I think you would be fine with hydrangeas there. If salvias are too floppy, try some veronicas or agastaches. You might even be able to grow baptista (false indigo). I have a similar exposure in my zone 5 Iowa yard. Trees along one side, and then it slopes too, so it is a bit of an odd long bed. It used to be grass and mostly invasive Asian honesuckle shrubs. I have only been gardening at this house for 1 1/2 years, so I am still experimenting; plus I am new to this zone and previously lived in zone 9. I first considered this area part shade and planted accordingly. Now I see there are pockets of more and less sun. In this area the plants doing best are: Hostas--This surprised me, but I see them in full sun around town now that I have started looking. Not sure if it is the same for zone 6. Foam flower--this looks GREAT right now with tidy foliage and is still blooming. I had some red tulips behind the foam flower and they looked lovely. Columbines--flowering nicely with airy foliage. Agastache--the one I have has short white flowers, but blues are common I think. Overwintered and re-sowed abundantly. My soil drains well so may be why they like it there. Garden phlox--were small plants last year from Bluestone spring sale. SO far they are growing nicely but will see if they flop. Today the whole area seemed to be in so much sun! Daylillies--will see how they do this year Foxglove--sowed last summer, getting ready to bloom, seems to be good for them in this spot. Monarda, bloomed last summer and no flopping. Soloman's seal--in a shadier pocket, but still gets some afternoon sun. Doing really well right now. helleborus--one little helleborus which has been doing great so far this spring, to my surprise. When I realized how sunny the spot was, I thought I'd move this little plant, but it is doign well. Toad lily--these are growing nicely and had attractive late flowers last year. Lobelia--there are some nice blue lobelias available. low growing veronicas--doing very well and blooming profusely. Happy planting. :)

That really is their common name that almost all people use and also most information shows it as: Alaska cedar Sometimes called: Nootka False Cypress or Yellow-cypress and the best names: Nootka Cypress or Alaska Cypress. It's not correct calling it cedar like above because it's not really a cedar. It really is in the cypress family (Cupressaceae). It really should be called Alaska cypress, but very rarely does anybody call it that. Another example would be the Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) which is in the cypress family (Cupressaceae) and even though it is not a cedar and should not be called that, it is just the accepted common name by almost everybody. Quirkyquercus was not really wrong in a way because the ones that are wrong are the ones that started calling it a cedar many years ago.

Hostas and ferns will be okay on the north side against the foundation. I have Azaleas planted against my foundation on the north side, and Hostas actually in my Southern exposure, which has mature trees to the East, South, and West of me, so not a lot of direct sunlight, some filtered, and some pretty dark shade. Another good shrub that gets large, but you can get smaller versions if you want, is Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia). I recommend it to everyone in Oklahoma because it does so well here compared to other Hydrangeas. The leaves are very large, oakleaf shape as name indicates, huge conical white blooms in mid to late spring, that gently turn to a pink shade. The foliage turns red in the fall, and the winter branches are interesting, too, because they peel to a rusty red shade. It is pretty much an all around outstanding plant for Oklahoma. Doesn't require as much water as the other Hydrangeas either, once it is established. I planted it the first summer I lived in my house in 1999, and I have never regreted it. Some say it is slow to establish, but mine grew very quickly. Maybe because I purchased it in a 5-gallon container so it was pretty good size to begin with. It can grow to about 7' tall by 9' wide in fabulous conditions, but will generally run about 7' side and 5' tall. You can place some medium size hostas in front of it, perhaps variegated to add some interest, and small hostas and ferns in front of them. Japanese Painted fern is very pretty. I grow a few Hostas, 'Sum and Substance' which is a monster and has lime green foliage with leaves up to 18-24" long. It can take more light than the Blue Hostas and variegated hostas. Anything with the bolder lime green colors can generally tolerate more light. I also have 'Blue Angel' which is also a monster with powdery blue foliage. The leaves aren't as big as S&S but the plant itself gets huge. Give this one a pretty shady place as with all blues. There are hundreds and hundreds of Hostas available. Check out Plant Delight Nursery which has a nice selection, just to give yourself an idea of different textures, sizes, and colors. I don't really grow ferns except for the Holly fern which has done so well for me for about 10 years also. Doesn't need as much water. Hellebores, Epimediums, variegated Solomon's Seal, Jack in the Pulpits, Campanulas, Meadow Rues, Heucheras, Tiarellas, Toad Lilies, some Clematis, some lilies, will all do well in part shade. The only problem with shade around a lot of homes is tree roots. Hard to dig and prepare soil - amend, amend, amend with compost, chicken or cow manure, etc. But, the roots will eventually grow back. The plants I've mentioned will likely co-exist just fine with some tree roots. Your Elephant Ears will take some sun very nicely. More than a lot of folks think. They are Colocasias in the Aroid family. A better bet is Alocasias which look very similar but have a more upright habit, sold in many of the nurseries as Upright Elephant Ear. The foliage is a bit shinier, and they get every bit as big without needing as much water. Generally speaking, in a southern exposure you will get more sun, in the West you will get a good amount of sun along with heat. The north and east sides offer more protection from our relentless summer suns. However, that can change with things such as how large your trees are, how much shade they cast, the closer you plant to your house will afford more shade. Dawn suggests that you have your soil tested to see how much you need and what your soil needs, Consider mulching your plants, too. Fertilizers? I'm a lazy gardener so I use Espoma fertilizer products which you can just add at planting time or sprinkle on top in the spring. Some needs to be added monthly and some will last 2 or 3 months. If you want to add some butterfly and hummingbird attracting plants, let me know, What fun! You have pretty much a blank slate to work with. And.....welcome to the forum! Susan Here is a link that might be useful: Oakleaf Hydrangea

