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| I have an area bordering a neighbor facing the south between two ash tree. Because of the ash tree, the area is shady. For example, there are some day lilies there. They grow well, but do not flower due to a lack of light.
I was going to plant some hellebore in that area, but want to add some sort of winter stems. For example, I like the combination of Hellebore with Red Osier Dogwood. In the winter, the shrub dies back leaving red stems, which shows up well against the Hellebore evergreen. However, I doubt a dogwood shrub will grow there. Are there some suggestion for winter stems. Even some ornamental grass will do. Paul |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by christinmk z5b eastern WA (My Page) on Sat, Oct 1, 11 at 12:30
| Would you even see the foliage or stems in winter? Usually in our winter, with all our snow, there isn't much to be seen. Even if a plant is evergreen it is buried until the snow starts to melt in spring. I don't know of any other 'winter stems' besides dogwood or other trees and shrubs. I do know of a couple foliage plants that might compliment your Hellebore though. Carex (sedge) is evergreen or semi-evergreen and might work for you. My 'Ice Dance' does VERY well in dry shady sites. It spreads, but is fairly easy to get rid of any spreading chunks you don't want. Bergenia is another nice evergreen foliage plant. Round-ish leaves that can have a nice burgundy/wine tinge in the cold months. One cultivar, 'Bressingham Ruby', is supposed to have exceptionally nice colored foliage. |
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| The red osier grows wild everywhere in this area, even in shady scrub. There is one growing in an interior eastern corner of this apartment building. It gets 2 or 3 hours of early morning sun, but shade the rest of the day. It leans toward the light a bit and grows quickly. It hadn't been pruned in many, many years and DH and I cut it back to the nub this spring to grow some other things in the area. It had been growing and weaving through a huge old juniper(which we also took out)and some ash suckers(that we limbed up), but now it is a nice low bush again. It might be worth trying. |
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| Japanese maples are excellent Hellebore companions. I have our native sword fern behind mine with Acorus (golden sweet flag) and lady's mantle in front and 'Wanda' Primrose as edging. I "let" corydalis lutea in that bed, but have to cut it back hard away from the Hellebore. Thinking that wasn't a good companion, but has looked good since spring & is blooming still. This is right by my front porch, so I see it every day. |
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- Posted by hudsonriverbug 7a (My Page) on Tue, Oct 11, 11 at 12:35
| How about varigated or solid green Liriope? Cute purple flowers in the fall, it gets 'ratty' looking and you take a mower to it. We moved some to a very shady part of the backyard along the fence (last August when it was still in the 90's here!)and it never missed a beat. Very little supplemental water, even after we moved it. (To tell the truth, I forgot all about it). It's one tough plant. |
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- Posted by gottagarden z5 western NY (My Page) on Sat, Oct 15, 11 at 19:24
| You could update your profile to say where your zone 5 is. In my z5, we have snow cover all winter that makes the "evergreen" hellebore disappear. Do you have snow cover? |
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