Flowers for the Shade Garden Trivia Quiz

Answer: jack-in-the-pulpit

The cute little "jack" is a spadix, and his covered pulpit is a spathe. The flowers are barely visible around jack. There are also three large leaves on the stalk too. Plant corms in the fall, or transplant container-grown plants outside in spring, and you'll have jack-in-the-pulpits.

They require little care, other than watching for slug damage. They grow 1-2 feet (30-60 cm) tall, and are best planted about the same distance apart. They are at their Bible-thumping best in spring and early summer, then produce bright red berries in fall.

Answer: lady ferns

These tall ferns love dappled shade, if you can find a bit of that. We let them grow up by the side of our porch, at the back of our garden, so everything short is shaded but they get some early morning sun across the porch floor. They can handle full shade too, and have beautiful, delicate fronds. Garden shops can provide rhizomes that are planted in the fall and begin growing the next spring, or you may find small potted ferns in early spring.

They are easy to care for, with the usual requirements of a shade garden.

There's a northern and southern type, so get the right one for your zone.

Answer: bleeding heart

The hearts have a little drop of "blood" at the bottom, and come in many color combinations of white, pink and red. They bloom in the spring, then die back in summer to prepare for the next season. Their roots can be planted in the fall, and they can also be divided at that time. Wait for the leaves to die all the way down and turn brown before removing them, because if they've got any green, they're still returning nourishment to the roots for next year.

Answer: Christmas fern

Christmas ferns will stay green long after other shade garden plants have died back. They're not as delicate-looking or quite as tall as other ferns, but they reach 2 feet (60 cm) and keep a little green showing late into the season, if that's important. Plant roots in fall or transplant potted plants in spring.

Answer: hosta

You knew it was coming! No talk about shade gardens is complete without mentioning hostas or plantain lilies, as they're also called. There are numerous commercial varieties, most grown for their year-round showy foliage rather than their brief blooms. Plant them from roots in the fall.

The leaves typically grow 1-2 feet (10-20 cm) high, in an expanding circle up to 3 feet (30 cm) across, and produce blooms on stalks above the leaves for a couple weeks in midsummer.

Answer: lily of the valley

Lilies of the valleys are poisonous, like many plants mentioned here, so keep children and pets safe. The plants offer tempting but equally toxic orange berries in the fall, too. There are some commercial varieties with pink flowers, but most are white, and spread by underground roots once they're established. You can plant a bare root or two in the fall to get a colony started.

Answer: cardinal flower

The brilliant cardinal flower grows in meadows near woods and at the edges of wetlands in the wild, so if you have a damp, rich soil in the shade, it will feel right at home. It's a perennial that can be propagated by planting the root, and can also be encouraged to self sow by letting seeds fall directly on soil through any mulch.

Many cultivated species allow a variety of colors, including white highlights, and blue.

Answer: trillium

Trilliums can be purchased as bare root or started in pots, but they expand slowly, so get what you need to cover the area you want. They can be spaced about 12" (10 cm) apart. The largest and most common are white, but there are yellow and red varieties too.

Answer: foxglove

Foxgloves may be either biennials or perennials, but will self-sow in good conditions. There are many cultivated varieties of different colors, heights, and growth habits. They produce digitalis, which can be made into the heart medicines digitoxin or digoxin, but also act as a poison if children or pets eat any part of the plant.

Answer: astilbe

Astilbes, also known as false spirea, come in many cultivars of different colors, ranging from white, to pink and lavender, to bright red, and a variety of heights. They are comfortable with shade but grow near ponds in nature, so they prefer soil that doesn't dry out.

They are perennials, best divided every few years after they've died down for winter, and mulched well to protect from freezing.