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Tuesday - May 04, 2010
From: Austin, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Shade Tolerant
Title: Need plants with red flowers to grow in shaded area in yard in Austin.
Answered by: Jimmy Mills
QUESTION:
I have a shaded area where all the shrubs die. I would like to plant some flowers there instead of shrubs. What red flower plants can sustain a lot of shade.ANSWER:
You might want to explore what factors are causing the death of your shrubs: too wet, too dry, too shady? What kind of plants are providing the shade?
In the mean time, let me introduce you to an exercise called "Combination Search". Go to our Native Plant Database and scroll down to the Combination Search window. Select Texas under Select State, Herb under Habit, and Perennial under Duration. Under light requirement, check Part Shade or Shade (which ever applies); check Dry under soil moisture; and check red under flower color. Click the "Submit combination Search" button and you will get a list of plants from our NPIN data base with images that match these characteristics. By clicking on the name of each plant, you will pull up its NPIN page that contains descriptions of the plants along with growth requirements as well as more images. You can generate other lists by changing the choice in the categories.
Here is a short list of red-flowered plants that I found.
Aquilegia canadensis (red columbine)
Nyctaginia capitata (devil's bouquet)
Salvia roemeriana (cedar sage)
Malvaviscus arboreus var. drummondii (wax mallow) aka. Turk's Cap
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