I would like to plant 2 or 3 bushes on the North side of my shed, it does not get sun until about 1:00 or 1:30 in the afternoon. What would be a nice flowering bush or scrub to plant in this area?
Since it does not get the morning sun but the afternoon and evening sun what would be a very eye popping scrub or bush to put there that has flowers in the Summer? This would be next to my vegetable garden. Right now it is a dead sport when you are looking in this area. It needs to have some brighting up there.
There is clay soil there. The last time I had it soil tested it was in the acidic area.
Looking To put Bushes on North side of Shed
For zone 5 Ohio, I'm thinking:
•Clethra alnifolia
•Franklinia alatamaha
•Hydrangea quercifolia
•Aesculus parviflora
Those are all good summer flowering species, and they should all be happy with less sun and acid soils.
These are all very nice bushes, but I was looking for something smaller in the size of 21/2 to 3 feet range.
Then, you are going to have to fall back to one of the dwarfer type things (I'm going with your "eye popping" request) that I don't usually have reason to use.
The various Spireas come to mind as summer-blooming plants, and there are choices with foliage approaching neon in effect. There are smaller Indigoferas and Lespedezas. Many of the Hydrangea macrophylla selections (mophead and lacecap) are quite happy on acid soils and indirect light - but prefer regular moisture.
Clethra alnifolia likely won't be that large a shrub for you - but you could check with local garden centers or the Cooperative Extension Service to see how it performs. It is easily managed by heading it back in the spring, since it flowers on new wood.
Since we looked at bushes lets look at perennials that would fit this space.
What would be a real eye popping perennial that would fuel this area?
What about lilies? They will do well in half day sun. There's all sorts of varieties. You will probably want either a mix of different ones to stagger bloom times or get a cultivar that has a long rebloom period. Then there's Black-Eyed Susan which is definitely eye-popping. Goldsturm is the most popular cultivar. However, if you have a hedgehog like I do, it might get eaten. Depending upon how formal you want it to look, some wildflowers will reseed and come back (esp. if you don't mulch heavily.) I am thinking of cleome right now, which provides nice color.
Coneflowers?
I have one of these Heliopsis.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/adv_search.php?searcher[common]=&searcher[family]=&searcher[genus]=&searcher[species]=helianthoides+&searcher[cultivar]=&searcher[hybridizer]=&searcher[grex]=&search_prefs[blank_cultivar]=&search_prefs[sort_by]=rating&images_prefs=both&Search=Search
and it blooms non stop from early summer on, has grown to a clump about four feet tall
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