GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

20-03-2004, 07:02 AM

(paghat) wrote:

Many shade plants will do fine with considerable morning sun, sometimes
even do better than with deeper shade, though pachysandra probably is not
one that will do well in more than dappled sunlight. If there's afternoon
sun that's the side to work on most in trying to get shade back to the
shade-garden. Two or three large flowering shrubs might do the trick,
though you'd have to invest in something mature to give immediate shade.Or
buy one largish but slow-growing tree. I planted a nice paperbark maple
probably only about fifteen feet tall a few years ago -- big enough to
have real substance but not so big as to be too heavy to plant or too
expensive to move -- & immediately after I planted a shade-garden under it
of jack in the pulpits, trilliums, corrydalises & dicentrums, hepaticas,
ferns, mouseplants, & so on. A lot of shade plants die back in winter
anyhow so won't mind that more sun reaches the ground then, & other things
like hepaticas WANT the sun in winter but not the rest of the year, so one
medium-sized deciduous tree can often be all you need for sufficient shade
most of the year.

I think the Dawn redwood might be big enough to offer some shade,
especially mid-day and early afternoon shade, but I would have to do
some additional plantings for late afternoon and evening shade. I
guess a couple of willows or buddleias would work for that purpose if
they looked alright in those spots. The same is true for most of the
trees I have planted. They just are not broad enough or near enough
to the ground to offer any shade during that hot early evening sun.
Temporary shrub plantings are really all that I can think of for
offering additional shade, and then they would need to be moved or
removed when the trees grew enough.

I like the corkscrew willow, & it's a fast grower, turns a lovely yellow
in autumn, & the winter limbs are indeed qutie stunning. For over a shade
garden though I would personally prefer beeches or maples, though it's
mostly a matter of taste.

Oh, the willow is going somewhere in the back acre of the yard by
itself, where it has lots of room to be pretty. As for beeches, you
never see _any_ of them for sale here. I actually once saw a 'Black
Swan' when out of town and almost bought it, but I did not. I called
the nursery the next day and it was gone. Seeing your page about one
just makes me hate it more that I did not buy it. I see them online
and they are like one foot tall and $50.00 or something. Which is
much more unreasonable than say, $350.00 for a tree that is a few feet
tall. At least you can see it.

Do you have any complaints at all about your 'Black Swan'?

That and an 'Autumn Moon' japanese maple are on my list of trees that
I will go out of town to find if possible, although none of my
contacts online have ever seen one at nurseries in the general area.
I am considereing ordering several little japanese maple cultivars so
I can get some more exotic ones at like 1 foot tall, and make a
mini-garden with them and various flowers and such. Let them grow
slowly into something more substantial. I think it could actually look
really neat if I do it right.