Happy June! I know all you normal people are out having fun, and here I am writing about plants. That’s why I’m a plant nerd and you’re gorgeous and fun.

I thought today I’d write about grouping plants according to their water needs. It not only makes sense to do this from a water conservation point of view, it’s also good gardening – that way you know how much to water each group of plants.

Let’s start with the hardest: dry shade. Dry shade is the kind of condition you get when you plant under a tree like a Norway Maple: the canopy leaves the ground quite shady and the roots suck up moisture. If you’ve got a mature tree, especially one whose roots are close to the surface, you’ve got a lot of work, and you might want to think about attractive mulch as an alternative. If it’s a younger tree, and you can still get a shovel 6” down, then here are some ideas for you:

Groundcovers: Many of the usual ground covers will work in dry shade: Pachysandra, Vinca, Ivy, and Liriope. So will some ferns; Wood Fern (Dryopteris) is one. Check with your garden center to see if a particular fern will take low moisture. One of my favorite dry shade plants is Epimedium, or Barrenwort. Around here you can get a couple of different cultivars of it: Epimedium x rubrum, which has yellow and red flowers in the spring, and Epimedium x versicolor ‘Sulphureum’, which has yellow flowers. Both of these grow in small roundish clumps, and they will self-seed. They’re pretty well behaved, and the leaves stay lovely and interesting even after the flowers are gone.

Perennials: Many hostas will make it in dry shade. I like the very yellow leaved hostas, because they make the shade look brighter. I also like plants with variegated leaves in shade, and there are plenty of hostas that will suit. There’s a nice native geranium, Big Root Geranium (Geranium macrorrhizum) that does well, even spreads. The leaves are aromatic, and the flowers are a bright magenta. Don’t confuse horticultural geraniums with the ones sold in garden centers with the bright red, pink, or white flowers; those are annuals, and the ones with the species name Geranium are perennials. Bergenias can take shade too, and so can Lamb’s Ears (Stachys byzantina).

Shrubs: I love Japanese Kerria. It’s got yellow flowers in the spring, green stems all year long, bright green leaves, and it pops flowers all summer long. You may be able to get cotoneasters to grow in dry shade too, although probably not as shady as under a tree. Virginia Sweetspire prefers moister soils, but it’s very adaptable, and it will grow in shade.

Moister shady locations are much easier. Forest floors tend to be moister and, of course, shady, so go for a walk in the woods to see what grows well in your area.

Groundcovers: The gingers are nice in moister shade: there is a native ginger (Asarum canadense) and a shinier European one (Asarum europium). I have the native ginger growing between bluestones in a shady part of my yard, and I love the lighter color of the leaves. You can also plant Ajuga (Bugleweed), which comes in a number of cultivars, some with dark purple, some with variegated leaves. Sweet Woodruff is a nice groundcover for moister soils. Any of the dry shade groundcovers will work in moister soil as well.

Perennials: When I think of shady areas, I think of designing for interesting leaves. Hostas, of course, give you lots of ways of adding varied leaves, but so do the Heucheras, or Coral Bells. There’s a nearly black leafed one called Heuchera ‘Obsidian’ that I use a lot, and another called ‘Caramel’ that looks great with it. I’d avoid the very lime colored ones; they tend to frizz in the heat. In moist shade you can get lots of very interesting Sedges to work under trees. I am also very fond of the Variegated Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum odoratum ssp Variegatum). It has a gorgeous arching habit and great leaves. There’s also a Jacob’s Ladder called Stairway to Heaven with variegated leaves and little blue flowers in spring. There are a few kinds of Bleeding Hearts, too, and they’re great in shade. The most common is Dicentra spectabilis, which has larger flowers and a larger size, but goes dormant after it blooms. There’s also the wild Bleeding Heart, Dicentra eximia, which continues blooming all summer. The Astilbes also tolerate moist soils and come in a lot of colors and sizes.

Shrubs: My two favorite moist soil shade shrubs are Virginia Sweetspire, which grows naturally in swampy woods, and the native Red Twigged Dogwood (Cornus sericea or Cornus stolonifera). This plant flowers and fruits all summer long, so you get a constant supply of birds and butterflies in the garden. It also comes in a yellow-twigged cultivar, Flavirimea, if you prefer yellow twigs in winter.

Trees: You can’t beat Bald Cypress for really moist areas, but it also grows in all sorts of stressed out places; I’ve seen it in Chicago parkways, where the soil is so compacted that there’s little oxygen available to the roots. The native Redbud does ok in moist shade, as does the native Canada Hemlock (although where there are Wooly Adelgids, you might not want to plant one). Bur Oaks and Swamp White Oaks are good moist soil trees too.

OK, next time I’ll look at plants for sunny spots that are either very dry or quite moist.

Hope you're having fun planting - and weeding, and lolling, and generally enjoying your gardens!