Looking for a lesser used but ornamental tree for part-shade

11 years ago

Beside our deck there's a I guess largish space between the house/deck and a large American Holly and I think a silver maple. I built a garden bed of Virginia-sweetspire and a few other things alongside the length of the deck. Most of that area between the holly and the garden bed was where we kept a trampoline, between the space and the rectangular foundation planting against the deck. The trampoline was old, so it's now gone, and left behind was a circular ring on the ground. The ring is not centered but I'm basically turning the space between the ring and the garden bed I already have into a raised stone/gravel patio to give our home additional seating since our house/porch is small and add value.

I'm looking for a really ornamental (or multipurpose) tree for the circle. Looking for something that gets from 8-15 feet tall or so. It's part shade. A mockorage in the vicinity of that area blooms rather okay , but roses aren't terribly productive there if that's any indication of sun. The goal is multi-seasonal interest.

We already have a lot of spring and early summer bloomers; a two story tall, a 75 year old weeping cherry tree, mockorange as stated, lilac, and dogwoods so I scratched those possibilities out. We also have evergreen azaleas, and nikko-blue hydrangea. I just planted camellia 'Shibori Egao' on the other side of the steps of the porch so it's loosely part of the same design. That blooms in fall/winter.

Being said I am not wanting a Japanese maple, they're so common here, nor dogwood or a silverbell. I need something that is interesting or blooms not the same time as everything else, and also be a showpiece.

It's too shady for crepe myrtle.

I don't know really what to try, was thinking an evergreen, I was thinking camellia oleifera or a species or cross that's hard enough for here but camellias are such slow growers, though that area might get some of the cold hardy or old fashioned types, I'm just not sure anything other than oleifera would make a strong enough "showpiece" in terms of trunk.

I was considering a Stewartia but they eventually get quite big right?

I was also considering a Rosseyanka or 'Nikita's Gift' persimmon perhaps? Or would that need too much sun, I know American persimmons don't need AS much sun as regular kaki.
I thought the idea of remaining fruit hanging on after leaf drop is appealing and would blend in with our other Japanese plantings/aesthetic.

Anything off the top of your head I should look into maybe?

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Comments (12)

j0nd03
11 years ago
Heptacodium miconiodes for fall flowers and fruit as well as pretty bark. Not evergreen and may need more sun for best flowering,

John
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arktrees
11 years ago
Perhaps a couple of dwarf Ginkgo's. Variegated and/or Beijing Gold. Also a spring bloomer but females have very attractive blue fall fruit American Fringe Tree Chionanthus virginicus. Another smallish shrub that would love the partial shade Little Honey Oakleaf Hydrangea Hydrangea quercifolia 'Little Honey' PP 15477. Colorful all growing season. Don't forget Blue Shadow Fothergilla, and the larger Fothergilla's.

Arktrees

Arktrees
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Thanks folks. I took a couple pix but kind of ran aground at posting them online to link to. Anyhow, I'm not sure that my photographic skills really were able to capture the area well, since it's so long, it just didn't photograph well. The driveway runs northwest/southeast, so the area gets sun for a couple hours when the alignment with the sun position is right, shines right down the length of the drive. I'm taking a run up to Tripple Brook Farm (it's nearby me) in a couple days and was trying to plan what all I wanted to follow me home. They have viburnum lentago - it looks very pretty. Might be a good choice, thanks for the heads up on that one. The kousa dogwood sounds good also. We have anthracnose in this area, so I'll need to stick with the resistant dogwoods, a pity, the pagoda dogwood is very attractive. Ken
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Hi, I am back with more photos. I just took these about an hour ago. The first one is where the Maple tree meets the neighbor's Spruce. The Spruce is to the North of the yard. When the Maple is in leaf it screens out a lot but I would like to screen all along the post and rail fence to at least a 6ft height. Hoping to fill it in with a mix of evergreen and decidious shrubs. Moving to the left along the fence line, which is about 90ft from end to end. Here is the sunniest areas of the back border. It also is the most out from under tree canopies with less root competition. The bed to the left of the arbor is about 16x16ft and gets sun in the morning and some again in the afternoon. You can see two more Silver Maples in the neighbor's yard. The mugo pine is in a container. I already have added a Sutherland's Gold Sambucus, an Amelanchier shrub and an Oakleaf Hydrangea, but they seem to disappear at the moment, they are young. The Sambucus is the vase shape shrub to the right of the mugo pine and it is the only one I am committed to keeping there. I would also like to save room for two Oakleaf hydrangeas. You can see the shadow of the next Silver Maple that is in the second neighbor's yard. This view shows the chain link fence that intersects the two neighbor's yards behind us. We have a direct view of this area from the kitchen window. There is a wild cherry tree hiding in front of the Silver Maple. This is the third Silver Maple shading our property. You can see it is right up against our fence line. To the left of the mugo pine is a Viburnum maresii that is only two years old. Behind the mugo pine at the fence, there is another viburnum Wentworth. Two years old. This area gets sun in the morning and then a little more in the afternoon. This area gets very little morning sun but a couple of hours in the afternoon. That is a holly on the left that has been there four years and has barely grown. A taxus in the middle is a Hicksii and I am thinking about adding two more if I can figure out where to put them. This is the shadiest area on the property. You can see this massive Silver Maple, just on the other side of the fence. Only the edge of this bed gets much morning sun and a little bit more in the afternoon. The whole bed is under the canopy of that tree. There is a lindera and a cornus shrub with a couple of hydrangeas in the bed right now, but I do want to fill in more and screen so that you barely see the fences. The cornus has done amazingly well and tripled in size in two years. So I don't want to move it. So that is about it. If this gives any more helpful information to offer some advise, I could use it. [g] Thanks a lot! pm2
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
11 years ago
who needs stinkin flowers ... lol ..

