Plant suggestions

June 25, 2024 6:32 PM

I am looking for suggestions about what to plant, probably a shrub, in a certain space in the yard.

The plot is 12 feet long and 1.5 feet deep. It is against the house on a west facing wall. The height of the plant should be 5-6 feet (the height of the lower edge in 2 windows on the wall). Because of trees the space gets only about 3 hours of direct sunlight. USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 5b. Lilac would be great (I love the scent) but it looks like they need full sun. I will have a rain barrel drip line for the space

What can you recommend?

posted by falsedmitri to Home & Garden (15 answers total)

Azaleas would work and are really pretty we have one in an area with similar light availability (and the same growing zone). It might be more like 4-5 feet tall, but I'm sure the varieties vary in height.

Hydrangeas could also work in mostly shade, some varieties get too tall for sure, but not all of them.
posted by Eyelash at 6:59 PM on June 25 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Limited sun, zone 5. Hydrangea is a good choice. Is there sun higher up? If so, clematis might be a climbing option -- they like their roots in the shade, but their flowers in the sun.
posted by toxic at 10:47 PM on June 25 [5 favorites]

Best answer: 1.5 feet deep is a really narrow strip to be planting a shrub. You’d usually plant at least 2 ft from the house, but also half the maximum width of the shrub from any other hard surface. I think any shrub would struggle here. You might want to look at tall perennials but it would be a tight fit even for those.
posted by sizeable beetle at 3:09 AM on June 26 [5 favorites]

What's your rough geographic location? Planting something native to that region will ensure that it's low maintenance and will help our struggling wildlife populations.

beetle is right, that's a very small area for a shrub. You could probably fit some elderberry in there, and it's at least east to prune.
posted by SaltySalticid at 4:37 AM on June 26 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Maybe you could plant a row of salvia? There are varieties that get 3’ - 5’ tall and they have beautiful purple-blue spikes flowers; even shorter ones that would definitely be fine in that amount of space look taller than they are because of their vertical flowers. I had some in a pot in a yard that probably got 3-4 hours of direct sunlight per day and they did just fine.

Some pictures here.
posted by A Blue Moon at 6:21 AM on June 26 [3 favorites]

Best answer: With such a tight space, honestly I would look at putting in a trellis or arbor of the height you want and planting a perennial vine on it instead. That is really narrow and close to your foundation for a shrub. I try to plant my shrubs several feet out from the house. In a space with that light situation the vine I would try is leather flower, Clematis versicolor, a shade tolerant vine of moderate size with pretty purple flowers that attract hummingbirds. It's native to North America and hardy to zone 5.

If you do plant a shrub there you will probably want to specifically select either a naturally small plant or a dwarf cultivar and make sure that it does not have a bad reputation for spreading roots into foundations. Maybe a dwarf tree hydrangea like Little Lime.
posted by BlueJae at 6:24 AM on June 26 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: The local nursery says that azaleas are an annual here not a perennial, due to the winter.

Good idea, a trellis. Is there a perennial vine with a sweet smelling flowers?
posted by falsedmitri at 8:36 AM on June 26

Best answer: Fancy trellis idea: build it hinged at the bottom so you can lean it away from the wall for maintenance (of vine and wall). Only works with the bendier vines ofc.

Honeysuckle?
posted by clew at 8:44 AM on June 26 [2 favorites]

Oak leaf hydrangea! I've seen plenty of situations where people planted them up tight against a house and they formed a sort of wall. Beautiful plant and in my experience, extremely hard to mess up.
posted by saladin at 9:35 AM on June 26 [3 favorites]

Does it get dappled sunlight the rest of the time, or straight up shade? In my experience, plants thrive the most under dappled light - more so than with direct sun. If you get a few more hours of dappled light then I would say go ahead and plant lilacs. They will be limited in how large they can get because of the limited space for the root system, but that might be desirable. Also, I have raspberries that grow in a spot 1.5 feet deep. They only thing with raspberries is that they are untidy, not the most attractive plants.
posted by kitcat at 10:05 AM on June 26 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: There is some dappling. I think lilac has been ruled out because of the limited space. Honeysuckle is currently the leading candidate.

Also, thanks above for the hinged trellis idea
posted by falsedmitri at 10:42 AM on June 26

Please DO NOT plant Asian honeysuckle anywhere in North America! It is a horribly damaging plant, and planting it is basically an act of aggression toward our forests, at least now that you've read this comment. Removal of the various pestilent honeysuckle species is basically a whole industry now. ALL bush honeysuckles are invasive pests in the Americas. MOST honeysuckle vines available at nurseries are. There is exactly ONE kind of native honeysuckle vine commonly sold at retail, and it's not always easy to get. Lonicera sempervirens is the native vine, and e.g. the "Major Wheeler" cultivar is fairly widely available by mail order. Better nurseries should be able to get it for you. Thank you for not planting Asian honeysuckles.
posted by SaltySalticid at 11:00 AM on June 26 [3 favorites]

I have some viburnums in a narrow space next to my neighbor's garage. They seem to do ok in part-shade conditions like you describe. Whatever varietal it is we have, it's one of the first shrubs to flower in the spring, and it smells delightful! We're in Kansas City, also 5b last I checked.

Weigela might also work, but the ones I've encountered don't have much of a fragrance.
posted by slenderloris at 12:54 PM on June 26

Best answer: Some of the flowering shrubs mentioned in this thread can be seen here: Shade-Loving Shrubs - The Best Bushes to Plant Under Trees (Gardener's Oasis column, From House to Home). The same column has information about shade-tolerant, flowering Daphne shrubs (3' to 7', depending on variety) and lovely mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia; 3' to 10', depending on variety).

Shade-friendly, fragrant [rose family], thornless, native "Flowering Raspberry" (Rubus odoratus, aka thimbleberry; an autumn photo)... but, no idea if it could suit such a narrow plot. (Photo of a 4-year-old thimbleberry outside a window, in an Ontario garden; would your circumstances would keep this plant compact?) If this shrub makes your list, definitely check your specific site conditions with the extension office or the garden center.
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:15 PM on June 26

If you’re willing to trim it to keep it from growing to cover your windows, i think Virginia creeper might be a good option. https://www.gardenia.net/plant/parthenocissus-quinquefolia

I agree that 1.5 feet deep is way too narrow for shrubs.

Some good perennial options could be Actaea simplex (fragrant summer flowers) or Chinese astilbe.
posted by congen at 8:01 PM on June 27