PNW Shade Palette
36 plants for dry shade, wet shade, and dappled.
Shade in the Pacific Northwest is not one condition but three. Dry shade under conifers, wet shade in low corners, and the dappled high-canopy shade that most owners actually have — each one is a different planting problem.
The default Willamette Valley garden problem is shade — too much, too dry, too rooty, too late in the day. The good news is that the PNW has one of the richest shade-plant traditions in the world.
For dry shade under conifers, the working list begins with sword fern (Polystichum munitum), low Oregon grape (Mahonia nervosa), salal (Gaultheria shallon), inside-out flower (Vancouveria hexandra), and evergreen huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum). These are the natives that already grow here unaided.
For wet shade — north sides of buildings, low corners, near downspouts — look to deer fern (Blechnum spicant), skunk cabbage (Lysichiton americanus) for the bog edge, false lily-of-the-valley (Maianthemum dilatatum), and red-twig dogwood (Cornus sericea) for winter color.
For dappled shade under deciduous canopy — by far the most common condition — the palette expands considerably. Hellebores, hakonechloa (Japanese forest grass), epimedium, brunnera, tiarella, heuchera, hosta, and Solomon's seal all earn their keep.
A finished shade garden almost always layers three heights: a low groundcover layer (8–12 inches), a structural mid-layer (18–36 inches), and an occasional taller specimen (4–8 feet). Skip a layer and the planting reads as either flat or top-heavy.