Shade plants for container

[Paulo]

I am looking to plant somethin in containers 50' diam X 50' deep. Location is shaded, beside a glass wall facing south to the lake, this location is like a protected gallery without any winter heating. I was thinking some hostas but i would like also something flowering. Do you think a hydrangea can make it there? I would like to plant a perennial

Tahnks for any idea

Paulo (Toronto, 5B)

[paghat]

Fifty FOOT containers? Those are some big containers. You don't say your zone so some of this might not be useful:

Hydrangeas need BRIGHT shade or dappled sunlight to flower well. If there is any time during the day when it would get SOME bright sun, hydrangeas might bloom well even if shaded most of the rest of the day. But generally, in deeper shade they'll have nice foliage only, &amp if you get one of the variegated hydrangeas, bright foliage may be enough, but flowers will be disappointing without some sunlight. An exception might be oakleaf hydrangea; it'll bloom well in considerable shade but isn't apt to have such gorgeous autumn leaf color without sun, though deeper shade oakleaf hygrangeas are sometimes semi-evergreen in protected spots, so it's all a trade-off.

The floweriest shade shrub is Camellia sasanqua, but if you're not in zone

7 or 8, they probably won't do as well.

Old-fashioned bleedinghearts bloom spectacularly in the shade, but die back in summer. Smaller Dicentra eximia or Dicentra formosa (native bleeding hearts) do not die back in summer if they remain moist, bloom fairly well in deep shade but better with indirect sunlight.

PJM rhodies can bloom in more shade than most rhodies but SOME sunlight makes it more certain. The rhodies that always bloom well in shade are the Korean Azalea 'Poukhahense' & a cultivar bred from it 'Purple Splendor' Azalea (not to be confused with 'Purple Splendour' a pontus hybrid that wants sun).

Aucuba shrubs get pretty big. Though the flowers are insigifnicant the leaves are yellow & green & bring light to a dark location. If you're careful to acquire only one male aucuba with one or moure female, they'll produce enormous bright red winter berries so very, very colorful. If you only have one aucuba even if it's female it won't have berries as it needs a male. Garden centers don't make it easy to sex them, so get one with berries already on it to be sure it's female, & for its male partner get the commonly available 'Mr Goldstrike.'

Another evergreen shrub, Leucothoe, has small white dangly flowers in winter with quite a fine vanilla scent that is most noticeable in enclosed planting corridors where the perfume isn't too quickly dispersed.

A big perennial called rogersia blooms well in considerable shade.

For a front border, hardy cyclamens bloom spectacularly well in autumn (Cyclamen hederifolium) & winter to early spring (Cyclamen coum) but die back during late spring & summer. An evergreen for a front border would be wintergreen, which has small white flowers &amp big red berries, quite a nice groundcover mini-shrub for a shade garden.

Corydalis flexuosa has extremely wonderful fish-shaped blue flowers, an easy & superior plant for Zone 8 in the shade, but delicate outside of zone 8.

Possibly the floweriest of all large perennials for deeper shade would be Japanese anemones, nice foliage then in early autumn bbursts into spectacular bloom.

-paghat the ratgirl

[Travis]

What has roots that go down 50 feet?

[Travis]

Paul (Toronto, 5B)

[Paulo]

I have already corrected my mistake...50"X 50"