Re: Evergreens and other Questions

At 10:01 AM -0500 6/19/00, Tammy Jones wrote:
>Hi - I am new to the list and am looking for evergreens (besides the
>obvious rhodies and hollies) that perform well in shade.

Obvious, but not in Minnesota.  Holly needs a protected location here
in zone 4a.  I'd love to grow holly.  We have just a very few
rhodies, either.

But have you considered Techny arborvitae for shade?  It will give
you a slightly more formal look.

>I have one site that receives about 3 to 4 hours of sun - and another
>near my patio that receives no direct sun, but dappled shade under a
>high canopy of trees.
>
>My garden is about 3 years old, cleared from "natural woodland."
>Although some of my hostas and astilbes are doing beautifully - I need
>something more in that "second layer."  I have planted a couple of
>japanese maples and a dogwood - but they are still young.  I hate the
>"plop plop" look of my young garden and am looking for ways to pull it
>together.

My pagoda dogwood volunteers that I moved in my woodland garden have
grown to 6 feet in just two years.  If you regularly water and
fertilize, transplants grow faster and better, so that would help
your garden fill in.

I grow things like thalictrum Lavender Mist and filpendula rubra
"queen of the prairie" and whatever that tall aruncus is called (the
goatsbeard one) to fill in the spaces in the shrub layer.  These all
bloom 4-6 feet off the ground.  Might be higher in your milder
climate.

I've also found that growing several identical plants together gives
the garden a little more unity, so if you have been planting all
sorts of different things, you might try getting some duplicates.
Depends on how much space you have.

HTH,

Karen.
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