Re: [SG] Shrubs for Shade

Rosemary, if you want shrubs you can keep to 4' max, I hope some others
will jump in to help. Yews are very slow growing, but if not pruned, even
they will eventually get very large. Ours were here when we moved in over
20 years ago and I think they are all the standard Taxus canadensis (which
Wyman says is best for shade) with one of the upright T. X media 'Hicksii'
[with a central leader] at each end. Down there, you could grow the
beautiful English yew, T. baccata. Alas, none of mine ever berry, but
some yews produce the most gorgeous translucent pinkish-red berries. Don't
know if this is a shade thing, a gender thing or a species thing. When I
went to Gene Bush's place year before last he had the most adorable little
dwarf yew--Gene? How big will that get? Probably more of a specimen plant
than something you want to use for a shrub border. That's about all I know
about yews.

Most of the shrubs I mentioned in my previous post get bigger than 4'. Our
cornel is at least 15' tall at this point and really is a small tree. One
I did NOT mention (forgot about it) is Spiraea prunifolia, which gets
absolutely no sun and still manages to bloom. The flowers look like tiny,
very double white roses. I'm sure it would do better in more sun, but such
is life. It doesn't get very tall, and has pretty, blue-green foliage
which gets good autumn color according to Wyman--not so good if it's
growing in shade. But sounds as if you, with your 3 hours of sun, have
more sun than I.

A glitch in my previous message--I meant to say Hamamelis vernalis, Ozark
witch-hazel, not Hamamelis virginica. The former is the one I grow. It
gets fabulous fall color some years. This year, not so great, but I
remember last year it was truly beautiful. The fls. are very small,
however, compared to the Chinese Witch Hazel (H. mollis). I bought both
from Wayside years ago. The vernalis is shorter and bushier. The Chinese
WH is very tall, but open in habit--you can see through it. I've said this
before on this listserve, but visitors go ape when they smell the
fragrance of these large yellow spidery blossoms in February--yes, I did
say February. Vernalis blooms at about the same time but is nowhere near
as showy or as fragrant. But it is a US native, so worth growing.

Viburnum carlesii is sometimes called Korean Spicebush but I think it has
other common names too. It too smells wonderful and has beautiful pink
fls. The west side of a house is a good place to plant it because of the
prevailing winds.

On my previous message I commented that Mahonia aquifolium would be a
possibility for lucky you, being in zone 6. Worth a try, anyway.

Bobbi Diehl
Bloomington, IN
zone 5/6
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