In rather deep shade underneath a live oak tree, Hawera has persisted for me.

Nell

Hawera, amazing and wonderful Narcissus that it is, persists in fairly deep shade for me, too, although it gets leggy by bloom time and hasn't really increased. It does bloom each year, though. Muscari armeniacum does about the same in similar conditions: a small clump of it blooms each year but doesn't increase or decrease in size.

Erythronium 'Pagoda' does really well here in an area that gets almost no direct sunlight. Fritillaria meleagris is doing well in the same area, but this spring was only its second year so I don't know how it will do there, long-term.

A few that I haven't grown, but have seen growing under mature yews and in other areas with no direct sun: Hyacinthoides hispanica, Allium triquetrum, Corydalis solida. The Allium and the Corydalis are both moisture-tolerant. You might look into Scilla siberica, too; I'm not sure but I think it will grow and bloom in very low light.

Then there's Ornithogalum nutans, which will grow in total shade (in my experience). It's pretty, it grows anywhere with ease, but it is vigorous--no, aggressive--and can overrun more delicate plants. It will also seed all over the place. It's better-behaved than O. umbellatum...at least nutans is manageable if you watch it.

Another option, suggested by Ken Druse in _The Natural Shade Garden_, is to grow hardy, sun-loving bulbs as annuals. Leave them in the ground to see what they do--they might very well persist--but plant new ones each fall just in case.

The courtyard and plant choices you described sound lovely.

Amanda

Thanks for the tips Amanda and Nell. The "bulbs as annuals" approach might work. Lately my wife has been getting anxious to move to a different school district. I don't really want to move and leave my garden behind, but oh well. If we move it will likely be next spring and part of the reason for planting bulbs now is to have some color in case I cannot hold my wife all until June.

Searching around I see Muscari shows up on some lists of shade tolerant bulbs. I will look into some of the other suggestions.

- Brent

Ornithogalum nutans will stay pretty much contained (no increase or decrease) in bright shade. In such case it will bloom toward the middle-end of May:
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Hyacinthodes hispanica (spanish bluebells) would absolutely love to be in a bright shade and will bloom for long time. They might dramaticly increase their presence in 2-3 years, though. Howevere there is a drawback to grow them in part-shade, foliage persist till end of June in such condition. To make place more interesting later in a season you could plant few liriopes that will hide their dying foliage and will bloom in August-September.
Pieris and bluebells look nice together:
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Snowdrops. Galanthus nivalis is best in shade, some of the other species not so good. Needs good moisture.

Bluebells as mentioned. Bluebells also like moist soil.

Cyclamen for autumn and winter flowers. Likes dry summers.

You might want to try Dog's Tooth Violets, Trilliums, epimediums (these come with very pretty foliage and lovely flowers - also known as Fairy Bells I think). Epimediums are great because they tolerate dry shade.

Hellebores are also nice plants that bloom very early, and have nice foliage the remainder of the spring and summer. Mine are evergreen in my zone 7 garden. Arum maculata is a nice little bulb for foliage (green with white speckling).

Other great little bulbs are jack-in-the-pulpits or arisaemas. Cool looking flowers and they die back when the weather gets warmer. Typhonium venosum or divaricata is also a nice ground cover plant.

The ones I have listed are a little more unusual than your common muscari, crocus, etc.

Susan

Brent_In_NoVA:

Here's a link that might be very useful in far more ways than you can imagine.

Bill

Here is a link that might be useful: The Missouri Botanical Garden - Plant Finder

Try HIPEASTRUM ( DUCH AMARYLLIS ) it will not disappoint you.
ARIF

Look into Siberian Squill (Scilla).

I forgot - I also grow my asiatic lilies in bright shade, and they do marvelous! But, you have to start with GOOD bulbs - like from Van Engelen/John Scheepers, The Lily Garden, B&D.

If you are growing the early spring bulbs, and you have deciduous trees, you can grow the sunlovers that will bloom before the trees leaf out.

Susan