I am really stumped and am looking for any ideas you might have. We just added a room to our home, and a corner was created that faces northeast. Problem is that the sun just doesn't quite reach there in the morning and the addition now blocks the afternoon sun. I am even considering something decorative at this point. I was hoping to plant something large in there but am afraid with the lack of direct sunlight that nothing will survive. Any thoughts?
Suggestions for shady area
are you talking about perennials? tree? or shrub? there are many things that could work. Rododendron, Pieris, ferns, hostas, Viburnums, Kalmias, Mahonia, and I am sure other peope will have many more suggestions.
I would like to put a shrub there, and had considered a rhododendron, just was not sure about the lack of sunlight. I went out this morning and looked at the area as the sun came and actually some sunlight does go into that area but it doesn't last long. These are the longest days of the year, so there will be no sun whatsoever in autumn and winter. I have no experience with kalmia - what are the light requirements as you have experienced?
Well, they all do better with at least some morning sun..if you are talking about NO sun..maybe I would go with the Mahonia or Pieris or viburnum. Also Aesculus parviflora, Clethra, Enkianthus, Fothergilla, Hydrangeas, Hollies. They may not flower as well but you don't have much choice. LOL
Thanks for the suggestions. I will check on all those.
I have pagoda dogwoods under the oaks. They are very architectural strees and look nice all year round.
Thank you. I have been looking at pagoda dogwoods. Think I will be ordering in the future.
Be careful with the hydrangeas - most of them don't flourish without some sun. Some are better shade plants than others. I'd ask in the hydrangea forum if you are thinking of those.
Smaller plants that will survive are Astilbes, some hostas, ligularia, polygonatum, toad lilies, tiarellas - but most of these like it a little damp. I don't know how your water situation is. And I'm not familiar with your zone. I'm a little lower zone handicapped. Some hardy ferns will grow. If you use the search engine on Fancy Fronds you will see that there are quite a few.
http://www.fancyfronds.com/
I'm not clear about how big the area is - and what it's surroundings are like.
I was actually thinking of perennials also. This is my second summer in Montana, and I am still getting used to having the sun so far north this time of year. This is the only time of year it gets any sun at all, and that is limited to just a few months. The area is a corner, depth of beds meeting at the corner are 54". So perennials and some annuals should work. The area gets water from the roof and stays pretty moist. Thanks for the link - I really was thinking of ferns and those other perennials you mentioned.
Here's a link to some ligularia
http://www.bigdipperfarm.com/cgi-bin/searchstuff.pl?Botanical=Ligularia
You can sort on this website by full shade, ferns etc.
http://www.bigdipperfarm.com/catalog.htm
And here's Forest Farm's page for shade plants
http://forestfarm.com/search/route.asp?indexkey=2Q&x=72&y=14
Again, thank you so much. I appreciate the info and links.