I just can't find a shade tolerant shrub/tree for screening!

Hello guys,
I've been learning a lot in this forum!
I have a tall (6ft) wood fence on my northern property line, but my window - which sits right in front of the neighbor's window - is higher than the fence.
I am new to shade gardening, and I am having a very hard time to find some tall shrub or small tree I can use to plant right on that spot.
I didn't want anything too big or dense that would create even more shade on the side yard, just something pretty and tall enough to block the neighbor's window view. Everything I see (except pine trees and the like) seems to need at least partial sun!
There's got to be something out there....if it had some wildlife value, or fragrance, even better...
Please help!

um a rose of sharon can tolerate quit a bit of shade. i just planted one last summer but aneighbor of mine has one in almost all shade and it blooms profusly. the hummers love them. just a suggestion...Ronna

I have seen where folks grow hemlocks in a row and trim them into a hedge shape of desired height.

Speaking as a coastal Northern CA gardener, it is not easy to find the perfect plant for your situation. In our mild climate, evergreen vines, normally recommended for your kind of situation (solanum jasminoides especially, both standard and variegated) do not stay at a neat 10' height, but instead turn into fence-crushing, trellis-busting 25' monsters.

Two suggestions would be:

1) the red-flowering abutilon "Nabob" - Mine has grown to 10', but with a fairly open, lacy canopy. They are easily pruned into a small, spreading tree, which is what I've done (I need vertical plants, not horizontal spreading). At the local Kaiser, the gardener has left them unpruned to form big bushy 8' shrubs.

2) the red flowering oleander trained into a standard - often available at big box centers for half the price nurseries charge. Do not get the white flowering 'Sister Mary Agnes" unless you really need a wide-spreading 20' tree. I have the red one in medium shade and it has a much more modest growth pattern. A 6' specimen cost me $40 and in two years it's only gotten 2' taller and wider. A SMA standard, by contrast, would double that height and width.

I've found partial shade in CA to be equivalent to full sun in most regions, but YMMV.

Note that with both, you will need to stake properly; it takes about 4 yrs for the trunk to thicken up enough to not need support. They will easily curve themselves into an unwanted shape if you don't stake both opposing sides (like they do with municipal street trees).

Thanks for the suggestions! I indeed always wonder what the heck means "partial shade" "partial sun", etc. It gets +very+ confusing when it comes to selecting my plants. I had no idea Oleanders could take shade. That sounds like a good option...And I love Abulition, I actually have one in the backyard (potted) I didn't know they could grow that big!

Japanese Maple Butterfly is very upright and will grow to about 15 feet. You can keep it pruned so that it doesn't give you too much shade.

Another possibility are birch trees. They will grow in the shade, are fairly verticle and come in several different heights. A weeping one can be staked to be just as tall as you'd like it to be.

Camellias are another possibility but they may be too dense for you. I find that sasanquas are easier to grow although you would have to be careful to get one that would be tall enough.

Of course all of these solutions are going to take some time.

As to a vine that will grow in shade, distictis buccinatoria grows in dense shade under my oak tree but you do have to prune it about once a month in the summer to keep it under control. It doesn't bloom in the shade but it's a pretty evergreen vine.

Doss, thanks for your input, I have been learning a lot from your posts! How fast (or slow) does a Japanese Butterfly Maple grow? (ie for it to reach about 8ft, does it take 2 years or more like 10 yrs?).

As for vines, I am also trying to gather as much info as I can. I have about 60 square ft of wood fence to cover! I am planning on Sweet Autumn Clematis, Climbinb Bleeding Heart, and Akebia Quinata. I'm also considering a Climbing Hydrangea, but I read it takes a very long time to grow.
What do you think?

I have a climbing hydrangea 'seemanii' or seamanii depending on who's spelling it. I love it but it's a VERY slow grower - like 1 foot a year. It's from Mexico and it's evergreen so if you are in the mood to plant an heritage type plant it's an awesome one. You can mail order them at Hydrangeas Plus.

How fast the Japanese Maple grows depends on how big a tree you can find or afford. Butterfly is fairly rapidly growing. A small one would take more like 10 years to get that high although now I have to struggle to keep mine down to 7 feet but I manage.

I noticed that you are in zone 11. Do Japanese Maples grow OK in your zone? I'm a little zone impaired that high.

