I have a spot right by my front door that gets dappled morning shade, about 2 hours of direct mid-day sun, followed by dense shade as the sun moves around the house. I planted tiarella cordifolia there last year, but 2 of 3 plants died, while the ones in shadier spots thrived, so i think it was the intense mid-day sun that occurs in this one corner of the bed that they disliked. I am looking for a low growing native that will be appropriate for a front bed that I try to keep looking orderly and maintained. Other plants in this bed are spigelia marilandica, christmas fern, oakleaf hydrangea, tiarella, aruncus dioicous. Ideas for part shade plants that can also tolerate the mid-day sun? Central NC, 7b.

Editing to add that I am looking for something similar in size to the tiarella, no more than 12-15" tall with similar spread.

I think beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) & pawpaw (Asimina sp.)
There are dwarf pawpaw in our area.
There was one growing in full sun on the property next to mine, until the power line idiots sprayed it with brush killer.

Have you tried wood poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum) and Anemone virginiana? These should do fine.

Stone, thanks for your reply. I do have anemone virginiana in this bed as well, and I will look into the wood poppy suggestion. I think the other mentions of Paw paw and dwarf callicarpa are too large for this space, as the bed is mostly fully planted and it's just this small area where the tiarella died back that I need to fill in. I've edited my original post to be more specific.

Actually, I meant dwarf pawpaw, around here, a shrub of varying size.
I added these in response to the mention of other shrubs in the spot.

I understand that you are looking for low-growing plants.
Have you considered spiderwort?

Thought of several more.
Consider wood violet.
Also epimedium.

And green and gold, and possibly rose campion.

also try lyre leaf sage.

I had no idea there was such a thing as a dwarf pawpaw! Thanks for engaging with me on the topic, and I appreciate the additional suggestions!

Have you tried Woodland Phlox? (p. divaricata). Mine gets a little bit of direct sun depending on the time of year. I'm not sure how much it can tolerate but I do really like it and it may be fairly easy to find at native plant sales.

Thanks, I was looking at the p. divaricata selection called "May Breeze" as a possibility since my favorite native nursery offers it. I'll try to do a little more research about sun tolerance before placing in that particular spot.

Columbine and buckeye (Aesculus pavia), blooming now at my house.
Grown in shade, the buckeye has remained very small, while others planted in the sun are a bit taller than I am.

Native ginger? I'm not sure about the sun. Very low growing and slowly but densely spreading.
I think the woodland phlox might be my first try.
Green and gold (Chrysogonum, I think) I mix up with another similar one that starts with a P..? (how can I remember the one I've never grown, and forget the one I DO??) OH! Packera aurea, another possible.

Spiderwort can take sun, can grow thick clumps, most that I have are taller than 18 in bloom, then flop over and need to be cut back for summer. and can seed, (unless you cut off the seed) "Orderly and maintained' with spiderwort will be more work than these others I list.

Lyre leaf sage can also seed, a bit is much more ground-clingy except the blooming spikes. Flower on mine not very showy.

Do you have room to try 2 for a head to head competition?

Lyre leaf sage.
Maybe an acquired taste, but can accomplish the stated goals above, by covering some soil and tolerating difficult conditions.
The leaves are pretty.




What it looks like at my house now:

Not flowering yet, but soon.

AG_NC_7b said: I had no idea there was such a thing as a dwarf pawpaw!

Very small fruit...

The native columbine that Stone posted a photo of is a good choice too. My parents have had some on the south side of their house for years where I'm sure it gets full sun for a good part of the day. They are in southwest Missouri also.
I checked yesterday to see if my red buckeye was blooming yet and discovered that it is completely bare. No leaves at all. : ( Drought may have killed it or something else. I've had it for at least 15 years. My hummingbirds will miss it.

Editing to add that I am looking for something similar in size to the tiarella, no more than 12-15" tall with similar spread.

Heuchera americana is both native to NC, and similar to the tiarella...so similar that there are heuchera/ tiarella hybrids called heucherellas.

Another NC native that you might also want to consider is Iris cristata.

christie8swmo said: The native columbine that Stone posted a photo of is a good choice too.

And if you aren't a fan of the red, I've seen dwarf cultivars of the rocky mountain blue columbine.
https://www.inaturalist.org/ta...
So pretty!
And there is the yellow one from texas:
https://txmg.org/hendersonmg/p...

And there are incredible numbers of hybrids... Just planting different varieties together can accomplish the same thing.

christie8swmo said: I checked yesterday to see if my red buckeye was blooming yet and discovered that it is completely bare. No leaves at all.

Isn't necessarily dead. It's still early.
Some of mine have buds that haven't even begun to swell.

Thanks Stone. I won't cut it down just yet.

Christie, I am zone 7 and my bottlebrush Buckeye is still bare.

I have some of the red columbine that I started from seed that I had planned to put in a different spot, as I thought the sun in this area might be too much for it, but the report of it doing ok in a south facing spot in MO is encouraging enough to make me think it might be worth trying.

As for the dwarf paw paw in another post, those fruits are cute little things compared to the full size! We have several patches of the full sized ones in our woods, but assuming the dwarf ones spread and sucker the same way the full sized ones do, I won't be putting that in my most visible street-side bed, as I want this to be an example of how natives can look appropriate for traditional landscaping use. I am also a little wary of anything like that near my foundation, which may or may not be a rational concern. I DO want some in another area on the edge of the yard in hopes of attracting in zebra swallowtails, and the dwarf size might be a good option for that, so I am glad I learned about it!

I definitely worried too soon about my red buckeye. I checked it up close today and it's just fine but I was thinking it was in bloom by early April last year and that's not so far away. Maybe I'm remembering wrong. Today's high was 90. That will wake it up. : )

The red columbine may be the best choice, especially since you already have some. And it might attract some hummingbirds.

Columbine would be a great choice for that spot. I have some that are in full afternoon sun and they do just fine. Lots of different options for blooms also on them.