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I just saw an article about Sol's Seal and I think I like it. I have astilbes in front of the evergreen bushes in front of the porch. Those are the little sticks you see in the picture.
I need to find something to cover the open spots by the fountain since we took out other plants last fall. Do you think I could put the SSeal in front of the astilbes? How tall does it get? This area is elevated a bit from the larger deciduous bushes you see in front. So, the area off the porch will be mostly seen when sitting there and not from the street.
Also, when the fountain is on (packed away for now), the wind sprays water onto the ground. Will that be a problem for the plants?
And is it evasive?

I'm open to other ideas, too.
p.s. those are fake mini evergreen bushes along the walkway with the striped candy canes. They're frozen into the ground.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: nance425,

Nance425. I love solomon seal in my shade garden. However, they do get tallish and may hide the astilbe somewhat. They also spread significantly. At least here in 5B (NH)that's the case.

Oh rats. I thought it would be smaller. Thanks for the input.

Nance, I bought some SS at a local plant sale......figured it must do well here and reproduce enough to sell starts. Maybe mine isn't in the right place, but it's never done anything.....it comes up each spring but seems to shrivel as the heat increases.....and I do have it in my one good shade bed. So being in Minnesota, maybe it's more of a cooler season grower and it will do well for you.

I understand that it's a spring bloomer, which is what I wanted...the rest of the time just those pretty draping fronds. Personally, I didn't (or haven't so far) had any luck with it.

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I have a small bunch of S seal...started from a plant exchange & it is getting tall...very pretty but didn't bloom all that long. I would look for something long blooming right by the house or plant so that when one thing stops blooming another starts. Its actually a good spot for annuals. You can't beat the color from annuals.

i have some varigated SS and i really like it. i bought from a local nursery, put it in my shade bed and it is really nice. mine hasn't spread that much and i was looking for it to. i really like when it blooms, but when the blooms are gone, i still have the varigated fronds.

this area gets a lot of shade as we face NE.
Had to take out the stella daylillies. They didn't do much at all there.

Any ideas what kind of annuals might work, especially some that won't mind getting sprayed by the water fountain???

What zone is that again? Is that acid loving soil? Balsam would grow there possibly. Need to know more.

Muddy - we're in zone 4b.
Those are boxwood shrubs behind the fountain.
The soil has had lots of mulch and we put in compost and peat when planting. But I wouldn't say it's acidic soil. ???

I've been trying to grow Lamium for ground cover under the boxwoods, but I have to make sure they stay hydrated to look good. We get a bit of wind up in this lil area and the soil can dry out, especially if we turn the fountain off.
Fountain kinda looks like this,

In some places Soloman's Seal is a native plant while in others it is considered an invasive species. Check with your states Cooperative Extension Service to determine which it is in your area.

The native solomon's seal we had come up at one of our previous residences was in a wooded area. I think a fairly moist woodland type environment is what they prefer, at least this far south.

I just read that S.S. is native to MN. Does that mean it's not invasive.

LRP's: They might just work in this location if they didn't get so high. ???

I might just give Balsam a try. It looks interesting.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: nance425,