full shade questions

[SE18]

Hi, over weekend installed a holding pond at the headwaters (uphill); I believe it's a heavy-duty concrete mixing tub. So I have some questions, but first off, I don't have fish or intend to have them.

1. Over the winter, when the pump is shut off, do these things crack with ice? Seems pretty flexible and I'm thinking could add a beach ball or stick of wood for absorbing expansion, read this somewhere

2. I'm at a loss as to what can grow in full shade (100% shade). I picked up some books and looked at plants but none of them seem amenable to full shade. I'm open to any suggestions, floaters, or submerssibles or anything. I'm even open to creating a bog there so bog plants would be OK as well. The site is under a cherry tree and between my house and a 6' solid fence and no sunlight at all gets there, although it is not completely dark either, as you can see in the photo

Thanks

DaveV

 

[sissy]

A heater would help and google plants for shade as some say for wet locations and if they say that they will grow in water .I know hostas grow in shade and like wet feet .I grow elephant ear on the shady side of my house where it stays damp and they grow great in water and caladiums .Caladiums come in a large range of colors and leaf types .I ddn't have a lot of shade yet but I am trying to provide shade so I can have an all caladium garden .Check out florida hill nursery.com online great prices and first plant you pay shipping and others you don't and they have great prices .I bought from them and they have nice healthy plants /.Walmart has all the bulbs on end of year sale ,just look to make sure they are not dried out

 

[SE18]

thanks; I've seen something similar to those growing in someones non-water shade garden

 

[sissy]

hosta's and loriope grow great in shade or sun and like wet feet or dry feet ,they are not fussy .I just dug up a bunch of loriope to transplant in other garden spots and have one in my pond now for 2 years .I have the variegated and the regular and mondo grass i forgot that I have black and green growing on the shady side of my house also and just one black one in my pond .Fountain grass also works good .

 

[gardengimp]

Well, I'm in central Florida, and our pond is in a protected spot. So I really don't have much to worry about in the freeze department. The pond is mostly shade. "Bright" shade until mid afternoon, then a few hours of full sun. It is actually the few hours of late afternoon full sun that give me the most grief.

PS - our pond but not our rig

For shade, you want to be looking mostly at foliage plants: ferns, rushes, sedges, moss, ginger, colocasia, calla lily, canna lily, caladiums, liriope, mondo grass. I've also got a few bromeliads and orchids as well as ariods, curcuma, society garlic, wild onion, chives, bacopa and coinwort. Impatiens do wonderul as floating island plants. Water poppies and 'large' lilies grow leafs but bloom seldom. I pick out lilies based on the leaf pattern :surprised: Also, oxalis, rain lily and quite a few iris; such as louisiana, blue flag, variegated japanese.

To me it is great fun experimenting and learning what works well and what doesn't. For example, in my garden I can grow green mondo grass fully submerged in 12" of water and it is totally happy. Black or variegated mondo grass I find wants it's crown above the water line.

PS - totally not our rig, but we can drool!

 

[Shdwdrgn]

Irises will grow well in full shade, but may or may not bloom. On the other hand, clematis prefers full shade and will flower like crazy - plant it in the dirt around the edges of the pond and watch it vine out.

 

[addy1]

Take a look at astibles, they do fine in a bog, or ground. Bloom with minimal sun or shade

 

[SE18]

the astibles are gorgeous; gardengimp that's impressive little setup

well, on the way to the plant nursery I stopped by a swamp, braving leaches and snakes; went back home and got 2 five-gallon buckets and shovels and here's the results. After the picture I filled in more soil, sand and gravel mixture with a couple small rocks to make a sort of bog

I will still try the astibles and other plants others have mentioned as there's still space.

It being August and hottest part of day and month, I hope the transplants survive; always been told to plant in the spring so I don't know

incidentally, this is the first year I didn't get any string algea. sort of miss it as it looks cool waving in the aqueduct current

DaveV