Shade tolerant hedge for wall facing north

6 years ago

I am looking for a hedge that will do well in shade, for a northern exposure wall. Need something that can reach 5 feet (window lower sill) without waiting for years and also screen the front steps and stoop. Looked at Sunset Western Garden book under "Shade" and "Hedges and Screens", for plants that had the full dot (shade tolerant). Some plants appeared under both, Buxus, Nandina Domestica, Vaccinium ovatum. Buxus and nandina seem to be slow growers, would take a long time to reach 5 feet. Don't want a giant either, might be more work keeping it under control. Just something well-behaved and not too much work to keep it hedge-shaped. Vaccinium looks interesting, with the edible huckleberries. I also visited local nurseries, one fellow recommended osmanthus fragrans or wax leaf ligustrom, I explained this was for northern wall, he was sure these would still do well there, the nursery had osmanthus growing under mesh tarp. Sunset gives them a half dot (partial shade), but the osmanthus is tempting, a nicely fragrant plant. Another nursery mentioned using syzygium brush cherry, swore his neighbor had them in the shade, Sunset says they like sun. Hard to decide what to believe. Leaning towards Vaccinium, tempted by the Osmanthus.

Any experience with either of these?

Any other suggestions?

Featured Answer

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

6 years ago

last modified: 6 years ago

There is shade and then there is shade. A north facing wall is not full shade by any stretch of the imagination.....it is usually indirect but rather bright light. A full shade situation occurs when there is no access to clear daylight so some sort of permanent blockage - closely spaced tall trees, deep eaves, under the canopy of a big conifer, etc.

Any of those plants will work. The boxwood will take till the the end of time to reach 5' - Japanese holly grows faster and is as shade tolerant. Nandina grows quickly in comparison but the species will get much too tall for that location and you want to avoid the need to prune (no one knows how to prune nandina properly!). Look for 'Gulf Stream' or 'Sienna Sunrise' - both will get to around 4' tall which would be fine in this situation. The huckleberry need acidic soil and will also take until the end of time to achieve 5' tall

There are scores of other shrubs that will grow happily in part shade but my primary concern is that the planting area is too narrow to accommodate them easily. It doesn't look much wider than 2-3 feet and you need at least double that width. I would also question the need for a "hedge" per se.....why not just a foundation planting of assorted small shrubs in a sufficiently wide planting bed?

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Comments (6)

PRO
Yardvaark
6 years ago
Yeah ... bed is too small/shallow.
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socalsunsetzone22
Original Author
6 years ago
The planting strip as it is laid out now looks a little deceiving, it is about 4 feet wide in front of the house and steps, and about 3 feet at the square brick pad behind the mailbox. I would like something a little tall to screen the steps and the landing at the door, it is pretty exposed and front yard is not deep, it is about 20 ft to the sidewalk and there is no other fencing, neighbors have had packages ripped off so I would like to make an effort to screen it.
My thoughts are to trim the bushes and shape the forward faces more like a hedge as they grow, not formal shearing necessarily but something to control their spread and have them show a uniform face to the street. Agree not a lot of room for a truly informal hedge
Embothrium
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Go to a local independent garden center and see what they have, read either on the attached cards - if present - or in Sunset etc. how big is usual for the ones you like the look of. Unless you are going to be ordering in you will be buying locally anyway.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
6 years ago
anything that grows to the height of the window... fast.. will grow to the eave.. just as fast.. if not faster .... and anything that grows UP that fast.. also grows out .... i agree,,... i would not plant anything.. closer than 4 feet .... so i agree.. the bed is of insufficient width ...

when you research plants.. look for indication of ANNUAL GROWTH .... it will give you an idea of how much pruning you will have to do ...

good luck.. ken
Vaporvac Z6-OhioRiverValley
6 years ago
Besides moving the edging, it doesn't look like it would take much to enlarge the beds a bit.