You'll need to give your geographical location to get useful answers.

Also, I'm not sure what you mean by a variegated yew 'climbing' the obelisk. Yew doesn't climb.

Where in the world are you?

Which direction does the house face?

I think you’ll get more help with suggestions if you share your location. Location is everything in plant selection. I do agree plants with yellow would be stunning in your setting but IME for the yellow color to appear in most foilage / needles of plants a significant amount of sunlight is required. Without enough sun the result is often a pale green. From your plant considerations it sounds like you want an evergreen - or, ever yellow. Look at this link for golden euonymus plant If link doesn’t work, just do a search. It’s so easy to grow & so easy with minimal pruning to keep to desired size. I have several kinds of it in medium sun spots in my yard. Almost florescent color with spring growth but stays yellow all year.

Oh! By Yew did you mean Euonymus? That would explain the climbing.

Take your photo to a local nursery (not a big box store). They have more knowledgeable help and plants that are appropriate for your geographical area.

Yes. Sorry. Euonymus.

Yes, sorry. Left out my location. I'm in northeast Kansas, zone 6.

This is the west side of the house, however the spot I want to plant is shaded by that enclosed back porch until noon. Then it gets about 1.5 of full sun. Then it's shaded by a large hackberry until late in the afternoon.

I'll check out the golden euonymous. Thanks for the suggestion.

Diggerdee, you’ve given me some great ideas! Thanks for taking the time and posting!

And btw, I’m not stuck on an evergreen.

I didn't think you were quite stuck on an evergreen - after all you had been planting annuals - but just wasn't sure if you had that in mind. Not having an evergreen (ever-yellow, lol?) might open up more options for you.

Good luck! I know how challenging it can be to love your shade but want sun plants lol! Let us know what you go with!

:)

Dee

I have a C. pisifera Golden Mops in part shade and it has done well. It's located in the back border next to a woodland. It gets four hours of direct sun and zero hours of garden attention. Are you saying the site would only get 1.5 hours of sun? Is it in full shade at all other times? Is this a guesstimate or have you actually charted the amount of sun it would get?

My choice would be the Chamaecyparis over the J. 'Daub's Frosted'. You already have the low growing spruce, and Daub's will not give you the vertical difference you're looking for. And yes, Daub's is miserable to garden around. I had to move one last spring and they are not user friendly. It's like handling razer wire.

maackia, thanks! It's good to know that your shrub has done well in part shade. On the day I posted, I was tracking the sun for that spot pretty closely (I probably should have waited to post until I was done, but I was eager, plus I was leaving on vacation the next day, so it was then or wait 10 days, and I wanted ideas to think about while away). Along with the 1.5 hours midday, that spot gets some late afternoon sun, but it turned cloudy, and I couldn't track it any longer. So right now I don't know the total hours sunlight.

"... and zero hours of garden attention...."

LOL. Sounds like my garden.

You know, I planted a gold c. pisifera in my daughter's yard (can't for the life of me remember which one....). Hers is in mostly shade and doing quite well, but I didn't mention it because the sun that she does have is late afternoon and it's pretty powerful. (It's funny how many times I've had to deal with that mostly shade/but 3 hours of intense sun/heat/dryness scenario!) So I kind of assumed that this intense sun was what was helping this chamy along, but maybe they do well with a couple of hours of sun regardless of intensity...

:)

Dee

Dee, I think you’ve hit on a good subject: the difference of morning and afternoon sun. Is two hours of morning sun the same as two hours of afternoon sun? I’m guessing no, but I couldn’t tell you why.

I’m guessing not as well. So many times I’ve heard that morning sun is ideal for a plant I’m interested in. If they were the same, why would it mater?

In the afternoon, heat has built up during the day so the sun is more intense than morning sun. Filtered shade in the afternoon is preferable for that reason for a lot of plants.

