Native Plants
Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?
A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.
Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
rate this answer
Friday - May 15, 2009
From: Glendale, AZ
Region: Southwest
Topic: Shade Tolerant
Title: Need plants for shade in Arizona.
Answered by: Jimmy Mills
QUESTION:
Please suggest plants that I can plant in a shaded area. I live in Glendale, Arizona. The shade will be 100% of the time.ANSWER:
Mr. Smarty Plants wasn't aware that that there was any shade in Arizona. Just kidding.
Seriously, since you didn't mention what kind of plants you have in mind, let's go to our website and let you make some choices. If you go to our Recommended Species page and select Arizona on the map, you will get a list of 224 commercially available native plant species suitable for planned landscapes in Arizona. Scroll down and click the "Narrow Your Search" box where you can become more selective.
You see that you have several parameters from which to choose. For the first run, choose AZ for the state, Herb under "Habit", Annual under "Duration", Shade under "Light requirement", the appropriate moisture for your site under "Soil moisture" (I chose moist), and the appropriate bloom characteristics (you can leave that blank for now). Click the "Narrow your search" button and you will get a list of two plants that meet these criteria. Clicking on each plant name will bring up its NPIN page that describes the plant's characteristics.
You can modify your listing by changing the choices in each box for the types of plants that you have in mind.
Once you have found some plant names, go to our Suppliers Directory to locate businesses in Arizona that have these plants for sale.
More Shade Tolerant Questions
Ground cover under Spruces from West Chester PA
December 06, 2012 - Trying to get a native groundcover (or any grass/wildflower/fern) planting established under a small stand of spruces. Established stand (30+ years old), so lots of needles on ground. Just about tot...
view the full question and answer
Native plants for area shaded by crabapple in Philadelphia
September 19, 2008 - Can you recommend native plants about 4' tall to plant under a crabapple in the corner of a yard in front of a fence? Thank you.
view the full question and answer
Different shades of green in Taxodium distichum (bald cypress)
June 05, 2008 - I have two bald cypress trees 50 feet apart, but there was very different soil in the two holes. One was a clayey soil and the other was much more the Austin limestone soil. The trees are about 2 ye...
view the full question and answer
Will Salvia coccinea bloom in shade in Houston?
June 02, 2010 - I live in Houston and I used your database tool to search for shade plants. I am particularly interested in plants that bloom and support native pollinators. My search returned salvia coccinea. Will t...
view the full question and answer
Grasses for shady areas
November 24, 2013 - I would like to know which grasses would grow in mostly shady part of the house.
view the full question and answer
Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today. |