best plant for dry shade

Have you considered fungi or slime molds?

What in the freak is a perrineal gorund cover ? Anything like canvas drop cloth to put over a perennial with a bad yeast infection?

Vinca major will thrive in such conditions, with big purple-blue flowers &amp large evergreen leaves. It snakes about in the shadows & will not leave the underside of a deck if that would mean crossing sunny areas. But if there is a strip of perpetual shade, it will find it & spread through the shade. It has an invasive rep but in reality its unwillingness to cross sunny areas & the ease with which it can be pulled up make it easy to contain -- it's only invasive when ignored & where it can find its way from one shady spot to the next via gullies or other shady strips. There are a couple of fancier cultivars that are more delicate but should still do fine in "under-the-deck" type locations.

Alternatively Cyclamen hederifolium would be a good choice, as dry shade is their thing; they bloom autumn & keep their ornate leaves until March. Can't plant both cyclamens & Vinca major though, as the big vinca would completely overwhelm the very short cyclamens.

-paghat the ratgirl

What's wrong with pebbles? How often do you look under the deck?? Why not plant stuff on the outside of the deck that will hide the under the deck area???

In the interest of modesty, you really want to cover your gorunds.

unless you are watering

The ideal plant for these conditions is Euphorbia amygdaloides var. robbiae (aka Euphorbia robbiae, Mrs Robb's Bonnet). It is a stoloniferous evergreen groundcover that is very happy in dry shade - I have used it many times under decking and it works great. Gets about a foot tall, increasing to about 16" when in bloom. Spreads gradually under these conditions but much faster if given lots of water. Will tolerate extremely low light levels and considerable dryness.

pam - gardengal

We have dense dry shade under some spruce trees that grow nearly to the gound and pachysandra thrives there. We also have some shade tolerant rhododendron that have survived these conditions. We use junipers and rhododendron on the edges where there is more light.

I have gravel under the deck. But most neighbors have something planted or store stuff there. They are dealing with skunks, possums, raccoons, snakes, mosquitoes, cats and rodents. The big advantage of gravel is that I have not had any problems with animals under the deck.