I just helped my neighbor clear out a very cluttered bed in the entryway/breezway of her home. It receives no sun at all and could use something in the most prominent corner of the bed closest to her office window and front door. I read that Hydrangea, Royal Red would do very well in shade in zone 9.
Any advice on this?
Thanks.
Hydrangeas in Zone 9
If it gets no sun at all then it may not bloom--I planted 'Shamrock' in deep shade once and the plant did fine but it never bloomed until I moved it to where it got an hour or two of AM sun. Also, they do like a decent amt of water, which may not go well with your Arizona climate. But if she doesn't mind watering it frequently it may be fine. I grow them here and find as long as they're in a shady enough spot, watering ~2x a week once they're established is fine (although my summer temps probably aren't as hot as yours--average is in the mid 80's)
That area is moist all/most of the time. I talked her into putting a spotlight on it so it gets SOME kind of light for a few hours. She thought that putting the light there would "showcase" the plant. She has no lights in that breezway on the plants right now. So, I let her think it would showcase the plant rather than explain to her the need for some kind of light for the plant. She's all about "let it grow and be beautiful but I don't want to worry about them after they're in the ground". I did tell her she's have to prune it where she doesn't want it to grow, for example in front of the window nearesst that corner.
Good to hear it really will take mostly shade. I'm make sure she puts that light there, though. LOL
How strong is the light? I don't know if that'll be enough to get it to bloom or not but it's worth a try if you think it's strong enough.
It will be an electric Malibu spot I guess. I'll be talking with her later this afternoon. I was thinking of giving her some solar lights I have but DUH, they won't charge in the shade. LOL
My guess (and this is really just a guess) is that if there's absolutely no sunlight getting in there, having a light like that is probably not going to be enough to get the plant to bloom, you generally need pretty strong artificial lighting to fool plants into thinking they're getting enough sun to bloom. But I don't really know, and if you're going to try and get a plant to flower under those conditions hydrangeas would probably give you a better chance than many others would!
I'm sure she has no clue about sunlight there. However, I did take a photo in late afternoon of a rubber plant she also has in that area and there was dappled sunlight. I think I'll have to force her to sit there with me to see if it received sun around noon when the sun is somewhat directly overhead. In that corner, that should be the only time it's going to get any.
If there's some dappled sunlight then it may be fine, they don't need a ton of sun to bloom, and especially in AZ too much sun is definitely not going to be good for them! So I say give it a try and see what happens!
I have Red Blaze climbing roses flanking both sides of my pool. It’s not the “Improved Blaze”. As you can see they aren’t doing well at all mainly due to lack of sufficient sunlight against that wall. I’m tired of looking at them. They’ve put out some minor new growth and I know they’re healthy – but they’re not good repeat bloomers.
I was thinking of perhaps Hydrangea. I’m thinking red. It should grow about 4 x 4 which would fill the spaces well and they like partial shade. The only other thing I can think of to put there is a Zephirine Drouhin climbing rose which I already have on an adjacent wall. It’s pink, does great in shade, no thorns and very fragrant. I’d have to get larger trellises, though. Here's a pic of the pool.
Anyone growing hydrangea in AZ? If so, how do they do for you?
Any other ideas?
Thanks in advance,
Robin
Rose on the left...
Rose on the right...
