• Blog
    • General Gardening
    • Gardening for Children
    • Gardening Videos
    • Insect Pests
    • Landscape Design
    • Trees
    • Vegetables & Fruits
    • Weeds
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Event Announcements
  • Gardening Videos
  • Resources
    • Western North Carolina Gardening Guide
    • Online Resources
      • Soil Testing Information for Home Gardeners
    • Speakers Bureau
  • Garden Helpline
    • Collecting Samples of Plants and Insects
  • The Learning Garden
  • About Us
    • About Us
      • How to Become an Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteer
    • The Association
    • Contact Us
    • Speakers Bureau
    • Sponsors
      • Sponsors: 2019 WNC Gardening Symposium
    • Donate
Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteers of Buncombe County
Blog / Landscaping / Groundcovers Part V: Made for the Shade

Groundcovers Part V: Made for the Shade

December 12, 2018

Rudyard Kipling was right when he said, “Gardens are not made by singing ‘Oh, How Beautiful’ and sitting in the shade.” But there are times when gardens are in the shade: spaces at the forest’s edge, under trees, or in dappled light. These locations are ideal for the many shade-loving groundcovers.

Stepping stones through moss garden_tanakawho_CC BY NC 2.0_Flickr
Moss garden
  • Moss: Moss in the garden is either a problem or an opportunity! Non-flowering and lacking a root structure, moss gets its nutrients from air and water rather than soil and spreads by spores, not seeds. If it is thriving, it means that the soil is acidic, lacking fertility, shaded, moist, and/or compacted. You can spend time and money trying to change the soil conditions to grow other plants, which may or may not work. A more economical and equally satisfying option is to take a page from the ancient Japanese gardening tradition of landscaping with moss.
    Pros. Beautiful in rock gardens and along pathways, moss provides year-round color, with varieties ranging from blue-green to emerald green to yellow-green. Its velvety texture is particularly striking around tree roots and between stepping stones. Moss absorbs water quickly, helping to reduce stormwater run-off and erosion.
    Cons. Moss can be a slow grower, challenging a gardener’s patience, and picky about its environment—different species demand different conditions. A common misconception is that moss only grows in the shade, so check with your trusted garden center or native plant purveyor to find species that do best in your garden conditions.
  • Foam flower (Tiarella): This cousin of coral bells (Heuchera), another shade garden favorite, features “foamy” pink or white spring blossoms. Tiarella prefers well drained, “humusy” soil. Dappled sunlight brings out the best in its stunning foliage, but it also performs well in full shade. The Missouri Botanical Garden recommends planting Tiarella in shaded rock gardens, woodland gardens, border fronts, wild gardens, naturalistic plantings, or moist areas along stream banks.
  • Dwarf crested iris (Iris cristata): This petite (3 to 6 inches) North Carolina native iris spreads quickly, producing a spectacular drift of color in early spring. It is an excellent addition to rock gardens, perennial borders, or woodland gardens. White, pale blue, lilac, or lavender flowers with gold falls appear on very short stems. Following bloom, the foliage provides a strong, green groundcover for the remainder of the year. Hummingbirds and bumblebees like it—deer don’t!
  • Barrenwort, fairy wings, Bishop’s hat (Epimedium): There are many lovely varieties of Epimedium, all of them well-suited to shade. These small perennials (6 to 8 inches) feature red-tinged, heart-shaped leaves and, in the spring, delicate blossoms on wiry stems. Epimedium thrives in organically rich, moist, well-drained soil.
  • Wild ginger (Hexastylis ): North Carolina is the epicenter of Hexastylis, boasting 10 species, sometimes called “little brown jug.” Hexastylis arifolia, with its beautiful evergreen heart-shaped leaves and small brown jug-shaped flower, is a wonderful shade groundcover in woodland gardens. It prefers rich, moist soil where it grows slowly in isolated clusters of six to eight inches.
Foam flower (Tiarella cordifolia)_K M _CC BY 2.0_Flickr
Foam flower
Dwarf crested iris (Iris cristata)_Buddha Dog_CC BY-SA 2.0_Flickr
Dwarf crested iris
Barrenwort (Epimedium x youngianum 'Niveum')_K M_CC BY 2.0_Flickr
Barrenwort
Wild ginger (Hexastylis arifolia)_Tom Harville_NC Native Plant Society_Oct 2005
Wild ginger

Putting it all together
Shade-loving groundcovers are fitting partners for other shade plants, such as ferns, hostas, Japanese anemone, trillium, and hellebores, and shrubs—including evergreen Japanese plum yew, for example, which works beautifully in partial shade. Together they create a serene beauty that few gardeners (or admirers) can resist. 

