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.

Help us grow by giving to the Plant Database Fund or by becoming a member

Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

Search Smarty Plants

See a list of all Smarty Plants questions

Please forgive us, but Mr. Smarty Plants has been overwhelmed by a flood of mail and must take a break for awhile to catch up. We hope to be accepting new questions again soon. Thank you!

Need help with plant identification, visit the plant identification page.

rate this answer

1 rating

Sunday - November 24, 2013

From: Pilot Point, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Shade Tolerant, Grasses or Grass-like
Title: Grasses for shady areas
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

I would like to know which grasses would grow in mostly shady part of the house.

ANSWER:

First, we need to establish whether your area is considered shade (less than 2 hours of sun per day) or part shade (2 to 6 hours of sun per day). Then, we need to consider what kind of grass you want for your shady area. I suspect you are looking for turf grass for your shade. If that's what you want, I'm afraid you are out of luck. There aren't any native turf grasses that do well in the shade. I can recommend a sedge species, Carex blanda (Eastern woodland sedge), that is grasslike and makes a good evergreen groundcover. It grows to about 1 foot high but can be lightly mowed to make it look tidier.

There are several attractive ornamental grasses that don't qualify as turf grasses that will grow in full shade. They are:

Setaria scheelei (Southwestern bristlegrass)

Chasmanthium latifolium (Inland sea oats)

Sorghastrum nutans (Indiangrass)

There are several other non-grass groundcovers that will grow in shade:

Calyptocarpus vialis (Straggler daisy) is semi-evergreen.

Asplenium platyneuron (Ebony spleenwort) has evergreen sterile fronds and also fertile fronds.

Packera obovata (Golden groundsel) is semi-evergreen or evergreen.

Geum canadense (White avens)

If your area qualifies as part shade, there are a couple of low, evergreen sedges that do well in part shade and make a good groundcover.

Carex planostachys (Cedar sedge)

Carex texensis (Texas sedge)