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  1. Hi there
    You are aware, I’m sure, that most of these are house plants?
    I just don’t want anyone to try these outside, and waste their money.
    Kathy

  2. Oxalis is a good choice as mentioned above. I have some with pink flowers that bloom when it is cool and some with purple or white flowers that bloom when it is warmer. When I planted, I put both together so for much of the year, at least 1 is above ground & blooming. Some types of the purple can be planted in sun too. They are in the ground and in pots.

    My sister has been in her new house for about 5 years and keeps dreaming about a shade garden once her trees get big enough. There’s a lot of choice for shade.

    I love Christmas Cactus and have several in windows around the house. They propagate easily. The big one goes outside on the patio in the shade.

    I think I will try the String of Pearls again. It is such a pretty plant.

  3. Interesting…have never heard of some of them…wonder how easy it will be to find them locally to buy?

    1. I’ve found a lot of plants are available to purchase online if you can’t find them locally.

  4. My Mum always grew String of Pearls, Christmas Cactus, Aloe Vera and Jade Plant. Both my parents had green thumbs. Mum for house plants. Dad for the outdoor garden.
    I like Bari’s idea for a low deck. That would look lovely and solve lots of issues.

  5. I learned quite a bit about succulents. Thank you for sharing!

  6. Caladium (aka elephant ears) grows well in shade and comes in several colors, has heart shape leaves. I can’t grow my garden is in full sun.

  7. Watch out with ZZ plant, it can be quite toxic. Wouldn’t want the kitties to take a bite of it. Look for a succulent called “Ghost Plant”. It is cold hardy, and even survived being outside during our week long Snowpocalypse we had in Texas last year. Again this year, it survived being under ice for a couple of days, no problem at all. Very tough, morning sun is all it needs and looks beautiful in a container. I have a container placed on it’s side with the bottom buried (as if it had fallen over) and it is full of Ghost plant that cascades out of it like a waterfall.

    I’ve never been successful here with String of Pearls; it’s quite persnickety. Other plants I have in dry shade, both in ground and containers, are:
    Hydrangeas, Oxalis, Indigofera, Leopard plant, philodendron, Maple trees, Mahonias, Phillipine Violet, ground cover violets, Ajuga, Autumn Fern, River fern, Holly fern, and Aralia.

  8. There are some very cool succulents in the ones you wrote about – really like that “string of pearls.” I have some kind of yucca that was in the garden here when I bought the house in 2014. It grows very well and survives the cold and snowy Wisconsin winters, keeping its color. It grows in the shade, but needs some sunshine in order to set flower stalks. Mine blooms every few years, not yearly, probably because it doesn’t get sufficient sunshine. The flower stalks are about 2 feet tall and very beautiful white, lasting for weeks. I started out with one plant in the backyard garden in July 2014 when I moved in and today I have 4 to 5 plants all clumped together but moving toward the shade underneath a vast arborvitae that is as big as a maple tree. The area is very dry because the arborvitae sucks up a lot of the water, so I supplement water with a dousing from a hose in that garden bed once or twice a week during high summer if it doesn’t rain. Because of the extreme cold and snow we get, I usually do some pruning as the growing season starts in April to remove raggedy or leaves that got bent and broken during winter, or where the rabbits chewed during the winter (they only try eating the yucca if they’re getting desperate for food). The plant is very hardy and is one of the standouts in my gardens. I don’t know what species it is, but there are some that tolerate mostly shade and they like drier conditions.

  9. Thinking about your outdoor space – could you have a low deck built spanning both surfaces to bring them level?

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