White shade garden in SoCal ideas?

Hello Everyone--
I am new to Dave's Garden and have been awed by the amount of good advice there is here. I am raring to go with getting in a shade garden on the north side of my house. We moved in last year and my first priority was the front of the house -- an unkempt hedge of salvia, HUGE African Blue Basil, and euryops. Now planted with a crape myrtle, lavender, and a pretty dark purple salvia.

But I digress. My shade-garden-to-be has a 'mulch' of small pebbles (this guy was into low maintenance) and one 'gift' camelia that is pink and white. The agapanthus you see are doing well (surprisingly) but I'm not wedded to them in that location. I will be moving in two white camelias from around the corner. The bed is about 5 feet wide by 30 feet long, so there's lots of space to work with. I like the idea of multi-color greens and whites -- I think that will be soothing. Maybe heuchera or ajuga as a ground cover. Any suggestions for larger foundation plants that I can put in now? The bed gets about an hour of morning sun at this point and is in 'bright shade' the rest of the day.

This is my first post -- if it doesn't show up I'm in North Tustin, which I think is zone 9B. Many thanks for your thoughts!

This message was edited Oct 7, 2006 8:42 AM

This message was edited Oct 7, 2006 12:22 PM

Hi...
I'm in Long Beach, Ca. and have lots of things growing in my north facing gardens.

The Camellia is a good start! I doubt the agapanthus will bloom on that side, but you'll have to wait and see...probably not enough sun for them...

Northern exposures are great for Hydrangeas, Azaleas, Ferns, Heucheras, Campanula, Begonias, Fuchsias, Aucuba, Baby Tears, pretty much anything you see under the shade cloth at nurseries...."Zepherine Drouhine" is a pretty pink thornless rose that will do very well in shade...it's a climber....I get too much mildew on mine where I am, but in Tustin it would probably do much better...I don't think you get as damp as we do.....

I have a variegated Potato Vine growing on an arched wire arbor on the north side....it does extremely well in that location....it gets white flowers on it.....

Stephanotis will also do well on the north side....very fragrant !!! (Evergreen vine)

The fact that your house is white also reflects more light, which is good....

Annual color, like primroses, impatiens, begonias, and even lobelia will do well in shade.

I have loads of Calla Lillies in the shade....

The key to keeping things alive on the north side is not to overwater.....since the sun never gets directly in that area and stays wet longer.....so ammend your soil accordingly......make sure it drains well....(I don't know what kind of soil you have...)

How about some upright white fuchsias? I've ordered from this place before. The plants are small but grow really fast.
http://www.fuchsias.net/Color%20Catagories.htm/white%20up.htm

I grow Brunnera in my garden even though it's zone 9b. "Looking Glass" is a very pretty silver. It's not evergreen though. The variegated "Jack Frost' is very pretty also.
http://www.terranovanurseries.com/wholesale/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=29

I find that white dichondra reverts pretty quickly but it's very pretty anyway.

Variegated Pteris is beautiful. A little hard to find but you can generally buy it from flower vendors or indoor garden shops. It's a great shape and it's upright about 30" tall here.
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/54040/index.html

Hellebore "Mrs. Betty Ranicar" is a beautiful white double. (you can get this at Big Dipper Farm - or more expensively at Plant Delights Nursery)
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/90967/index.html

Another good ground cover is lemon button fern (12" tall). Very pretty and will spread. It's easily lifted and divided. Evergreen.

Here's a northern facing planting that I did that is evergreen (3 feet wide). The tree is A. Palmatum "Butterfly". Because it's in the shade though it doesn't have very much green in it so is basically a white tree. I like it a lot. It can be kept to 8 feet with careful pruning. This area is only 3 feet deep. You can see where the white dichondra has reverted.

Rocks are one of my favorite plants.

What great ideas -- I love your 'white tree', doss. Such a pretty garden! I did get some darker Heuchera yesterday and like the idea of a brown-ish ground cover that the other plants peek out of. Love Hellebores, so that's a done deal if I can find that cultivar or another white one. Thanks for the nursery links!

Stephanitos and callas are also great ideas -- I'm very inspired now!

Keep us posted on how it goes. There are some lovely pale violas too and white cyclamen for the winter.

Doss, that's a beautiful photo. What is the group of plants up against the wall under the Acer Palmatum? I don't recognize it.

Is the groundcover dichondra?

The plant up against the wall is variegated Pteris. It is incredibly under-used especially since it's hardy in our zone. Sometimes it's hard to find but I have found it at Yamagamis. You may be able to order it from them or even from an indoor plant store. People use them for terrariums.
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/54040/index.html

There is one source on line that I know of.
http://www.blackjungle.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=BJTS&Product_Code=F-PEV&Category_Code=

The groundcover is white dichondra. It didn't stay very white but it's not dark green either.

The red carex is a difficult choice as the flowers are prone to smut. I have to be careful to deadhead early. But it is really fun shade foliage.