shade shrubs suggestions
ksmetamaid
4 years ago
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suggestions for full shade shrubs/plants for front of house, zone 4?
Comments (1)There are different types of shade. If your shady corner is open to the sky it gets more light, even with the roof overhang, than if a tree also shades the area. Between the spring and fall equinoxes, an open, northeast-facing area will get some morning sun. This is important because even shade plants do better with some light. If this area is densely shaded, your best choice would be ferns. Summersweet (Clethra alternifolia) prefers sun to part shade but will grow in full shade, or morning sun with afternoon shade. Summersweet can also be a large shrub so plant it about 3 ft away from walkways, walls and such. This shrub prefers moist to wet soil. It is useful for stabilizing stream banks and widens by suckers. Its late awakening can be exacerbated by location. A shady spot can remain cool longer tricking the plant into thinking it's still early. It's at the northern edge of its range, but the yew (Taxus x media, var. Densiformis) is an evergreen that does well in shade. Its mature height is around 3 ft, but its width is 5 ft. The plant is poisonous, so don't put it where small children or pets can get to it. I'm suggesting this plant for the following reasons: it takes shade; it is long-lived and slow growing but can be cut back if needed; it's not particular about soil type or pH, though it won't take wet soil: it has bright red berries in the fall. Here is a site that may help with plant selection as the state includes hardiness zones 3 to 5. University of Minnesota...See MoreSuggestions for partial shade shrubs
Comments (18)"The OP asked for suggestions of shade loving shrubs in her zone. Doug gave some." Actually he didn't. He did provide a mock-up of the area with a variety of shrubs illustrated......but it wasn't until Embothrium's comment that any of the plants were publicly identified. Landscape or garden design is a much, much broader issue than just plant selection. If you were to compare landscape design to baking a cake, the plant selection portion would be like deciding what color frosting to put on it or if you needed to add chocolate curls or sprinkles. It is the very last step in the process. And plant selection for a small area planting bed - like the one in the OP's situation - requires minimal design input. Sure, there is some staging involved, but that is a far cry from actual "design". And there are literally hundreds of plants the OP could select from to fill this space. That's why a suggestion was made to ask on a more specific forum. I get the impression from this and a few other threads that some participants do not like being challenged or asked to explain the reasoning behind their suggestions. Personally, I find explaining the thought processes behind one's choices offers more information to the OP and other posters than just offering some pretty pictures. And it gets a dialog of other opinions going, which is always beneficial. But that is just me :-) I do think that snatching up the ball and leaving the playground when challenged is a bit childish - we are all adults here and the pros should be able to defend their positions or choices if asked........we need to do that often enough with 'real life' (as opposed to online) design issues and clients! It shouldn't be any different here....See MoreSuggest a shrub in this shaded area
Comments (9)I don't have any personal experience with diervilla, but from what I've read it seems to be a tough, adaptable plant. Red twig dogwoods of various types will also grow in shade. If it were me, I would probably look for an evergreen or two (such as yew or maybe boxwood) to hide the utilities on the left and the foundation, and then plant something with flowers in front of them. Mountain Laurel won't work here, because it requires very acidic soil. Most parts of the Chicago area are alkaline, so I'm assuming that yours is also. I'm not sure what to say about Hollies. I haven't tried to grow them, however one of my neighbors has several which are doing fine. My impression is that in general they would prefer soil that is on the acidic side, however there might be a few that are not as fussy....See MoreSuggestion for smaller, colorful shade shrub
Comments (24)I really much prefer plants that I can divide rather than casting seeds :-) I made a mistake of planting a rose campion that was given to me (told it was a lamb's ear), and now I have close to 50 of them coming up in my walkways! LOL I'm finding a lot of variety in hellebores, and there are some major differences in them. BHG said they can get up to 3' wide and 8' tall?! https://www.bhg.com/gardening/plant-dictionary/perennial/hellebore/ In this area, I think that I'd rather have colorful shrubs as the backdrop (would be fine if it's not flowering), then I could place the hostas, coral bells, and a shorter variety of hellebore in front of them. I have Ever Red Fringe Flower shrubs in the front yard (in full sun), but I'm reading that they do fine in part shade? I'm kinda thinking about rooting some cuttings and put them back there... the leaves would give the color I want, and it's free :-)...See Moreksmetamaid
4 years agockerr007
4 years agoksmetamaid
4 years ago
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5