Carex siderosticha 'Island Brocade' (PPAF) - Island Brocade Sedge
After an all-too-brief explosion of spring color, what’s left in your woodland garden?  Not much?  Regrettably, most shade plants bloom in spring.  For the remainder of the season try substituting an explosion of foliage forms.  Create a mini-jungle.  ‘Island Brocade’ will give you a bold, tropical look all season long.  It’s both hardy and quite evergreen.  The broad, arching blades are margined creamy yellow, providing a manifest point of focus in an otherwise amorphous shade area.  Its strap-like blades contrast well with the foliage of Hosta, Epimedium, Hellebores and Bergenia, all of which will help you achieve maximum late spring to fall interest in your shady areas.

Sun Exposure: Partial shade to full shade
Cold Hardiness: Zones 6-9
Spacing: 12"
Growth Rate: Moderate
Water Needs: Moist, well drained soil: not really fussy
Delphinium exhaltatum - Exalted Delphinium
I first saw this plant several years ago at the Holden Arboretum outside Cleveland.  “Baby, where have you been all my life?”, I told myself.  It has taken us some time to get it into production.  Delphiniums aren’t easy.  If they were, they’d be no fun.  Although this “larkspur” is native to the midwest, it is very rare.  I am told that intrepid plantsman, Roger Gettig of the Holden, discovered a few plants growing on the fringes of the Toledo airport.  It has never been in commercial production, Lord knows why.  It’s beautiful, standing some 6’ high in flower.  The florets are true purple, somewhat smaller than the common hybrids, but much more numerous, forming a Christmas tree of small flowering stems off the main stalk.  It blooms in mid summer.

Sun Exposure: Full sun
Cold Hardiness: At least north to Toledo and south to Nashville; Zones 5-8
Spacing: 2-4’
Growth Rate: Slower than Pacific Hybrids
Water Needs: Less than Pacific Hybrids
Disporopsis pernyi 'Bill Baker Form' - Evergreen Solmon's Seal
We found this rare treasure in the courtyard of a Buddhist monastery at the foot of Mt. Omei in Western Sichuan Province.  The monks let us harvest its blue-black berries.  They were probably thinking, “Those crazy Americans will eat almost anything.”  Don’t try it.  The green stems and leaves of this plant are so uniform and glossy that you may be fooled into thinking they’re plastic.  Not so when in April and May you see its dainty white flowers emerge all along the underside of its 12” arching stems.  The effect is very subtle and quite magical, but don’t expect a glitzy show.  This is a collector’s item which will give you twelve months of interest in your shade garden.

Sun Exposure: Partial shade to full shade
Cold Hardiness: Zone 6-10
Spacing: 12"
Growth Rate: Moderate; colonizes slowly
Water Needs: Moist well-drained soil
Dryopteris x australis - Dixie Wood Fern
A rare, sterile hybrid found occasionally between Virginia and Louisiana, it is perfectly hardy here but must be produced vegetatively since it yields no fertile spores.  So far as we know, this collector’s item has never been offered commercially.  Its big, glossy fronds are very upright and quite tall, often reaching five feet in rich woodland soil.  Except in severe winter conditions, the fronds will remain green and beautiful all winter.  Lovely sticking up through a foot of snow; great for indoor floral arrangements.  Are you ready to maintain and proliferate one of our most beautiful endangered species?

Sun Exposure: Partial shade to full shade
Cold Hardiness: Zones 5-9
Spacing: 3-4'
Growth Rate: Quite slow
Water Needs: Very heat and drought tolerant
Geranium phaeum 'Samobor' - Samobor Cranesbill
English plant doyenne, Elizabeth Strangman, found this geranium in the mountains of Bosnia during the recent unpleasantness there.  One can imagine her dodging bullets as she botanized, oblivious to her dangers.  ‘Samobor’ has rather large, maple-like leaves that are somewhat rough-textured and individually centered with purple blotches, an eye-catching attribute.  The plant has delicate pink flowers on 15-18’ stems in June over a 12” rounded mound of leaves.  It’ll take full sun and blistering heat but seems to accept shade equally well with less foliage color.  Makes a nice “skirt” for a group of bearded irises or a single clump of peonies of any color.

Sun Exposure: Full sun or part shade
Cold Hardiness: Zones 4-8
Spacing: 12-18"
Growth Rate: Moderate
Water Needs: Needs moist but well-drained soil of neutral pH
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