Any recommendations for "thick shrubbery" that grows well in shade?

[Richard Steele]

The far edge of our backyard is a 20-foot-wide strip
that was zoned as an "alley" by the city back when these
lots were laid out in 1949.

There is no alley there; there's never gonna be one.
Many of our neighbors said "screw it" decades ago and
extended their backyards 20 feet onto City Property
with no repercussions.

We got here a bit late for that- the 20-foot patch behind
us is filled with 50-year-old trees, and sawing them down
might attract attention.

And I wouldn't want to do that- I LIKE the trees. I grew up
under trees, y'know?

But the space UNDER them just looks like crap, and we'd like
to do something to improve it and make it prettier.
We can't do any serious landscaping, because it's kinda not
our property...so it occurred to me that we could just
plant it full of anything that grows thick in the shade,
so our backyard would be bordered by a solid wall of bushes
instead of a 20-foot "dead zone" of leaves and dry sticks.

Any suggestions/ideas will be greatly appreciated.

Richard

[hermetic]

1. Cedar

staghorn sumac, elderberry, serviceberry. I heard this answer on a gardening show yesterday. Depends on your climate, of course. They said to call your local nursery and ask them what native plants would do well in that type of area.

Good luck.

[LiberalEsto]

2. Periwinkle

Works as a good shade ground cover.

Another suggestion is sweet box, sarcococca hookeriana var. humilis. I read about it in our paper's garden column and bought three plants last week at a plant nursery. It's evergreen. It will grow about 2 feet high and spread out several feet in all directions. Mine are in bloom now, and the fragrance is heavenly.

Here's the website for Carroll Gardens, where I bought mine. I don't know if they have many plants left. http://www.carrollgardens.com/ It's also sold by Wayside Gardens: http://www.waysidegardens.com

[plantwomyn]

3. You are sooooo lucky.

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-635.html
Your climate allows a huge variety of flowering shrubs.
Evergreens that flower - Mahonia, Rhododendron, Azalea
Deciduous that flower- Hydrangea, Mountain Laurel, Pieris Japonica.
On my trip to W. Virginia, I walk through the woods filled with Rhodies and Azaleas with envy. Every color of flower imaginable!
For smaller Sweet Woodruff is my fav shade groundcover. Delicate and cute tinny white flowers. Spreads fast and stays 6".
Wild Ginger-slow, comes in second then Pachysandra -fast.
Don't forget Hosta and Ferns. An Ostrich fern grow from 10" to 3' and spread fast. Hosta from 6" to 6" go crazy! Both are NO maintenance!

[Imalittleteapot]

4. Texas shade plants - where are you?

Leatherleaf Mahonia. This one hates the sun. Birds love the berries. A slow grower, Mahonia is evergreen here.

Abelia, evergreen here, grows fast. It prefers some sun, but mine gets just an hour each day. If it gets leggy in the shade I prune it to branch.

Nandina grows fast and likes the shade. It will spread and is evergreen here. Beautiful berries and fall color. Mine is 8 feet tall. Don't get a dwarf variety.

[murphymom]

5. California (or Pacific) Wax Myrtle (Myrica californica)

We have a couple in our yard (one in full shade under a big Douglas fir) and they are clean, healthy looking evergreen shrubs that can get quite big. They're native to the Pacific Northwest. You would have to check if they would grow in your area.

Oregon State Dept. of Horticulture has a nice site on landscape plants with a lot of pictures that can give you a good idea of what mature plants will look like in the garden.

http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ldplants/

[Blue Gardener]

6. NC Extension Service

Their website has a lot of useful information for the home gardener, try this link:

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/Publications/lawngarden.php#trees

[Richard Steele]

7. Thanks for the responses, everyone. Lots of good options to consider!

I appreciate it! :thumbsup:

[unc70]

8. NCES (extension service) and NC Botanical Garden are great resources

I am near you (Chapel Hill). For a "screening" border as a backdrop, I like using eastern wax myrtle plus some eastern red cedar. All of mine did well under last year's drought and high temperatures, in the sun they will be 18-30 feet tall in five years, and provide food and protection for birds and other wildlife. They also produce lots of volunteers for later plantings. And both are evergreens.

Against that type backdrop, I like adding some azaleas and rhododendrons, and then a variety of "easy" plants to provide bits of color throughout the year. Maybe do a couple of beddings of bulbs and a Carolina jasmine.

Another good resource the the NC Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill. Members can order seeds for many native plants each year. Also a plant sale. Their gardens make it easy to see how something might look.

Because of the drought, I held off transplanting much last year so I expect to have extra wax myrtles this spring. PM me if you are interested.