Groundcovers aplenty for shade, sun, and in between
When it comes to groundcovers, we have a multitude of choices well-adapted to sun, part sun, or shade. Check back through this five-part series on groundcovers to get more ideas.

There are aesthetic as well as practical reasons to invest in groundcovers. These often-humble plants bring texture and beauty to our gardens. Perhaps Alison Arnold, Buncombe County’s Extension Agent for Agriculture and Consumer Horticulture, said it best when she described them as “the fine linens of landscaping.”

Article written by Janet Moore, Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteer.

Read more
Common Mosses of the Northeast and Appalachians
Book by McKnight, Rohrer, Ward, and Perdrizet (Princeton University Press, 2013)

The Magical World of Moss Gardening
Book by Annie Martin (Timber Press, August 2015)

Managing Moss in the Landscape
by Paige Burns, NCSU Extension Agent, Richmond County, NC

Foam flower (Tiarella cordifolia)
by Missouri Botanical Garden

Plant Files by NC State Extension
Iris cristata (Dwarf crested iris) 
Epimedium x versicolor ‘Sulphureum’ (Bicolor barrenwort)
Epimedium sempervirens (Bishop’s hat)
Epimedium x youngianum ‘Niveum’ (White epimedium)

Hexastylis arifolia (Wild ginger or little brown jug)
by North Carolina Native Plant Society, Native Plant Gallery

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Categories Landscaping Tags dwarf crested iris, epimedium, foam flower, moss, wild ginger

NC Cooperative Extension; Empowering People, Providing Solutions

Blog posts written and published by Extension Master GardenerSM volunteers in Buncombe County.

Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to our blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 3,693 other subscribers

Recent Posts

  • Dramatic Winter Damage? What Should I Do?
  • 2023 School Garden Grants Available: Applications Due February 3
  • What’s THAT Evergreen? Can I grow it?
  • A Gardening Guide for Our Mountains: The Perfect Holiday Stocking Stuffer
  • Non-native Invasive Plants: Nandina domestica (Heavenly Bamboo)

Categories

  • Events
    • Extension in Buncombe County
    • Extension Master Gardener Plant Clinic
    • Lectures & Seminars
    • Plant Sales
    • School Garden Grants
  • Flowers
    • Bulbs
    • Perennials & Biennials
    • Roses
    • Wildflowers
  • Gardening for Children
  • Gardening Videos
  • General Gardening
    • Installation & Planting
    • Mulch
    • Native Plants
    • Propagation
    • Seasonal Chores
    • Soils & Fertilizers
  • Houseplants
  • Landscaping
    • Firewise Landscaping
    • Landscape Design
    • Site Conditions
    • Water Management
  • Lawns
  • Pest Management
    • Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
    • Invasive Plants
    • Pesticides
    • Weeds
  • Plant Diseases
  • Plant Insects
    • Beneficial Insects
    • Insect Pests
    • Invasive Insects
  • Shrubs
  • Special Gardens
    • Container Gardens
    • Herb Gardens
    • Pollinator Gardens
    • Rain Gardens
    • Shade Gardens
  • Trees
  • Vegetables & Fruits
  • Wildlife

Contact Us

Buncombe County Extension Office
49 Mount Carmel Road
Asheville, NC 28806
Helpline 828-255-5522

Events

Keep up with our events by subscribing to the blog or checking our Events Calendar.

Explore the Archives

Back to Top

Copyright © 2023 Extension Master Gardeners of Buncombe County. Privacy Policy.