Shade Tolerant Xeric Plants

[Fairview]

Is there such a thing? Hardy to 7b. Will be planted north side of the behind the drip edge. Poorly drained at times from roof runoff.

Thanks

Frank

[Gee.S]

Could try some Hosta.

[Fairview]

Don't think of hostas as xeric but I have a couple and they have surprisingly endured our Texas summer heat and annual summer drought- with a little help from me on occasion.

Thanks

[Gee.S]

Some are more xeric than others, but many should survive your summers, your winters, and your roof runoff. Close agave relatives, BTW.

There are plenty of truly xeric shade-loving succulents, but I can't think of any that are nearly hardy enough for you.

[Meangreen94z]

Dasylirion texanum being from Central Texas is probably the most water tolerant Dasylirion there is. Where others died, it has thrived in Pearland, Texas wet clay. Any of the East Coast Yuccas such as recurvifolia, gloriosa, aloifolia will probably be ok with wet soil and some shade. True Yucca treculeana grows in wet coastal marsh in South Texas and also has thrived in Pearland. Texas sage - Leucophyllum frutescens did well in the Houston area . My Mimosa borealis seems to love water and is also a Texas native, not sure on shade . There are xeric hardy palms like Brahea moorei and Sabal ‘Tamaulipas’ that prefer shade and don’t mind water. Hesperaloe parviflora will probably be ok.

[edds]

Geranium macrorrhizum will survive anything - total dry shade freezing conditions and (UK) baking summers. Whether it will survive your summers I cannot say.

The hybrid with dalmaticum, x cantabrigiense, is similarly bomb-proof.

Another very successful dry shade plant here is cyclamen and you can combine a range of species in the same space to have leaves and flowers through most of the year.

I know neither are xeric in the traditional succulent way but macrorrhizum is through it's large rhizomes which store water and cyclamen through their tubers!

[Gafoto]

Yucca are worth a try. Yucca pallida is tolerant of some shade. ‘Color Guard’ get planted on the north sides of houses here in Salt Lake City all time and survives fine through the winter.

[abborean]

It may sound counterintuitive but the old timey version of Agave funkiana will grow in damp shade here. Gets huge in that situation (4 plus feet wide) and doesn't make pups. As someone else has said any of the trunking eastern yuccas can take and even thrive in damp shade. There's also the elephant foot plant for dry shade Elephantopus tomentosus. Can be weedy but we like it here.
Pic is 421 pale blue yucca I planted at our church. These are in full sun but can take full shade.

[Fairview]

@abborean I think I will be using a few dwarf sabal palmetto to start with. They tolerate full shade and poorly drained soils.

Is the pale blue yucca you mention the same as Y pallida? I have them in full sun in parts of my landscape and they seem to be happy. I thought the poor drainage created by the roof would be a death sentence to any yucca or agave.

[nsp88]

I don't know about the drainage or not, but this year I've really been noticing how many native Yucca grow in such a wide variety of conditions. This afternoon I collected seeds from thilese Yuccas which were on the edge of the forest (morning sun). Right behind it were a bunch of other yuccas that were completely covered by dense tree canopy and yet still thriving. Non trunking variety. Not sure which species. Flat ground so probably doesn't flood, but not sloped runoff.

[abborean]

@abborean I think I will be using a few dwarf sabal palmetto to start with. They tolerate full shade and poorly drained soils.

Is the pale blue yucca you mention the same as Y pallida? I have them in full sun in parts of my landscape and they seem to be happy. I thought the poor drainage created by the roof would be a death sentence to any yucca or agave.

Pallida isn't a trunking yucca. These are just bluish or glaucous leaved recurvifolia without the typical drooping leaves.
Here's a pic of funkiana growing under trees in a damp area on the edge of the property. Only agave I can think of that can take these conditions here. That's a size 13 shoe so you can see it's close to 5 feet across.