What should I plant?

[Dragon Lady]

I have a north-facing house. And it is tall. Because it is tall, they put a two-tiered rock garden in front of my house, in front of the front porch. It is shaded for most of the day. (It gets sun in the late evening. Maybe the early morning, too.) Currently they have bark in there. (Which will probably be gone in a week with our wind. Though I really hope not.) There is also no sprinkler system. They recommended we don't plant anything next to our house (including the rock garden) to avoid potential flooding. But where it's in front of a wall of concrete, I'm not especially worried. But it does mean that anything I plant will have to be content with rain water and me watering with a watering can.

So, friends, what plants would be happy with only partial sun (though a fair bit of indirect light) and a limited amount of water. I considered xenoscape and planting desert plants, but do any desert plants thrive in not full sun? I'm stumped.

[Fredjikrang]

I forget. Do you live in Utah?

[Dragon Lady]

I forget. Do you live in Utah?

Yes sir.

[Fredjikrang]

Northern Utah?

I'm just going to assume yes. (It does make a big difference though. Though I guess if you live at high altitude in Southern Utah it would be similar.)

These are just off the top of my head. A good gardening book, or a trip to a local nursery would probably be more informative.

Some interesting shrubs:
Yews, all of them
Heavenly Bamboo (not a real bamboo, but very pretty, Nandina domestica)
Burning Bush (Euonymus alata "Compactus")

Perennials:
Bleeding Heart (Dicentra formosa)
Any of the Hostas
Blanket Flower (I recommend Gaillardia x grandiflora 'Goblin', though they like a bit more sun)


Ground covers:
Sweet woodruff (smells amazing!, Galium odoratum)
Thyme (also smells amazing. Check out lemon thyme especially! But does better with a bit more sun.)
St. John's Wort (Does well in sun and shade.)

[Dragon Lady]

Well, not to throw a damper on your amazing help here, Fred, but turns out, they installed pipes that are capped in our rock garden so that we can install a drip system! Apparently a new superintendent and a new landscaping company have different ideas on planting next to the house. I approve of this. So, I'll still need to install my own drip system, but I'm totally ok with that.

So now I just need to deal with not having a lot of sun, but I already did a ton of research on partial-shade plants awhile back. Hostas, bleeding hearts and columbines are among my favorites. All perennials, too!

But I'll definitely look into the ones you recommended, too. I'm definitely ok with learning more about plants!

[Fredjikrang]

Have fun with it! (And although the plants I mentioned are hardy, water wise, they certainly won't mind a good watering system. ;D )

[Dragon Lady]

Ooooh. Today I saw Calla Lilies and discovered that they only need 2-4 hours of sunlight. Ummm… yes, please! I love calla lilies! Lots and lots!

[Fredjikrang]

They are great, but I can tell you from experience that they won't overwinter outside in northern Utah.

[Dragon Lady]

They are great, but I can tell you from experience that they won't overwinter outside in northern Utah.

[sigh]

[Fredjikrang]

Weeeell, if you cover them with a thick layer of hay in the fall, it is possible, I suppose, but it would be a risk.