Great California Shade Garden Nurseries

Everyone who has ever lived in a home that's on a very shaded lot with big beautiful trees knows how hard it is sometimes to find really lovely and unique plants that do well in shade or in the mottled sunlight under the leafy branches of towering trees. Oh, there are usually the typical few hosta varieties, some heucheras, ferns and a few astilbe varieties available at most local garden shops. Most people all over the country have local access to these plants, but for unique and stunning specimen plants, sometimes we have to search far afield. Many of the small companies that have some very rare varieties of native or hybridized shade plants don't have big advertising budgets, but these are often the best sources for plants that can really make a garden exquisite. California is lucky in having quite a few smaller nurseries that have propagated some rare and very beautiful shade-loving perennials and offer them for sale to the public, either by mail order or by direct sales.

http://www.diggingdog.com/pages2/plantsshade.php
p.o. box 471
Albion, CA 95410
(707) 937-1130
The people at Digging Dog Nursery have made hunting for shade plants online into a wonderful experience. This is a small, family-owned and run business that describes itself thus: "a mail order plant nurseryon the Mendocino Coast of California." Most of the plants are portrayed in lovely drawings and are described in plenty of detail. Keep in mind that these are blooming perennials and not ferns or hostas. People who see something of special interest can email them with the plant's name and ask if that plant is suitable for a particular range of plant zones. However, most of the plants I clicked on cited a hardiness range on the web site. The prices seem very reasonable too. And they guarantee that customers will be satisfied with the condition of plants ordered or they will remedy the situation if notified within 7 days of the receipt of the plants.

http://www.elkhornnursery.com/default.aspx?pid=26d92807-ccac-49e7-958f-cb750525ec2d
1957B Highway 1
Moss Landing CA 95039
831-763-1207
enpn@elkhornnursery.com
Elkhorn Nursery is located in the San Francisco and greater Monterrey Bay area of California. This nursery uses no synthetic pesticides or herbicides on any of their plant stock. It takes some looking over the site to find shade-loving plants and it's best if people know what they're looking for--the genus, at least. But they really have a great variety to choose from.

Redwood Barn Nursery has specialized in plants just for their shade tolerance and they include plants that also flourish in climates much more tolerant or high rainfall than this area of California receives. The nice thing about this web site is that they actually give you some common names of many shade-loving plants to choose from. People can go onto this web site, look up these names and then refer to the other nurseries listed to see if more varieties of these plants are available there too.
http://www.redwoodbarn.com/DE_Weatherwimps.html
Link to the main site and click on "perennials, shade" to find the plants they offer there. These people have some of the most interesting plants and lots of informational links for folks in the area. Please note that Redood Barn is NOT a mail order nursery and only sells retail to folks who stop by their Sacramento and Bay Area nursery. Call them at (530) 758-2276, or email at redbarn@davis.com . They're located at 1607 Fifth Street in Davis, California.