Re: [SG] Yew was:Shrubs for Shade

Bobbi, you're right about yews *if* Rosemary isn't plagued with deer who
think they are candy.  I have to fence mine in every winter or I have
sculptural brown sticks.  I find they do quite well in light to dappled or
open medium shade, but will thin out pretty badly in heavy shade.  There is
also a prostrate cv, T. baccata 'Repandens', very nice, if the bloody deer
would leave it alone, it's hard for it to develop the flowing character on
the wall where I put it when it gets munched to brown every winter :-(  I
love yews and just wish the deer didn't.

Berries are a sex thing....Taxus, like Ilex are dioecious....all male
flowers on one plant, female (hence berries) on another, so guess you just
have all boys ;-)

V. x carlcephalum (a cross of V. carlesii and somebody I can't recall) also
does well for me in pretty good shade - fills the garden with a fabulous
fragrance in early spring.  Gets tall over time, tho'...mine is probably
nearly 12' in 15-18 years.

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@clark.net
Editor:  Gardening in Shade
current article: Mailorder Nurseries - On and Off Line - Part 2 - Munchkin
Nursery
http://suite101.com/welcome.cfm/222

----------
> From: Roberta Diehl <diehlr@INDIANA.EDU>
> Date: Sunday, January 17, 1999 9:21 PM
>
> 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
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index