Most meadow and prairie plants require at least one half day of full sun in order to perform well. If an area is shady, woodland wildflowers and ferns would be the best choice. There are very few seed mixes presently available for shady areas at this time. Most of our native woodland plants produce only small quantities of seed, and these are often difficult to harvest. Availability of seeds of woodland plants therefore tends to be low, and prices high.
Transplants are available for many woodland wildflowers, however.
There are a number of nurseries across the eastern half of the United States that propagate and sell a variety of plants for shady areas. As mentioned before, a critical consideration in the selection of a wildflower mix is its relative proportions of annuals, biennials, and perennials. A reverse phenomenon occurs with mixes composed exclusively of perennials and biennials. Because these plants ordinarily require at least two years to reach maturity, such plantings are typically dominated by annual weeds in the first year. The perennial flowers grow slowly and concentrate on building extensive root systems that will sustain them in the coming years.