Hey there, i have wintergreen boxwood on the north side of my house, while they do get a tad of morning sun, its almost always shaded and they do just fine. Mine seem to be drought tolerant and not too picky about the soil. That might be a good choice for you.

As for the nandina, i find it does better in moderate sun. Doesnt like full shade or full sun, but thats just been my experience.

Have you thought about azaelas? A few of mine get zero sun and do just fine. Also maybe some Hostas, they arent shrubs but can take full shade i believe.

Maybe do a search on the forum for shade gardening, i bet you will come across a lot of threads and ideas.

Good Luck.

E

Okie-Dokie, did you get the answers you were looking for in your cross post on the Shrubs forum? I hope so.

Sorry that thread deteriorated a bit :-( I seem to be plagued with a particularly irritating cyber stalker and that was just one dumb comment too many.

I don't have a lot of experience with the shrubs you listed, but I have a eunonymous shrub that grows on the north side of my house and gets very little sun. It is the all green type, no yellow or variegation. I like it well enough, it does its job. I have been in the process of managing it the last couple of years because I got a little lax with my hedge pruning.

Hydrangeas in Oklahoma need shade. I would stick with the Endless Summer type. They bloom on new wood, so if the winter kills the old branches, you should still get blooms. However, they need a lot of water. If you are not a 'water regularly" person, it will be difficult.

Hostas need as much shade as possible in Oklahoma.

Azaleas do well in shade.

Stay far, far away from red tipped photinas as a foundation shrub unless you love to sheer your hedges a lot. Photinas want to be GIGANTIC trees if left on their own for 2 minutes.

Gardengal, I did, thank you! Your response on my cross-post was really helpful, thanks! Sorry to see you're getting followed around on that board. :( But you definitely have a lot of knowledge, so I'm glad you took the time to respond to my post!

Erod, thanks for the info on your experience! And for the tip on the nandinas... those are $24 each at the local nursery and I was planning to get two, so I'm glad not to waste the money if they won't work in our spot.

Lisa, thanks for all the great tips! You supplied me with a lot of good info!

Shrubs I have had good luck with in shade are:

Variegated Privet--much prettier than the invasive common green one which I don't recommend at all. It adds light color.

Several varieties of Holly do well.

Nandina's did very good for me, the secret to keeping the large types nice is to stagger the trimming. I had some in sun and shade and both did well with good color.

Yews

Rose of Sharon does surprisingly well in shade and will bloom.

Azaleas need a lot of deep soil prep and moisture. Add a lot of peat moss. I couldn't make them work with tree root competition.

Euonymus, the variegated varieties add color interest.

The large type Viburnums. V. sieboldii and V. lentago (nannyberry). Nannyberry will grow in dry soil.

Underplant with red Ajuga ground cover and you can have red/green/yellow for definition, various heights and color interest along with easy maintenance and create an evergreen(& ever yellow/red) border.