Looking for Something

I am looking for something to plant in a spot that gets full sun up until about 11AM and then full shade after that. I want it to be at least 18 inches tall and no more than about 2 feet wide. It must bloom. Blue is the preferred color, but I'm flexible. Long-blooming, especially in the summer, is preferred. Has to be tolerant of clay. The area where this plant would go gets watered thoroughly once a week, so the plant would have to be able to stand getting fairly dry between waterings. Plants in this general area - but where there is more sun - that do just fine are giant bird of paradise, regular bird of paradise, pereskia, lemon tree, Virginia creeper and bearded iris. I want something to fit a blank area among these other plants.

Well, lantana and agapanthus come to mind for your conditions, but they are everywhere here & probably where you are too. I like the Blue Hibiscus (Alyogyne huegelii)
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/31420
& I have clay soil & mine is happy, but you would need to water it regularly until it got established. Princess flower (Tibouchina urvilleana) is another one that would like the afternoon shade, blooms all summer and are perfect for your zone, but they don't like to go without water.
http://www.floridata.com/ref/t/tib.cfm
Hope that helps. :~)
Donna

Check out Limonium perezii. I think that would work great for the spot you have in mind. It gets a taddy larger with time, but by then it starts to look a little worked anyway and can be replaced with a new plant. Here's a good pic of one.

K

http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/38163/

(Edited....by the way....the flower heads are huge, and the more you cut, the more you get! These flowers can be arranged in a basket or a lovely crystal vase (with NO WATER.....NO mineral line to try to get rid of later!) and left to dry....when they get dusty, just replace them!)



This message was edited May 26, 2005 10:36 AM

Sea Lavender is one of the plants in my garden that people comment about the most, but I didn't realize that it bloomed in that much shade. What a surprise! Thanks Karen. I don't know if it help Kelli.

So I'm thinking
Brunnera macrophylla 'Looking Glass'. 15-18" tall, blue flowers, but only in the spring. The blue requirement is killing me. Otherwise, I would one of the smaller hardy fuschias.

Corydalis is really blue and blooms a long time. Maybe you could use it as an underplanting for something upright and taller. Silver lace Fern comes to mind.

http://www.bigdipperfarm.com/cgi-bin/cart/cart.pl?db=stuff.txt&category=&search=Full-Shade&method=phrase&begin=81&display=10&price=&merchant=

http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/54040/index.html

oops, too much water. The Hellebores and the fuschias are pretty drought resistant once established, and I've found the Silver lace fern is OK with less than weekly watering in the winter. It's under an underhang. I've never grown Corydalis and my Brunnera gets more water than that. UC Berkeley says that Cordyalis lutea is a good plant for dry shade.

http://www.berkeleyhort.com/plants/p_shade_dry.html

fuchsia 'Papoose' - 18" tall and 2 feet wide. Not blue, but almost.

http://www.bigdipperfarm.com/cgi-bin/cart/cart.pl?db=stuff.txt&category=&search=Full-Shade&method=phrase&begin=151&display=10&price=&merchant=

fuschia 'Carmel Blue' but zone 10.

http://www.bigdipperfarm.com/cgi-bin/cart/cart.pl?db=stuff.txt&category=&search=Full-Shade&method=phrase&begin=141&display=10&price=&merchant=

And Tiarella's also are good. Some rebloom like 'Dark Eyes' and 'Iron Butterfly' but too short and not blue.

Sure you wouldn't like a nice Dryopteris fern? No bloom but they come in lots of sizes, colors, shapes, like the shade and tolerate dryness.

How about caryopteris x clandonensis blue mist. I love the fuzzy blue flowers.

I'm back. Thanks for the suggestions. Corydalis and caryopteris x clandonensis both sound interesting. I've never had much luck with fucshias.

I don't think a fern would not hold it's own visually. There is already a wide range of textures there. I think it needs some color. I am thinking blue or purple because those colors are supposed to recede visually and I want the spot to look distant. The spot I am taking about is between the two "birds" and behind the irises.

This is the view from across the yard. When I sit at the dining room table, all I see is that big blank. I want some color in there.

You're right. Ferns won't do.

OK - I'm thinking go up too. How about clematis 'Etoile Violette' up that lemon tree? There are a few Clematis that can take it in the shade, especially in zone 10. - you might check out Chalk Hill Clematis' list of north wall clematis. You could grow several in that space. I know that you're out of the zone but if you grow them in shade they'll be happy.
http://stores.yahoo.com/chalkhillclematis/clematisforshade.html
My 'Etiole Rose' grows in those condition and is blooming all summer first year and not slow like other clematis - except I'm hitting the water issue again. The photo is clematis Jackmanii superba climbing an unattractive bush. You need sun for that cultivar but you get the idea.

But butterfly bush (surprised?) will grow there and they come in just about any color you'd want - except maybe red. They bloom again and again too if you cut them back after flowering and feed them. I'll try to take a photo of mine blooming right now. There is one blooming in all day shade. One way you can beat the H2O problem is to use that water-holding 'goo'. I use it on my Hostas and they are happy in it. And mulch, mulch, mulch.

Another possibility is a brug. I know that they are supposed to like more sun than that but I have two that bloom even though they are in all day shade. Not yellow of course and you'd have to pick a shorter cultivar.

These perennial cineraria bloom all summer. You cut them back and they flower again and they fairly glow. They self sow but seem to avoid the lawn. Then you get little babies the next year. When the big ones are through blooming you just pull them out and the new ones take over. About 2 to 3 feet tall. Highly recommended. Don't know about water though. It's one of my most asked for plants.

If you don't hate red, the smaller red nandinas are pretty drought tolerant and they are red all year long.

I'm heading off blue here. Lollipop plant blooms 12 months of the year. It gets about two feet tall although it says 3 and it will grows under my 90% shade cloth. It also grows under my eaves and I only water there once a week in the winter. It would appreciate more than that in the summer though. This is a not-very-good photo of a baby but the flower spikes are about 6" long and seem to last forever. I do love this plant. The snails leave it alone too.

One other thought is abutilon. It's supposed to get more sun but I've found it's fine with this amount. It can get by without too much water, but it doesn't come in blue.

This message was edited Jun 16, 2005 4:19 PM

One more thought Kelli. I sure would be tempted to make room for one of those new little hydrangeas that bloom for so long. And you can make most of them as blue as you want!