Suggestion for south facing deep shade

I want to put in foundation plants in a deep shade area under the eves of a south facing wall. I would prefer evergreen shrubs but another option might be vines on a trellis. I love big leaved plants. Our garden is a woodland garden.

As a result of googling and reading I am considering the following. What would work best? Any other suggestions?

Skimmia Japonica (will it get too leggy in deep shade)?
Euonymus Japonica
Laurel
Taxus tauntonii
Holly

Thanks for any help. I am struggling with this area!

 

The skimmia here at the Garden do not get leggy despite growing in deep shade. However, every so often, they do get infested by mites and the foliage turns from the lovely dark-green to a speckled lightish-green yellow. Otherwise, I certainly enjoy the fragrance when they are in flower.

 

We have a couple of corners of deep shade & the best shrub we have found is Aucuba japonica. Personally I do not find this plant exciting, or even very attractive, but my better half says I am too grumpy - it works, she says.

Watch out for Laurel (gets to be enormous & takes over like a Banyan Tree) & Holly, both of which are invasive alien species in this area.

After many years trying, we have a Clematis montana which has struggled its way through deep shade & now provides some interest.

It has been easier for us to find perennials to fill these spaces.

gb

 

Several ferns do well in dry shade, but they are deciduous. Royal fern gets very big (one under our spruce tree is 5' tall, and not due to legginess). Bracken fern also works but it can be invasive, depending on its growing conditions. I have also had luck with Epimedium as a ground cover. Solomon's seal is a surprise winner there, too, but is also deciduous.

HTH,
keke

 

As a suggestion, you may want to spend some time this weekend visiting either UBC or VanDusen Botanical Garden (or both!) -- both have extensive areas of shade-grown plants, and would likely help prompt some ideas.

 

I have Mahonia x media 'Charity' in a pot my darkest corner of my south-east facing covered balcony, and it's been flowering every year (it's only three or four years old). Someone told me too late that I should have been making jam from the berries. I could have got at least a couple of tablespoons from them. My Daphne odora 'Aureo-marginata' is doing fine next to the Mahonia, likes shade and has fragrant blossoms. I have no shortage of plant pests, but these two have so far remained unscathed.

Gaultheria shallon - Salal grows in shade and is native around here. Wikipedia talks of its growing into "deep, nearly impenetrable thickets". I don't know if it would do that in a garden, but would seem appropriate for a woodland garden.