define your shade in number of hours .... and what time of day ....

and if i understand... you want one???

ken

can anyone recommend arboretums in his general area??

great time of year for a road trip ...

ken

I'm not certain, but somewhere around 5-8 hours while the leaves are on, and I'm really not sure during the winter.

there is a nice arboretum in Asheville that I've been to a few months ago, and there are some very nice gardens on the University of Tennessee's campus. I get to visit them almost every week. I have some general ideas, but am just interested in what others who know much more than me have to say.

I'd just go to some independent garden centers that stock conifers, see what looked good.

Most conifers won't want to be overhung or much overshadowed by other trees, plus if they are dwarf at all there can be a conflict of scale if normally sized and structured trees are in the same viewing area. Yews, hemlocks and arborvitaes do often come up under larger trees in nature but lack the frequently desired density when so situated.

Hey Kyle,

My observation is that with conifers, the more sun the better. Either way sounds like its time for a roadtrip. You're in luck, the Virginia State Arboretum not only has a nice collection but has a function this weekend which I'm gonna attend. They are near Winchester VA Fall Plant sale @ Blandy

Chamaecyparis obtusa do well in partial sun, and there are several cultivars with juvenile blue growth (ie. Gimborn's beauty, Split rock, Blue feathers) that give a blue-ish highlighting to the plants as a whole. But I wouldn't consider any truly blue. Many other conifer species have blue cultivars, but, as noted above, these won't necessarily thrive with increasing amounts of shade.

The Atlanta Botanical Garden and Smith-Gilbert Gardens are both ACS Reference Gardens, and, depending how far north you are in Tennessee, a potentially short drive away. The Cox Arboretum is also in north Georgia, but it's a private estate, so you'd have to personally arrange a visit with the Cox family.

Tsuga Mertensiana 'Bump's Blue' has been said not to do well on the east coast, and this kept me from trying it here for the past couple of years. However, I have gotten feedback from two east coast nursery owners/managers, that it does indeed do well here. I'm not sure how much shade 'Bump's Blue' can take in particular, but certainly would do well in a part shade situation. Very slow grower. Western Evergreen & Broken Arrow both have it for sale, as well as a few others.

Chamaecyparis nootkatensis also does well in part shade, some cultivars here also have "blue-ish" tones (not Blue Spruce blue)... just hints of blue.

Dwarf Alberta spruce should grow but it is not blue.

Not sure how they do in your zone, but Picea engelmannii 'Bush's Lace' will do well in some shade and only get to about 10 feet wide in many years.

tj

This place ships to garden centers over a wide area, in many locations much of the material you may encounter (that falls outside of the standard item category) is likely to have come from them - what they show and describe may serve as a guide to what you might expect to see.

http://www.iselinursery.com/