Blue princess/prince holly in shade?

lisa2004

16 years ago

I bought 4 blue prince/princess hollys (need several more) to create a hedge. The care tags say "plant in sun or shade". However, everything else I've read says "full sun or partial shade. So, now I'm driving myself CRAZY trying to figure out how to position them so they get the most of the brief, or dappled sunlight in this area.

My question is, just how much shade can they take? I want to just plant them already! It is not a dark area, but there not much direct sunlight. I even made my daughter go outside hourly when I was working to moniter where it was the sunniest. The owner of a local garden center said he thinks they'd be fine. Anyone have experience with this?

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Comments (4)

tmore
16 years ago
I think they will be fine. One question I have is there any grass growing near the place were you want to plant the hollies if so go for it
Gardeningdoll_hotmail_com
14 years ago
My five Blue Princess Holly were planted in the shade of larch trees and a faus-dry riverbed many,many years ago (ten or so?. The have prospered beautifully and were to the shoulder level of a 5'2" human until the deer trimmed them way back this past hard winter in the Finger Lakes region of New York state. These are the first holly I've ever grown and I put them where I wanted them to grow, which is around a great big flat rock my step-sons carried up from a creek, elevated about 18" by cement blocks. We use the rock as a bird feeder; the holly shelter and protect the little birds who come in to feed. Good luck; I'm sure you will enjoy your hollies.
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
14 years ago
hey

just plant them where you want. .. they will either thrive or they wont.. why waste time worrying about it all???

full sun is somewhere between 6 and 8 hours of direct sun ... and that is necessary on some plants.. to grow and perform properly ... e.g. a tomato will not grow a large number of fruit [whats that all about] ... w/o full sun ... will it grow green in the shade.. probably ... will it thrive or preform to its potential ?? .. doubtful ....

ANYTHING LESS THAN FULL SUN IS SHADE ... PART SHADE ... PART THIS.. PART THAT ... it is confusing that there are multiple terms for everything other than full sun .. but they all mean the same thing... LESS THAN FULL SUN

just understand that the tag means it will tolerate less than full sun ...

if it end up too dark .. the plant.. over the years.. will become thin .. reaching for sun .. lean ... etc.. you will understand that 'something' is wrong ... basically.. its too dark ... and at that point you will shrug and say to yourself.. live and learn .. and then figure out how to move them ...

good luck

ken
kelly922
12 years ago
Was looking for new design ideas w/Blue Princess hollies and came across this post. Just wanted to add our experience - we've got 2 Blue Princess hollies at our front door in total and complete north facing shade. The sun has never touched them. They produce very few berries obviously but they are THRIVING and absolutely healthy, full and beautiful in this spot. We planted them about 15 years ago and they look great. I prune them selectively to size and shape and fertilize with holly tone every spring - that's it! :-) Good luck!