Shade garden planning

11 years ago

Hi All .. I am in zone 6, new to gardening and have moved into a brand spanking new house . I have read the forums about different types of flowering/ornamental plants but unsure about what I want to do. I need help mostly planning mostly my perennials and may be a few annuals.

We have planted a row of winter gem boxwood interspersed with some lilies and bulbs of calla lilies. I also have a small water pond behind that row (no water plants there yet).

I was thinking of having columnar bushes (may be pencil yew) close to the window that will be taller than boxwood and then have a japanese maple,hydrangea or rhododendron tree to the left. A relative has told us that she will us a few hostas and may be a small Japanese maple plant. may be the hostas can go in front of the columnar bushes

Please help !

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Comments (2)

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
11 years ago
Need some approximate measurements but at first glance, it doesn't look like you have much room to add the plants you mention - columnar yews get very wide in time and will easily block your windows and just based on the guesstimated size of the already planted boxwoods (and my own landscape design background), space is a major issue and you will have trouble squeezing in the other shrubs as well. And it would be helpful to know the sunlight/shade conditions of this planting area. Even north facing gardens will receive a lot of light in summer so not sure this is the best spot for hostas.
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
11 years ago
Sorry about missing that "shade garden" part in your subject line :-)) But my comment still stands - that does not look to be a very shady location. Like I said previously, even a north facing garden gets a huge amount of indirect light unless under a broad overhang or other sky-obstructing item. At most, I'd consider only part shade plants.