Also, will peonies do well in partial shade? I've got some white ones that are really pretty, but I have to move them to a new location. I'd like to include them in this garden, with some Alba roses, if they are okay with sun half the day. Would lavender geraniums do well? Thank you!

as far as i understand peony are full sun.. to produce those giant flowers ... same for roses in general .. but the bottom line is always.. why not give it a try ... you can always move them again..

should they not flower to expectation .... low sun.. reduces a plants vigor.. and the first thing it will sacrifice is flower production .... rarely does the plant die outright from partial lack of sun ....

but regardless of your plants and sunlight.. you are going to have to deal with the deer ... frankly.. if they are a large enough population.. and hungry enough.. they will eat ANYTHING .... there really isnt a deer proof plant, per se ...

welcome to the GW

ken

I would love to try purple phlox and rozanne geranium...do they do well in zone 4? Spiderwort sounds good too. There are no trees, just east side of the house so the garden gets shade in the afternoon. I think I will try them, and as Ken said, you can always move them again!

Thank you for the responses.

brought the same plant to a 2nd garden.. and it is still being killed 5 years later due to the plethora of seeds which sprouted everywhere ... i would call it an invasive ... link below.. go figure on that ...

and the two garden were 60 miles apart.. east/west of each other ...

you might want to be careful with that one

i did miss PURPLE in the title ...

ken

I know you want to stay away from the highly toxic plants, so that rules out the Monkshood.

Perennial geraniums are really wonderful. My Geranium sanguineum 'Vison Violet' does well in a part shade area with dry soil. Geranium phaeum 'Samobor' has dark purple flowers and reseeds very well. Both will rebloom some if snipped back.

There are many purple kinds of Aquilegia (Columbine) and Primula that are purple.

Japanese Painted Fern (Athyrium niponicum 'Pictum') has beautiful silvery green fronds with purple/burgundy new growth.
CMK

I don't really have a deer problem so I'm not sure if any of these will work for you, but in addition to the monkshood, there's also purple lobelia. I have some in full shade and it does quite well. Blue balloon flowers (platycodon) do well in half shade for me, as do columbines and primroses, as mentioned above. Phlox does quite well for me in partial shade also.

I have a friend who has a peony in what is probably half-day shade, although I think it's morning shade and afternoon sun. The peony does amazingly well - more amazing because it's in very wet soil, which I didn't think they liked.

Good luck with your deer problem. A few of my friends have deer in their yards and it gets very frustrating, so I hope you find a solution. By the way, now that I think of it, this peony in wet soil/part shade is in a garden that deer visit, and I don't think it's ever been touched by them. Maybe if you can get one to grow in your part shade it would do well with deer.

:)
Dee

I wouldn't mind a purple Lobelia for seriously part shade.

Have 'Ruby Slippers" and very happy with it. Would be happier if it would self sow. :)

Just picked up on clearance a few Hosta 'Blue Mouse Ears' which shows lovely purple flowers in photos. Got my fingers crossed deer don't start visiting little back bed right up against house by garage. I've not gotten any Hosta til now mostly because of slugs all over including on milkweed. Doesn't help if they die after they eat the leaves...LOL.

Purple flowers are lovely...one of my favorites.

Lavendar_Lass, you might really enjoy one of the lovely purple Lobelia.

On a blog called Mr. McGregor's Daughter there's an awesome slide show of Phlox 'Nicky' you might enjoy.

I love my purple lobelia, and it spreads nicely too - not aggressively, but just enough. I planted some red lobelia (lobelia cardinalis) in a friend's bog-type garden for her, and LOVE it! I'm not normally a red person, but these blooms are the most gorgeous red I've ever seen.

Funny, I've been thinking of trying Blue Mouse Ears, but have never even seen the blooms. Just like the foliage...

:)
Dee

Another vote for the Pulmonaria (Lung Wort) beautiful plant!

Hummm...I grow Geranium maccrorhizum and always thought the color was a hot pink (aside from a few light pink and near white cultivars). Is there a cultivar with purple flowers now?

I have seen 'Rozanne' in a few gardens and it always looked true blue to me. I guess one man's purple is another man's blue, and one man's pink is another man's purple, lol!

I tried a red Lobelia (don't remember the species/cultivar) several years ago and it died out within a month! I put it in a fairly moist spot, but I guess it wasn't good enough. Might need to give it another go.
CMK

My great blue lobelia has pale blue flowers here.

I planted Lobelia 'Fan Blue' in Spring and they have irridescent violet blue flowers that lasted a long time. Very pretty mixed with great blue and 'Queen Victoria'.

Leslie

PS...deer ate flowers in late October...nothing is sacred around here.

I think phlox and geranium would look really nice and I want to try some of the other plants too. I do try to keep the plants non-toxic, since I have horses and I don't want anything to spread out into their pasture (which is very close to that side of the house). I also have a lot of niece and nephews, who like to "help" in the garden and come out to see the horses. :)

The garden that is shady half the day is not under any trees, just on the east side of the house. It's a great place to sit in the summer because it is in the shade. I've been trying to add plants that are pretty and kind of cottage-like, since I call this my "fairy" garden. My nieces are 4 and 5 and they like to dress up as Tinkerbelle and play in the garden. I want to include some little "fairy things" to keep them interested. I found a little bridge the other day (for a fish tank) that will look perfect in the garden. I want it to seem a little "magical" for them, so any ideas would be appreciated.

While this garden is shady, there's a grass path along it and across is another garden that is in full sun. Along the back of the sunny garden, I'm putting blueberry bushes, to edge the garden and distract the deer :) I hope to put a couple of semi-dwarf apple trees behind this area with chives and strawberries underneath. Any suggestions for perennials in the sunny area would be great too. Hoping to put a few small roses and already have butterfly bushes on the ends and coneflowers. Also have an arch along the grass walkway at the end of the garden with a few roses. I'd love to put sweet peas on the arch, but the nieces love eating peas in the garden and I don't want to take a chance. I found some nice climbing peas with pink and lavender flowers that I put there instead. Near this is a little bird bath...hoping to make this fairly low upkeep at some point, so the more plants the better. LOL

:)
Dee

The peonies aren't really non-toxic, but they've been here for years, as have the daffodils. So far, no ill effects with the cats and the peonies won't spread into the pasture.

My biggest concern is plants like lily of the valley, which smells so good and looks so cute, the girls might be tempted to eat them, or the sweet peas, as mentioned before. I try to stay with violets, real peas (climbing) and roses...non-toxic, but I have to hide them from the deer :)

Speaking of geraniums, annual geraniums will also tolerate part shade very well (just not *too* much shade), and there are some light purpley-pink varieties that you may like.

Same story with rugosa roses, even though they, too, are part-shade tolerant.

best,
mindy