Hi all, this is my first REAL post . I have a shady front yard with three large Aphghan Pines and it faces north-northwest. I'm in the desert, so it gets pretty hot here and the winters are kinda mild, although we do get a freeze. Currently, I have mostly annuals planted along the front of my home (impatiens, coleus, begonias, a few ferns, hostas, and my first plumbago) The sunny areas (very few) are planted with vinca, daylillies, marigolds, amd a real pretty green ground cover, sorry, I dont know what its called. I would like something that I know is going to return next spring or some sort of bushy plant that does well in the shade. I dont want a garden that is full of annuals because my yard looks so sad during winter. I would welcome any ideas. I'll try to post some pics, real soon. Thanks a bunch everyone
Cory, perennials do die back in the winter then reappear in the spring. It sounds like what you are looking for are evergreen plants, they stay green all year round. What is your planting zone? Indian Hawthorne is used around here for evergreen shrubs, in spring they are loaded with either pink or white blossoms and the new growth is copper color. It blooms best in full sun but will do fine in partial shade, is hardy in zones 8-11 and grows to a nice large shrub reaching up to 8' tall x 8'wide, but you can easily keep it trimmed to whatever size you want.
Thanks for the suggestion Toni. I have been looking for some sort of evergreen. I just love mexican sage, butterfly bush and other shrubs, but sadly not much grows under these pine trees :'( . I had a few indian hawthornes planted near my driveway, (wanted a sort of hedgey look) but my girls ran over them with their cars as did my mom. I guess I could try them. Are you sure they'll grow in the shade? They are such slow growers to begin with? Oops! Sorry toni, according to the US National Arboretum website, I'm in zone 8a. The Average Annual Minimum Temperature Range for my zone is 10-15 F. That seems a little extreme to me. We get maybe a couple of nights like that, but I guess that'll do it. :-?
Cory, mine are planted on the east side of the house. They get only morning sun to about 11 am and are in the shade the rest of the day, because of that they have been slow growers and haven't bloomed yet. Last winter we had several hard freezes, ice and some snow and they came thru that just fine. Under pine trees is tricky, there isn't much that will grow under there because of the acidic soil caused by the pine needles. Most acid loving plants will not grow in your area, I would recommend searching out a garden center that specializes in plants native to NM maybe there is one you could plant there. Have you tried Rosemary in the sunny spots. I am in zone 7b and it is evergreen here, last winter it was covered with blue blooms all winter.
Butterfly bush will take some partial shade, I've got some that are getting quite a bit of shade and they are doing well. They are the black knight type and I highly recommend them.
:-D Cory, here is some info about it. It says it is hardy to zone 5a. It says full sun here, but I know I've read that it is OK in some shade...mine are in a fairly shady area and doing just great. The ones in full sun are growing just a tiny bit faster, but other than that they seem fine. http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/49898/
