Raingarden in the shade?

I hope this is the right forum for this.

I need to do some minor drainage planning.  The ideal place for the water to go is into a natural low spot, where I can easily build a raingarden with bricks and soil.

But the garden would be in the heavy shade of a massive maple tree.

Will the raingarden be successful?  And what plants could be grown in wet shaded areas?  The water would be runoff from the roof and a small courtyard.

I'm in Zone 7b.


Thanks!
-Johntodd

John, I don't know about particular plants that would grow in the shade, but plan for lots and lots of leaf mulch in your rain garden.  I inherited a small, lined pond that the prior owners located under a bunch of big leaf maples. It is a leaf bog.  Now, because it is lined and the liner is piles with heavy rocks, I haven't gotten around to fixing it.  But not a whole lot seems to be growing around the edge in this area due to the heavy layer of leaf mulch every fall. But, you know who LOVES it?  The local frogs.  I have so many frogs in my garden this year.   Just design with an annual heavy influx of mulch in mind.

Ferns might enjoy moist deep shade, and there are many species of hardy fern.

Wild ginger
Alpine strawberries
wasabi
hibiscus

If you don't need them to be edible, take a look at native plants for your area. Native grasses do great in rain gardens.

Under the shade of my maple where it's wet, I have growing:

* Salmonberry
* Blackberry
* Thimbleberry
* Stink Currant
* Nettle

I'd assume that other cane plants (like raspberries and domesticated blackberries would do well).

Lingonberries like it wet, and might tolerate the shade. Cattails are another edible that will probably do okay, even in the shade. Bunchberry and violets and miners lettuce should do well on damp ground, and they also like the shade--all three are edible. Devilsclub is a medicinal, horribly pokey large shrub that likes the shade and wet, and might try to take over.

I know there's more, like watercress and waterchestnut grow in water, but I can't remember how they do with shade.