defining shade.. or the converse.. the requisite amount of sun provided.. is near impossible over the web.. and on words alone..

you are left with simply trying it.. and seeing if it works..

good luck

ken

I think garden verbena has a better chanse of blooming then the ground cover type. Plant several things and one will take over.
ken_adrian enjoyed your philosophies on your page. I am struggling with the 'put it out of my misery'. I am tortured by those long suffering plants and clean some of them out just before company comes.

Not sure what the difference between "garden verbena" and "ground cover verbena", but in my 30 years of hort experience, verbena is full sun. They love hot, dry conditions.

I don't speck a da Latin usually. How about Verbena speciosa, flat prostrate ground cover type plant. Verbenaceae Glandularia candensis, 'garden verbena' more upright, larger leaf and great in a pot. Yeah they like it sunny and fast draining soil but she doesn't have it. I take little chances all the time to see what might work. Both are perennial here.

You can try anything, but dappled sun only from 10-4 is extremely shady, imo. But if you are saying it is sunny the rest of the time but mid-day sun puts it mostly in shade from 10-4 then I think it might be ok. Not great but OK.

If you are looking for something and verbena was just candidate #1, do ask for other suggestions, maybe show a picture in either case.

Sounds like I don't have enough sun, though compared to the *really* shady bed in my backyard, this one is pretty sunny. Just looking for something new to plant amidst the hostas, which are getting a bit boring for me. Thinking Torenia might be the answer...

Should have asked before, also, what kind of trees are over this spot?

I love torenia, blooms a long time, you can make cuttings in water. Sounds like coleus and/or caladiums would do well in this spot, full-time wow, no waiting for flowers.

P.S. Your zone changed from 7a to "none."

We've got a silver maple directly over the bed, with another kind of maple to the south, which blocks some light too. We live in a rowhouse in DC, so our yard is very small. Below is a link to our backyard.

http://www.flickr.com/x/t/0091009/photos/53607757@N02/5619084518

The bed to the left, much to the disappointment of my preschooler, is now filled with hellebores and white impatiens, which is a lovely mix. The hostas have grown in so that they fill about 2/3 of the bed to the right. I think the torenia would be a nice complement, though the coleus is a good suggestion too.

LOL I see the toys where you now have hellebores and impatiens. My son can't understand why I would want to cover up all of our dirt with flowers, either. I don't see any reason not to try torenia.

Also wanted to correct myself. Yesterday when I said I had done cuttings in water, I was apparently experiencing a mixed memory of torenia and nemesia. I don't know if torenia will root in water, it's the nemesia I was remembering. BOTH bloom a long time.