Native Plants

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Wednesday - March 18, 2009

From: La Verne, CA
Region: California
Topic: Shade Tolerant
Title: Native shade plants around fountain in California
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

Hi, we just put a fountain in our front yard. It is in a mostly shady area. I need to know what plants would go best around the fountain and survive in the shade.

ANSWER:

We recently answered a similar question, also from California, in which they were having difficulty finding flowers that would endure the splashing of water from the fountain. Only two of them, the Iris missouriensis and the Spiraea splendens specified sun (more than 6 hours of sun a day) and the rest all will do well in sun, part shade (2 t 6 hours of sun a day) and shade (less than 2 hours of sun a day), as well as moist soil. If your bed extends out of the shade, or has sunshine at different times of the day, these would all fit your purposes.

HERBACEOUS PLANTS

Iris missouriensis (Rocky Mountain iris)

Linnaea borealis (twinflower)

Aruncus dioicus (bride's feathers)

Equisetum arvense (field horsetail)

Equisetum hyemale (scouringrush horsetail)

Hesperochiron pumilus (dwarf hesperochiron)

SHRUBS

Hibiscus moscheutos (crimsoneyed rosemallow)

Spiraea splendens var. splendens (rose meadowsweet)