When the plant spills over, will it fall onto hardscape or dirt? And how isolated is this bed? Can plants that send out rhizomes travel to a place where you don't want them? I ask because Boston Ivy (not English ivy; that's bad for your brick) and Virginia Creeper are very pretty cascading down over brick, but once they're established only a nuclear explosion will get rid of them. They will also spread like crazy if they can. If you have a bed that is isolated, or adjoins land that you can let go wild, these are easy and look very nice. But they are thugs; give them an inch and they'll take a mile.

I am wondering if there are any cotoneasters that will trail and will also thrive in full shade. I have a deciduous type that does okay in a mostly shady position, but I think there are some that are evergreen. And even my deciduous cotoneaster has the woody stems providing some winter interest. I also throw out the idea of Vinca major, with the caveat that it can be invasive. Another question I toss your way is to consider whether the raised bed actually needs plants with some height. In my mind, I can imagine a raised bed that had, for example, a little hedge of boxwood with a height of 15 or 20 inches, interspersed with something that trails down. However, a raised bed with plants that trail down but have no height might not look as good? If you can consider an analogy of house plants, a tall plant often needs a tall pot, and a plant that is shorter with a squattier look often needs a pot that is broader and not as tall.

My oakleaf hydrangea pops into my mind. It's quite sprawly, and maybe would flop down gracefully here and there in front of your RB?

If you edit your question to add more info,, . . . how wide is the bed?

I am not sure about your warmer zone than I have, but there are spreading yews that work great here in zone 5a. The only get about 6-8 inches tall, but spread and will cascade. It will take 2-3 years before they start, but is well worth the wait. anything that grows fast will likely become a pest.

Pat, try posting the question in the "Gardening in Shade" forum. I have both shady and sunny gardens in my yard and have been trying unsuccessfully to think of plants that meet your desires. Perhaps you'll get more suggestions over on the shade forum. Good luck.

The "Gardening in Shade" forum is a bit slow. Try these:

Annuals

Perennials

Shrubs

You will need to define your "near full shade" and mention where in zone 7a you are. A pic or two always helps.

tj

TsugaJunkie, mind if i ask your opinion about a hemlock project I am contemplating? I am in sw michigan and have already planted roughly 10 hemlocks on one side of my yard, mostly to help screen views of nextdoor neighbor's house, and of course to act as a lovely backdrop for plantings in the foreground. Now I have a portion of my rear yard that needs a makeover, again including screening (of rear neighbor and his blue tarps), and am contemplating planting hemlocks there too. (The area in the rear yard that needs some year-round screening is under the canopy of a walnut (and other large trees), and apparently hemlock doesn't suffer from the juglone. The other plant material I considered, however humdrum that they are, is yews, but they are on the list for juglone resistance, sigh.) My question is: Should I be "nervous" that Mr. Woolly Adelgid will come a-calling? Do you feel that someday the hemlocks in the midwest will be decimated like many of the forests in the East? Much obliged to hear your opinion.

Well, it certainly could happen. Even though sw mich is now zone 6 you do get zone 5 winters (or worse) which knocks the population down and has kept them at bay so far. THIS MAP shows the spread as of HWA as of 2015 and it does show a pink area in mich where they were detected in 2015. Your state Forestry Department may have more current info. Monocultures are always a risk.

tj

Tsuga, thank you for your thoughts and the information. I remember seeing photos of native or natural forests out east with all the dead hemlocks. Sure wouldn't want my yard to look like that. I hesitate to put a large percentage of my landscaping investment into one plant that is vulnerable. And it's not just the money, it's also the time invested while one waits for them to grow.

Now that school is out, you may want to contact Dennis W. Fulbright, Department of Plant Pathology at Michigan State University (if he is still there). He gave a talk I attended back in 2012 on various conifer maladies in Michigan. He would likely know the best immune conifer of any ailment for your situation.

Sorry for the hijack, Pat.

tj

Pat, Cymbalaria muralis (Kenilworth Ivy) grows happily in shade. It's delicate looking and shallow rooted. Easy to grab handfuls to thin it. A softening background plant.

Thank you for all the replies. I'm sorry for the late response. Right after I wrote this, something came up and I was super busy.

The raised brick bed is 26 foot long and 20" deep. It runs along the front of the house. It's sandwiched between the red brick wall of the house and my lawn, so the plant would fall onto the lawn. I probably overdid it on "full shade." It might get at most a few hours of light morning sun.

I'm trying to hide water damage to the front of the bed. The brick is darkened and looks awful, so I'd prefer something evergreen or something that hides it somewhat in the wintertime even it's not blooming and doesn't have leaves.

It would need some height. I can hear you screaming already, but I had settled on ivy because it's the only evergreen that would grow quickly in shade that I could think of and I pictured the ivy piling up at the top 9 inches or so and spilling over.

Maybe I'll have to resort to making another bed under the raised bed and putting some dwarf evergreen shrubs along with a conical tree or something. I was hoping not to have to create another garden. I'll check out the other forums and the yews. I love Oakleaf Hydrangeas, but it's too narrow. Thanks again for all the responses!

Sorry, but the photo I added is very low resolution. I don't know what the greenish-black marks on the brick above the bed is. You don't see that with the naked eye. But hopefully it will give you an idea of what I'm talking about. It's a very long, narrow raised bed that's been damaged.

I will definitely look into it. Thanks, vjrnts! I once spray painted big stones with a product made for brick, stone, etc and it worked fine. But I was a little more cautious about spraying brick on a house. Thanks again.

I'm not sure whether you can grow it in your zone, but have you considered creeping rosemary? That would fit your bill of trailing over the raised bed and is not a thug, like ivy. I'm not a big fan of monocultures, so I would try the rosemary interspered with some heucheras. That would give you a nice balance of upright/trailing without major height. Although rosemary is usually associated with sunny conditions, I have seen it growing happily in partial shade as well and it would love the good drainage of the raised bed. Pretty little blue flowers loved by pollinators, too. Hope this helps. Eduarda

Veronica 'Georgia Blue' would be happy in your conditions and is partly evergreen. I don't think it would get very tall but you could mix it with other plants such as Eduarda's rosemary.

Oh, I like both of these. Thanks so much, Eduarda and junco!

I planted some sweet potato vine in shade this year, it seems to be doing fine! It's a big time spiller over walls or containers. They cost about $5 for a plant and though annual, you're supposed to be able to overwinter tubers and/or cuttings. Added bonus, they're easy to propogate via cutting, so one plant can become many. If you can make your plant happy they get ENORMOUS.

Tristan, thank you. That sounds promising.