Color for Dry Shade

Partial to full shade

Average to dry soil

A site that’s both shady and dry is one of the toughest landscaping challenges. Before you set your heart on planting a garden there, grab a trowel and try digging a few small holes. If hard-packed soil or a dense mat of roots makes digging difficult, your best option might be to simply cover the area with mulch and add a bench and some pots of shade-tolerant annuals and perennials. But if it turns out that you can dig a few holes without too much trouble, then there’s a good chance that you’ll have luck with a garden of perennials that are adapted to both shade and drought.

The Garden Plan

Shopping List

1 Variegated Solomon’s seal

Polygonatum odoratum ‘Variegatum’

3 plants

Zones 4–8

Alternates: Another 1- to 3-foot-tall perennial that can tolerate shade and dry soil, such as gooseneck loosestrife (Lysimachia clethroides) [3 plants] or ‘Samobor’ or ‘Margaret Wilson’ mourning widow (Geranium phaeum) [3 plants]

Variegated Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum odoratum ‘Variegatum’)

2 Christmas fern

Polystichum acrostichoides

5 plants

Zones 3–9

Alternates: Another 1- to 2-foot-tall perennial that can tolerate shade and dry soil, such as Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum var. pictum) [5 plants] or bigroot geranium (Geranium macrorrhizum) [5 plants]

Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides)

3 White wood aster

Aster divaricatus

6 plants

Zones 4–8

Alternates: Another 12- to 30-inch-tall perennial that can tolerate shade and dry soil, such as heart-leaved aster (Aster cordifolius) [2 plants] or a hosta (Hosta) [2 plants]

White wood aster (Aster divaricatus)

4 Yellow barrenwort

Epimedium × versicolor

5 plants

Zones 5–8

Alternates: Another barrenwort or other 6- to 12-inch-tall perennial that can tolerate shade and dry soil, such as sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum) [5 plants] or lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis) [5 plants]

Yellow barrenwort (Epimedium × versicolor)

5 Allegheny pachysandra

Pachysandra procumbens

7 plants

Zones 5–9

Alternates: Another 6- to 12-inch-tall perennial that can tolerate shade and dry soil, such as Canada wild ginger (Asarum canadense) [7 plants] or ‘Evergold’ sedge (Carex) [5 plants]

Allegheny pachysandra (Pachysandra procumbens)

Planting Plan

Season by Season

Spring: Like many other shady gardens, this collection of perennials for dry shade offers up an abundance of color for the spring season. The plump pink shoots of variegated Solomon’s seal are one of the first features to appear, quickly shooting up into arching stems clad in cream-edged leaves, with small white bells dangling below in mid to late spring. Early to mid spring also brings out the pink-stemmed clusters of fragrant white flowers on the Allegheny pachysandra. And then there are the sprays of dainty blooms on yellow barrenwort, which appear by mid spring, joined quickly by the heart-shaped leaves, which may be green heavily blushed with deep red or even a solid chocolate brown. The unfurling “fiddleheads” of the Christmas fern and emerging dark stems of white wood aster are attractive, too, though not nearly as showy as their flowering companions.

An early spring cleanup session will set up your dry shade garden for a successful growing season. Cut down any remaining dead top growth, and clip off any winter-damaged leaves on the barrenwort, fern, and pachysandra. (Unless the barrenwort stays completely evergreen in your climate, it’s often easiest to just shear off all the leaves at ground level; that will make the flowers show up better, too.) Divide the aster, fern, or Solomon’s seal clumps if they were starting to crowd out their companions last year and you didn’t get around to dividing them in fall. As a finishing touch, spread a fresh layer of organic mulch over the soil.

Summer: Fabulous foliage is the key feature of this garden in summer. Though variegated Solomon’s seal finishes flowering by early summer, the green-and-cream or -white leaves look lovely for most, if not all, of the summer. The yellow barrenwort and Allegheny pachysandra also finished in late spring, but their new leaves add a fresh look now, as do the fully expanded fronds of the Christmas fern. White wood aster may begin blooming as early as late summer, but it’s mostly just a subtle player in summer, with medium to deep green leaves on its near black stems.

There’s nothing to do now, maintenance-wise, except to water occasionally during summer dry spells, especially for the first few years.

Fall and Winter: White wood aster is in peak form in early fall, with clouds of small, starry white flowers, and may keep blooming into mid fall. Its tops dry to brown after frosts, but the fluffy seeds stick around to provide interest for a while longer. The leaves of yellow barrenwort take on a reddish blush in fall, and the green leaves of Allegheny pachysandra develop a silvery gray mottling; both usually look good well into winter, or even through the entire off-season in mild-winter areas. Variegated Solomon’s seal turns butter yellow as fall progresses and then drops its leaves for the winter. And then there’s the Christmas fern, which holds its good looks from summer through to the following spring.

If the barrenwort, fern, pachysandra, or Solomon’s seal clumps are crowding out their companions, early fall is a fine time to divide them. Otherwise, this garden doesn’t need much attention in fall or winter, either; just cut down the dead Solomon’s seal stems, if you wish, or leave them for spring cleanup.

Digging Deeper

This low, woodland-style planting offers lots of placement options. Set the flat side against a wall or fence, or against the edge of a deck, patio, or walkway. Or, flip the plan along the flat side, and join the two parts to create a circular bed, or separate the parts with a through-path or a short path ending in a bench.
When you’re planting under trees, it’s tempting to simply dump a layer of loose topsoil over the area so you don’t have to struggle with digging through roots. If you do that, though, you run the risk of smothering the roots of your trees, stressing or even killing them. A much better option is to dig individual planting pockets (roughly 6 inches deep and wide), avoiding cutting through the tree roots as much as possible. Once your perennials are in place, give them a generous layer of organic mulch, and water them regularly for the first year or two, at least, to help them settle in. Once their roots are well established, they’ll be able to tolerate drier conditions.