed this year!
I started researching all of the suggested plants online. I think a few of them will sprawl too much, and I'm going to have nice soil before I start.
Funny, several natives show pictures taken locally in my county, like this:
http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/weeds/plants/lily_valley.htm
I have lots of different seed packets saved, so it's time to start seeds for this project from what I have, especially annuals to fill in between the perennials.

 

[thistlebloom]

That wasn't a dumb question, it can be confusing trying to figure out what is meant by light requirements.