I concur. Woodland in Britain, too dark to support ground covering plants except perhaps Hedera helix, when opened up takes about five years to become carpeted with Hyacinthoides non scripta, Narcissus, Rannunculus ficaria, Anenemone nemerosa, Iris foetidissima, Mercurialis perennis and many others will appear -as if from no-where. Peter UK On Sat, Sep 21, 2013 at 5:37 PM, Kathleen Sayce <ksayce@willapabay.org>wrote: > I agree with Jane about shade tolerance. On Saddle Mtn in northwest > Oregon, a storm in 2009 opened up a formerly densely shaded stand of > Douglas-fir, and now the understory is coming into dense foliage cover and > abundant flowers. Included in this formerly light-starved, tolerating the > shade group > >From observations made in other forests in the Pacific Northwest, > Pacifica Iris persist in sometimes very dense shade for decades, waiting > for light after wind throw or forest fires, to come into full growth and > bloom. These include Iris tenax, innominata, douglasiana, thompsonii, and > other species. >