I've never studied the difference intentionally, but yes afternoon sun seems so much more intense! Like I mentioned above, I've gardened in several situations where I had to plant a bed that got shade pretty much all day (usually very dry, under maples) and then was hit by hot late afternoon/evening sun. Even just two hours of that could throw a planting plan into failure. It's hard to find a plant that does well in dry shade then is thrust into two hours (or more) of intense heat and light (adding to the dryness!) I suppose you can help offset that issue with supplemental water, but I was gardening for customers so I couldn't always be there to water and had to rely on the customer to remember. And lol I don't have time for it in my own yard!

ksmetamaid have you decided on any plant choices yet? Just curious....

:)

Dee

Still on vacation. Get home tomorrow night, then want to return to tracking sunlight, which I couldn’t complete before leaving. But I’ve narrowed it down to either Aralia Sun King or False Cypress Golden Mops.

Oh good! Let us know how it goes. I've been eyeing a Sun King for a long time for my garden. After all that time, I impulse-bought one for my daughter's garden just last week lol, not mine. But I have put in a whole shade garden for her in hues of chartreuse and dark greens and purples, and there's an empty spot that needed something, so when I saw the aralia at the nursery on sale I couldn't resist. In my yard I'm still not sure where I would put it yet (I'm transitioning my whole garden and decision-making is NOT my strong point lol - hence me having stuff on my wish list for YEARS!) So I will enjoy and watch hers and think about how it will do in my garden.

Enjoy the rest of your vacation and I look forward to your updates!

:)

Dee

Tell me what all you put in your daughter’s shade garden.

Since returning from vacation we have had SO much cloudy weather it's been really hard to track sunlight, but I think I'm going with Aralia 'Sun King.' This spot gets direct sun from about noon to 1:30, then dappled shade until about 6:00 p.m.

I hope that works for you! I have to say, even though my aralia is still in the nursery pot, I am loving it.

Sorry, I didn't see your earlier post till just now. My daughter's garden has a couple of Autumn Frost hostas, some Squiggles and Wiggles hostas, Mouse Ears hostas, hakone grass (which is taking forever to take off), and heuchera Primo Wild Rose. There are two plain green hosta that were there originally that I haven't moved yet, and two hydrangeas that were pieces of a hydrangea I got years ago from another gardener. The hosta in a pot is a piece of a hosta from my yard (No ID

I kind of have a love-hate relationship with this garden lol. On one hand, it is so bright and colorful, and we get a ton of compliments on it, even though it is not mature and is a work in progress. On the other hand, I don't like the colors! I think the heucheras I chose are too..... pink?? I feel like the chartreuse greens need a darker purple. I actually bought a couple different darker heucheras at a sale last week to see how they work. As much as I love Autumn Frost, I'm not sure the coloration of it works here. And I bought the Squiggles and Wiggles to have something different, but I don't really like them. On top of that, last year I added some nice pale peachy/salmon annuals in teal pots (nothing fancy, just some fuschias, impatiens and coleus) but this year couldn't quite find that color combination, and the annuals are brighter, deeper and darker (they look pink in the photo below but are more orange/dark salmon). And then to top it off, the hydrangeas will bloom blue! Ugh. Didn't really think the hydrangeas through, lol.

Here's a few photos from the other morning. The morning light looked so beautiful - my phone camera is pretty crappy and never does any of my plants justice). This light is pretty much all the light it gets. It's shaded by trees in the morning and by noon the house is throwing its shade.

The aralia will likely get planted exactly where the pot is sitting. I'd like to plant it on the closer side of the AC unit since it would be more visible but there is some kid of pipe there that needs access.

The other area I planted for her is part shade, part sun, with the sun being that late intense afternoon sun I was discussing above. Soil is much drier. In there I have a couple of rhodies, a couple of hollies, a dwarf alberta spruce, an arborvitae, a hibiscus, a few hellebores, and an osmanthus Goshiki. Last fall I added a large division of hydrangea White Dome from my garden, as well as a hibiscus Pink Chiffon. I also planted geranium macrorrhizum last year which is doing really very well there. Very happy with that. This garden need more attention as it gets established due to the dry soil but so far things are looking fairly good, if a bit slow

:)

Dee

That’s a lot of work! It looks lovely and I’m sure will fill out in time. The heucheras don’t look too pink to me. I’ve always been interested in hakone grass but have never had any. Fun!