Solomon’s seal is a great shade plant. If you’re like me, you like to combine plants in your garden that look good all the time — not just when they’re in flower. I’ve put together a list of plants that I think make ideal companions to this beautiful, arching perennial. Many of them are known for foliage, such as the maidenhair fern and the hosta. But there are flowers, too. Celandine poppy has bright-yellow flowers just before the Solomon’s seal stretches to its full height. And after it flowers, its clean, uniquely shaped foliage looks good the rest of the season.
Pair dwarf Solomon’s seal with coarse-leafed pulmonarias or fine-textured sweet woodruff. Either contrast helps to show off this charming little plant to its best advantage.
| Plant Name |
Botanical Name |
Cold/Heat Zones |
| American barrenwort |
Vancouveria hexandra |
5 to 8 / 8 to 1 |
| Bleeding heart |
Dicentra spectabilis |
3 to 9 / 9 to 1 |
| Canadian wild ginger |
Asarum canadense |
2 to 8 / 8 to 1 |
| Celandine poppy |
Stylophorum diphyllum |
6 to 9 / 9 to 6 |
| Epimedium |
Epimedium spp. |
5 to 9 / 9 to 3 |
| European wild ginger |
Asarum europaeum |
4 to 8 / 8 to 1 |
| Foamflower |
Tiarella cordifolia |
3 to 7 / 7 to 1 |
| Hosta |
Hosta spp. |
4 to 9 / 9 to 1 |
| Japanese pachysandra |
Pachysandra terminalis |
4 to 8 / 8 to 1 |
| Maidenhair fern |
Adiantum pedatum |
3 to 8 / 8 to 1 |
| Pulmonaria |
Pulmonaria spp. |
5 to 8 / 8 to 1 |
| Siberian bugloss |
Brunnera macrophylla |
3 to 7 / 7 to 1 |
| Sweet woodruff |
Galium odoratum |
5 to 8 / 8 to 1 |
| Virginia
bluebells |
Mertensia virginica |
3 to 7 / 7 to 1 |
| White baneberry |
Actaea pachypoda |
4 to 8 / 8 to 1 |
| Yellow archangel |
Lamiastrum galeobdolan ‘Herman’s Pride’ |
4 to5 / 8 to 1 |
