Question
north side of house
My situation is exactly like Jeanines only I'm in New Jersey. Same thing: north side of house, dry shade, Japanese maple at west end of bed. I've never been a big fan of euonymous, though I'll have to check other varieties. We did in fact have shrubs there when we bought our house. There were 3 evergreens that had needles that were not unlike the artificial evergreen wreaths and garlands you see. I never knew what they were, but they looked as though they were here since the house was built in '27! With them were 2 azaleas that did fine, but I suspect stayed very small (about 2'x2') because the whole bed was solid roots from the shrubs and nearby trees. We also had a lovely evergreen tree in a corner that stayed about 8' tall, which was perfect for holiday lights and it didn't totally block the windows. We had to clear the beds to do work on house, ever since I haven't been able to find any simple evergreens for shrubs that aren't listed with a mature height less than 15'! I just want something evergreen to go with the azaleas (for acid) that isn't going to totally bind up the bed with roots because it wants to grow so big. Would love to replace the little "Christmas tree" for the holidays. Are there any cedars (dwarf?) that may work? How about privet? Had beautiful variegated one in Houston, believe it was evergreen... Thanks!
AnswerHello DHP
When I read of your acid soil the plant that immediately sprung to mind was the Pieris. This is not a large genus, so I am going to suggest three which I hope you will find interesting. All are evergreen and shade tolerant:
Pieris 'Bert Chandler' - grows to 6 feet x 5 feet. The young leaves are bright pink, turning through creamy yellow to white and finally dark green! This plant occasionally bear flowers, but they are rare.
P. japonica 'Purity' - grows to 3 feet x 3 feet - sometimes taller if they are very happy! The leaves are light green when young, turning darker with maturity. This variety carries white lily-of-the-valley' type flowers on upright panicles in late March to early April.
Pieris 'Daisen' - grows to 10 feet x 8 feet - Particularly good in shade. The leaves are bronzy red when young and a glossy, dark green when mature. The flowers, which start red and fade to pink, are carried in late winter to early spring.
I'm not a great fan of privet as it is such a greedy feeder - it will deplete your soil in no time.
I'm not an expert on conifers, so I'm going to suggest that you go back to the AllExperts main menu and click on the link to 'Conifers' - there is an Expert there who I am sure can help you to identify your 'Christmas' tree.
Gill