Jim, I have plenty of plants that don't do as well when I fuss, too. LOL. I've learned over the years to just ignore the hell out of my house plants because every time I leave for a week, they grow. When I'm home, they do not LOL! It also becomes glaringly clear when I come back and nothing outside died--in fact, some thrive if nothing is happening to them, including water. It's helped me cut down on pepper watering a LOT though I'm sure I still give them more than they need. But what I can't stand is ugly. Bring inherently lazy and hating the heat, I look at my overgrown mess and plan for DAYS just to go out and prune, tie and otherwise clean them up. It just annoys me. I may very well be slowing them down due to cutting off so many leaves but it is what it is. I have never had one die and short of this year when I got such a late, late start--I usually am sick of tomatoes in general by September. Of course, come January, I plant seeds again anyway, Walnut trees... All I can say is don't do it, The two black walnuts I had were massive, each being over 30 years old at the time, at least. The amount of shade they provide is ridiculous, but that's not the problem. It's the juglone that exists in every part of their being that kills off everything nearby....even my containers would suffer and in-ground was impossible. Other than the heavy canopy, the roots...omg, these roots would run through the lawn, under the house and basically everywhere. Because I had two on opposite sides of the property, everything in between the 100 feet or so in the middle was the dead zone. Therefore, all the way around the perimeter of the house was a small plot of land where I could plant. I suspect nothing had been planted there since the dark ages. Since I discovered this juglone issu late that first year, I bought two seedlings and planted them. This was back in....1998 or so, long before I knew any tomato is not just a tomato. I forget the variety...Big Something...but be it on account of the juglone or the location or something I did, those tomatoes were nasty. NASTY. LOL And forget about eating walnuts. You'll wage war on squirrels...and you will lose LOL. I have seen squirrels sitting on my fence eating walnuts and over time, probably because they knew I was terrified of them, they'd sit there and chuck walnut shells at me! Nasty, vile creatures. To this day, I just flat out hate squirrels. Hate. Needless to say, I do not miss that house. I shelled out over $100K on remodeling that house and my 3 month project took 15 months because of the worst contractor in history, during which time I washed dishes in the bathtub and cooked on ranges in the garage for my family of four. During the open house, the roof caved from the rain because the foundation on the new side of the kitchen/house started sinking. The squirrels still sat outside and laughed. I called an arborist once to cut down the trees and he tells me they're worth over $10K each, go figure, but that I could pull them both out and redo the entire lawn but the juglone would remain for at least a few years. Wretched trees, I tell you, Jim.