Is this a hopeless situation? Along the West side of my house, it's very shaded. At the foundation, there is deep shade all the time. It's also a bit moist, as the ground slopes every so slightly towards the house. I tried two Rhododendrons there last year, and both of them died.
I'd love to plant an evergreen hedge row along the house there. Am I dreaming? Are there any nice evergreens that will do well in deep moist shade? Thanks!!!
Evergreen Shrub for Deep, Moist Shade??
I have a lot of shade, but I'm no expert on shrubs, so I did a quick search on shrubs for shade and moist soil. Perhaps this list will help...
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/gl_trees_shrubs_other/article/0,,HGTV_3648_3136289,00.html
I'm no help, but if you don't get anwers here, try the Tree and Shrub forum. I think those people know everything.
The only ones I have found were very tropical looking, but they are hardy, too:
Cast Iron Plant http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/606/
Gold Dust Plant http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/130/
They aren't exactly shrubby, but they are large and fill in nicely.
I know of a few deciduous ones that look more shrubby, but you said evergreen.
What about Yews? Not sure if it prefers wet or dry, mine seem to do fine in both, plus they are evergreen. Wide choice in cultivars, so check it out. Good Luck!
Mountain laurels do well in forest shade, maybe not in deepest shade, but not much grows there.
If you have something for it to climb on, climbing hydrangea does well in shade. Takes a few years for it to get going, though. I have another vine, I think it is five-leaf aralia, that also does well in shade. The Boston Public Garden has made hedges out of it.
What about a hedge of Ivy ? Evergreen, beautiful, strong and very tolerant to shade. To make it grow in a hedge you could first make a supportive construction for it to clime on. After some time that construction will be completely hidden.
If you like some more colour, there are also the variegated types.
Ilex glabra (inkberry) slow growing, but likes moist shade.
I like bonitin's idea!
Thank you!! I have a lot to look into. I'll also pay a visit over to the Shrub folks. : )
Clethra alnifolia sixteen candles is a pretty good choice. Hydrangea quercifolia is another excellent shrub for wet dark areas.
OOPs. I didn't notice the word evergreen, disregard as both these are deciduous.
This message was edited Feb 12, 2007 3:27 PM
This message was edited Feb 12, 2007 3:29 PM
Thanks for the suggestions. Yes, I do prefer evergreens for that space, but if I can't find any, I'll gladly go with deciduous. : )
branches,
How much shade do you think the Ilex glabra can take? I purchased 4 "compacta" last spring and have found 2 did well in full sun with lots of space around them. The 2 that had sections shaded by other taller plants lost all the leaves on the side shaded. It could have been a spacing problem as the leaf loss happened later in the season when fall bloomers grew tall and leaned over a little. Do the leaves grow back the next season or will I have to replace them?
Karen,
Thanks for this thread, I've been watching to get some suggestions also. I have a Oregon grape holly (Mahonia aquifolium) that is very pretty and the right height for your hedge but is a west coast native and needs protection from winter wind and needs acidic soil. Mine stays green all winter but the one planted at the local library gets a little more sun and turns a lovely burgundy. Sometimes plants near a foundation have more alkaline soils so you might have to do a soil test.
BTW Ivy is very invasive in some areas of the U.S. It also requires a lot of maintenance pruning and can and has rooted right through my asphalt driveway. My neighbor has some planted under a privet border hedge (another invasive thug in my area ) and I spend days pulling this off my fence all summer.
sempervirens,
I have 3 plants, all in the shade and doing well. They grow slowly and should not drop leaves unless there is a problem. Maybe competition for water caused them to drop their leaves.
good luck!
Thanks branches, I'll check the watering this spring.
Hello. I am new here but I think that ivy is a bad choice because it is very invasive. The Clethra does like moist (but not evergreen), the Mahonia likes shade but not
moist, not sitting in moist I mean. Neither do Hydrangeas like sitting in moist. Hope this helps,
frederick
My mahonia aquifolia is planted in pretty poor soil in my front garden but does very well and it's very tough. Good luck with your project. There will be a perfect plant to suit your conditions - there always is!
I have a similar situation in front of my house (faces northwest and is heavily shaded by trees). I planted yews in 1987 and they are still there! They grow slowly and like to stretch so I have to prune the tips a bit each year to make them branch out. Mine are in very dry soil during the summer. I never water them any more, and they seem to be fine. It is amazing that they survive in that much shade.
toxi
May I suggest sasanqua camellias or kurume azaleas? Neither is hard to grow like rhodies and both will take deep shade and damp feet. They are supposed to go down to zone 7 but you might want to cruise your local good nursery to see if they carry them. Camellia Japonica is a little harder to grow but also is supposed to grow in zone 7. I grow them under walnut trees though so you see that even the Japonicas are pretty hardy.
Oooh, the Camellia Japonica's are pretty!! I'm going to look around for one locally, and maybe try just one to see how it does in that spot. : )
Karen, I just saw this thread. You might want to seriously think of having that area regraded instead. Water flowing toward the foundation of the house can lead to rot and not just in the area where the moisture is. Fixing the damage can be very expensive.
Thanks Betty. (I got your mail, too) : ) The water pools about 2 feet out from the foundation. So while it's getting very close, it doesn't actually pool up against the house. It pools just where I want to plant things. Naturally....
Our basement is dry as a bone, and the house was built in 1967, so it's held out for a long time. So far, so good. We do plan to re-grade it, because I'm sure eventually our luck will run out. But this house needs so much work, (new roof, siding, windows, etc.) that re-grading the landscape is pretty far down on the list for now.
Karen, Just found this thread and enjoying it.
-I know you said evergreen, someone already mentioned Itea. I have one growing now for a few years out in the woods, dense shade in saturated wet soil (12 months of the year) and it even blooms for me.
-FYI- I have had Yews die from being planted in a too moist spot.
-I like the Idea of an Ivy hedge but once it reaches the desired result it might become high maintenance, keeping it in check.
I don't think Japanese Pieris was mentioned yet, an evergreen shrub.
Calif_Sue recently posted pictures in PF of Japanese Pieris, Hybrid Andromeda Pieris x 'Forest Flame'. http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/81136/index.html I am not sure how much moister these plants like, does anyone know if they will tolerate moist soil?
I really like the mahonia. Nice yellow blooms, big grape-sized berries and wonderful dark evergreen foliage.
I'm probably too late with my suggestion, but one of the plants on the HGTV list SongsofJoy posted was Itea virginica 'Henry's Garnet'. It's a Virginia native that can stand shade and moist soil. It has lovely tassle-like blooms in June and good fall color.
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/3154/
... good thread... I am looking for shrubs that so well in shade also. I got a ugly fence I want to hide. because I need so many I am thinking about buying Poplars and keeping them cut down. I did pick up something thats prettier at HD called Japanese Cleyra, its a pretty lustrous evergreen plant that is suppose to do well in shade...it even blooms in the springtime. ...soo what you think about Poplars mixed with the Cleyra's? When the Cleyras grow out I can allways eradicate the poplars.