Climbing hydrangea does take a long time to establish itself. I planted one on the north side of my previous house and it took 3 years to establish a good root system and then start to grow well. I counted how many bricks higher it would be each fall. Then when it finally got to a height of about 12 feet a wind storm blew it off the wall and it broke. I never did get to see any flowers. I live in zone 6a so my choices are much more limited. Yews are recommended for shade, but are very slow growing. I had alot of shade at my old house and to screen the neighbour's property in the back I put burning bushes on one side and bridal wreath spireas on the other. Both did very well in the shade. the spirea flowered each spring and became quite dense. The burning bush was slower to grow, but after 5 years provided a good screen. The colours are not so vivid in shade, the leaves turned pink rather than red.

hydrangea petiolaris which you probably grew doesn't grow so well in warm climates os the hydrangea seemanii is a better choice for here. The leaves are more like camellia leaves and it is evergreen.

Tanglee, what a shame! I can imagine your frustration!
I think I might have to interplant the climging hydrangea with a faster growing vine....1 foot a year is going to drive me crazy! lol! What if I plant some creeping fig too? it seems those guys can provide a quick cover up on walls?

Doss, that is a gorgeous japanese maple there! I don't know why I have zone 11 on my profile, I'm in coastal San Diego, isn't that 10b? I actually have a japanese maple in the front yard (under decidious trees), but it was already there when I bought my house so I have no idea how long it took to grow.

Tanglee, both the spirea and burning bush sound like great options. How long did the Spirea take to provide you some screening? I can't even open the curtains on that window, the neighbor is less than 10 ft away! argh!

Creeping fig is great too but it does take a little while to establish. I had it growing on some concrete walls and I loved it. I was just out pruning my clematis when I noticed that some of my climbing hydrangeas are sending out runners and some have jumped up a foot since last fall. I didn't realize that they would grow in the winter! Maybe they have started off. It sure would be nice.

Ah! The pains and joys of gardening! ; )

The spireas I had were about 3 feet to begin with. I'd say they can grow about 2 feet a year. I kept my pruned to about 6 feet at the most because the neighbour beside me nicely decided to put in a fence and the screening effect wasn't needed any more. But in another house I lived in there was a bridal wreath spirea already there and it must have been about 10 feet tall and 6 feet wide. It tolerates pruning well, but flowers best when left to its natural shape.

Tanglee , does it flower well in shady conditions?

robcorreia, I had 3 bridal wreath spireas in a garden that received at most an hour of sun starting at 4pm. In spring, for about 2 weeks, they were covered in white blooms.

Abelia is another shrub that will grow tall and flowers in the shade.

I had been thinking about Abelia too, but it's used EVERYWHERE in commercial landscaping here in san diego...(there's a reason why right?)

Yep, you are right. It works in all sorts of difficult situations, can be kept to 3 feet with work and yet will grow to 8 feet if you let it. I don't know how hard it is to keep narrow. Mine are all natural. They are great fence hiders in the shade.

Guys, I-fell-in-love with the spiraea! I GOTTA HAVE IT, at least two!!! Tanglee do you know which species is yours? I love them all and I don't know which one would be more appropriate in this application? Doss, any suggestions?

Bridal wreath spirea is the common name for Spirea vanhouttei (vanhoutte's spirea). Of the different types of spirea I've tried it grows best in the shade. It looks beautiful in the spring when it's smothered in white blossoms on its arching branches (if left unpruned). Otherwise pruning makes it an upright plant and it flowers along the upright branches.

Monrovia says that it gets 6feetX6feet. Is that going to fit in your space?
http://www.monrovia.com/PlantInf.nsf/3e858bc84af1756c88256f0a00787e69/a324039ae81f58d38825684d00724c78!OpenDocument

Have you considered Kerria japonica? Zones 4-9. Plant gets to be 6 feet high and 8 feet wide. Kerrias are grown for their foliage and flowers and are suitable for a shrub border or an open position in a woodland garden. In mid to late spring produces solitary, single to double golden yellow flowers 1-2 inches across. " Golden guinea" is a very nice variety. Thought this might help with your options.

Bridal wreath spirea can actually grow taller than 6 feet, but since it tolerates pruning well can be pruned to the size you want.

