plants for dry shade

Discussion in 'HortForum' started by Dorothy, Jan 14, 2007.

  1. Dorothy

    Dorothy Member

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    Our west perimeter of more than fifty feet is under mature cedars and firs. The next door property sold and we need screening plants. The aucuba I have planted is mostly alive although small, slow and now prostrate due to the snow. What evergreen other than aucuba will grow to five or six feet (or more) in dry shade and provide a dense screen? Yew might be nice but it might take forever to grow tall enough. Ordinary laurel is ugly and very time consuming. Cedars and a boxwood died. Is there anything?
     
  2. jimmyq

    jimmyq Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Mahonia maybe...
     
  3. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    Plants that pop up in such situations on their own and survive include English holly, tall Oregon grape, spurge laurel, English laurel and a number of cotoneasters. Unfortunately, most of these are now pest species in this area precisely because they can and do pop up and survive in such places, sometimes in quantity!

    Anything you buy and plant out of a nursery pot will need some help to get going. Box, although slow is one of the best possibilities. Maybe try again with better aftercare, unless the previous attempt was kept mulched and watered but the spot was just too dry and rooty. If you look around where there are other young or closely growing conifers you will see that bare areas under these are frequent, not every spot can support understorey growth or under-planting.
     
  4. terrestrial_man

    terrestrial_man Active Member 10 Years

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    Sounds like the trees are basically dominating the site and make
    any successful planting under them difficult. You may want to take a different approach. Instead of planting under the trees plant on your side of the tree's drip line or about 10-15 feet from the trunk of the trees. This would open up the possibilities in choices of what you can use. You should also consider working that soil to tear up any competing roots to give the transplants a good hold. Perhaps a small species or hybrid thuja or something similar if an evergreen is in your preferences.
     
  5. KarinL

    KarinL Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Your own cedars and firs, or belonging to the neighbours?

    I totally agree with Terrestrial Man, that these trees are a nearly unsurmountable barrier to growing a screen directly under them. The only things I have grown successfully in those conditions that would provide any screening are Ruscus and a silver-leaved cotoneaster, but it would be an exaggeration to say that they grow. Among deciduous plants you could try, improbably, sambucus, or maybe royal ferns, nice and tall.

    If you really want ground level screening, you would have to give up either a good chunk of your property behind the screen, or the trees. C'est la vie, life is a compromise. If you don't want to compromise, then a fence is your answer.
     
  6. Gordo

    Gordo Active Member 10 Years

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    Dorothy,
    Requests for advice about quick growing screening and plants that will grow in dry shade are quite common in the PNW, because many are "blessed" with your exact problem. You could try a search of the forum for other suggested possibilities, but the number of taller evergreens that will grow successfully in these type of conditions is very limited. If you look at local natural areas with similar conditions, you will see that most of the lower growing evergreens are actually young conifers - fir, cedar, and hemlock, all of which are fairly fast growing. This may be another possibility (and a cheap one) for at least a temporary solution.
     
  7. Dorothy

    Dorothy Member

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    Thank you all for the advice and suggestions. Some of the cedars and firs are ours, and there are many more on the adjacent (east) property. We have been here for some twenty odd years and I so regret not planting yew when we first arrived.

    Of course the new neighbours may cut down their side of the "forest" which would increase my options enormously. Then, Leylandii. I have tried cedars with no success.
    Aucuba does seem to stay alive. One boxwood survived.

    Thanks again.
     
  8. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    Leyland cypress does not like much shade. It is also a rather poor thing anyway, as far as it goes. If inclined to try a cypress you would probably be better off with its Nootka cypress parent.
     
  9. ngawangchodron

    ngawangchodron Member

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    Under the trees you are pretty well limited to what naturally grows under those trees, unfortunately a walk in the woods will tell you that it's mostly ferns. Basically the trees take all the light and all the nutrition. Have you thought of maybe doing a vine and screen, which would cover the space in the summer, such as Clematis tangutica. If its not cold its leaves will survive the winter, otherwise you can leave the vines as screening and then cut them down in the spring (you'd have maybe only a couple of months with no vegetation
     
  10. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    That particular species does not develop well in dark, rooty locations, nor would it be suitable for annual hard pruning.
     
  11. HortLine

    HortLine Active Member 10 Years

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    Yes, the trees are a challenge as the discussion indicates.
    Planting in the ground, or at a distance from the trees present problems.
    But, there is another option. Planters in the area you would plant.
    Boxwood makes a nice green architectural statement all year long, and it can be had in many different cultivars that all specify a different mature height. Select a higher one.
    Boxwood is amazingly drough tolerant, that said, you could still use a primitive irrigation system - a drip hose would work so would drip irrigation to each planter. If you really want to make a statement create a 2 tiered plantinga: plant a back row of higher growing plants with a front row of lower growing plants. It will really have dimension. The mass of the trees will balance with the ground mass of hedging material and the whole area will look alive. Best of luck.
     

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