how about all season long variegation ... plus red on the back.. esk sunset.. aka eskimo sunset ... see link

or the proverbial tricolor beech??? below is mine.. i miss the dwarf.. he is 10 now.. but otherwise.. ignore him..

both will benefit from the shade ... and they key was your comment that the mock orange blooms.. that is a great indicator fact that it really is a lot of brightness ...

ken

{{gwi:242702}}

{{gwi:242703}}

Here is a link that might be useful: link
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jeff_al
11 years ago
a pretty tree that you rarely see in home gardens is the parsley hawthorn (crataegus marshallii). they report heights of 15-25 feet as common. the foliage is shaped somewhat like garden parsley, the spring flowers are white with red stamens, the bark exfoliates with maturity and the red fruits are persistent, said to be desirable to only a few types of birds. also said to have colorful fall foliage. the thorns may or may not be present, according to the link below.
i have never seen one in-ground and bought one but never planted it. the summer foliage became covered in rust from the fungus carried by the many eastern redcedar trees around my home so i gave it to a friend with none of those on her property.

Here is a link that might be useful: parsley hawthorn
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oath5
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you all for the suggestions, I'm writing them down as the design/work in the area is still in the works so it won't be purchased for quite a bit, but its good to start compiling options.

I really like the sound of the hawthorn, hawthorn is such an ancient type of plant, but we do have three eastern red cedars on our property, about an acre away from where this is planted but they've produced lots of problems with old apple trees that used to be all over the property. Do you think those would be an issue with this?
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poaky1
11 years ago
Not really what you asked but, I would plant a shade tolerant (in youth) oak to replace the Silver maple in the future.
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scotjute Z8
11 years ago
Perhaps a redbud tree. They are good for either full sun or partial shade. Pinkish flowers in the spring. There is a variety from Oklahoma that has reddish beans and flowers that are darker than standard pink.
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whaas_5a
11 years ago
You asked for a plant that gets 8-15' tall right? Although it will exceed 15' in many many years I like the Seven Son Flower suggestion.

Vibrunum prunifolium or Serviceberry are plants that would offer blooms, berries and fall color. Likely many evergreen Viburnums that would work as well.
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strobiculate
11 years ago
maples come in many flavors. of interest may be a. griseum or a. pseudosieboldianum.

actually, a dogwood may be exactually what you need. specifically, c. alternifolia or c. controversa, variegated in both. or the once uncommon now ubiquitous Wolf Eyes.

any possibilities that includes heptacodium is a good list.

this may be a place where selection of yet another showstopper plant may not be as effective as creative, non-traditional use of a more common plant, be it viburnum, rhododendron, or a choice not yet named. Some of the plantings that stick in my mind the most do not linger because of the remarkable plants that were used, but rather the remarkable use to which plants were put, which caused you to step back and say, wow, I had forgotten that (_____) could look like that.
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whaas_5a
11 years ago
I like the variegated Dogwood suggestion but Wolf Eyes is an inferior selection that is extremely susceptible to Anthracnose. Select superior selections like 'Samzam' and 'Summer Fun', which also do better in full sun applications (a side note for others tuning in).
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sam_md
11 years ago
Wedding Cake Tree

Here is a link that might be useful: Wedding Cake Tree
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oath5
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you so much for the responses, I have a lot to think about. I wrote a huge response to this, but it seems that tab closed, so I will have to come back with my thanks for all the suggestions. I'm very much inclined to find something that is fantastic, whether it is unusual, or more conventional things made special by it's application. Native things are particularly not as loved. My one concern with regular florida and kousa dogwood is that we already have quite a few of those near the area.

Nevertheless I have to be clever. In that same area already I have a spicebush that is used in that "new" effect, the way it's grown, it has a fantastic architecture,
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Looking for a lesser used but ornamental tree for part-shade

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j0nd03

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Looking for a lesser used but ornamental tree for part-shade

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