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Under The Oaks

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By ESTHER HAMMER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 7, 2008

Liriope

Hardy little fellas, these plants are my favorites because they can take a variety of conditions, from sun to shade, watered well or hardly at all.

Their foliage color ranges from variegated to dark green. Your choice should depend on what kind of effect you want. Do you need a dramatic patch of dark green or a softer blending?

Ginger plants

Stromanthe sanguinea "Tricolor" is sometimes called "Triostar." It has exotic white, burgundy-pink and green variegated foliage and grows up to about 2 feet tall. It thrives in shade in moist, well-drained ground.

It should be well-mulched for the winter and then cut back heavily the following spring.

Variegated Shell Ginger Alpinia spreads by roots or rhizomes and grows 3 to 7 feet high. It bears clusters of fragrant, creamy flowers, which give way to showy, bright red seed pods, usually in August.

It can take the cold and, if hit with frost, will come back the next spring.

Peace lily or

spathiphyllum

Get beautiful, white, lilylike flowers on a regular basis all year.

Peace lily likes water and needs a drink more than once a week during the hot summer months.

Loropetalum

A drought-tolerant shrub once established, "Chinese witch hazel" has coppery brown and green leaves that support clusters of showy pink blooms in the spring and sporadically throughout the year.

It's one of the few shrubs that blooms in shade, Taylor says, and can add some interesting color under the oak tree.

It can grow quite tall if not kept trimmed regularly.

Philodendron

The Xanado stays a little smaller than others of its genus.

It can get to be 4 feet tall but usually stays shorter, especially with regular trimming.

Esther Hammer

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