If you let Bridal wreath spirea go natural it does get to be 6x6 since it's shrubby but it can be pruned into more of a standard form. I think it would be quite pretty that way as you could probably make it have almost a weeping form

I can pretty much let it grow as tall as it needs to but only about 2-3ft deep...would that be ok with pruning? how do I train it to grow upwards versus weeping? I already checked and my local nursery has the Spirea vanhouttei in stock!
Backspace, I will look for infor on the kerria Japonica too, thanks!
I actually have TWO things I want to screen: the neighbor's window AND a utility box in my sideyard that's a huge eyesore...for the utility box I want something you cannot see thru...for the neighbor's window the spirea is better because I don't want something that will make a heavy shade on this already shady space...

I should have said spreading. I have never tried to prune it so I don't know exactly what the final forn would be but I do have this plant..well a whole row of this plant along the garage, unpruned. I have cut them back severly once when we first got here and they didn't seem to mind too much

Definitely sasanqua camellias for the utility box in the sideyard. The foliage is lovely all year round, it flowers in the winter and can take any sun exposure. Of course there are different heights in different cultivars.

Here are some trained against a fence. They are easy to shape.

The shrubs in back of the bearded iris are sasanqua camellias trained to stay short

Doss,
How tall can the camelias go? This box is probably 7ft high! Huge ugly water boiler tank...can you think of something that would give me a super fast screen? Maybe a dwarf conifer?
Now that I'm set on the Spiraea for neighbor, I need to find something for this tank!

7 feet high! My goodness.

Sasanquas can be different heights depending on the cultivar. 4-15 feet depending according to this article
http://www.floridata.com/ref/C/came_sas.cfm

If you want to get it covered fast I think that some clumping bamboo might work depending on how much shade it gets. I don't think that nandina gets quite that tall. Mine are all about 5 feet high. This place says that they can grow in mostly shade with only a few hours of sunlight or dappled shade.

http://www.bamboogarden.com/Hardy%20clumping.htm

Spearmint Juniper is a tall, narrow, bright green, and well behaved type of Juniper which will easily grow quickly to the height you want. It has a naturally conical shape and doesn't get enormous like some of the other junipers.

It's evergreen, tolerates shade, but doesn't have flowers, and is pretty drought tolerant. I used them to screen out a phone co. terminal box which could be seen from the windows of a house I was working on. They were in 5 gallon cans when planted, and are now almost to the top of the 6' fence...and that was two years it took to get that tall.

I've never had to prune them for width, and they've stayed compact and are at most 18" "wide". They also take well to shaping.

I just wanted to thank all of you for your great suggestions! I ended up getting excited with Doss's suggestion on Camellias, and I bought two, one to screen the neighbor, and the other one to screen the heater box! Thanks everyone!

Good luck with them. NOthing like a mature camellia to take your breath away at this time of year.

I will tell you that if you want a beautiful very easy to grow shrub with wonderful flowers that bees and hummingbirds crave well its the ALTHEA ,and i can get you all the seeds you want and they will not cost you a thing,

I have a beautiful centerpiece Chlerodendrum in my Shade garden. lowers with beautiful white fragrant layers in spring, then red berries that the birds love later on. Volinteers easily, but is in no way invasive. just provides lots of pass-a-longs or "mow downs. I think there are about 4-5 varieties, mint is the one with the sort of flat white flowers.

Oh, be still (not really!) my heart! I just noticed where you are. I lived in san Diego my 1st 7 years. and have always misssed the wonderful tropical flowering environment. My time there was in th early to mid 50's actually on Coronado Isl till age 4 1/2 the SD. It was like heaven. What a shock to then go to Upstate NY in mid January at age 7 Brrrr...have never recovered !!! lol
I'm sure you will find someting wonderful to fill that spot.
Happy Gardening!

Rob: Just came across this thread. There are camellias here that are 15' tall and taller.

Have you thought of Japanese ternstroemia (aka Cleyera). It's supposed to grow up to 8'. I have two on the north side of my house that were a foot tal when I planted them 18 mos ago. They are now up to 5'. Don't really flower, but the new foliage is red, something like a photinia.

Just a thought.
Deb

Rob this came up again and I just thought that I have a loquat tree growing in the shade of a walnut tree - it's trained to be narrow and isn't difficult to keep. Anything that can grow under a walnut tree has to be hardy. It's dark under there too.