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Symphocarpos (snow/coralberry) for full shade

21 years ago

Would this make a good northern foundation planting? It sounds lovely, especially coralberry, for winter interest. I'm getting conflicting information about how well it will grow in full shade. Can anyone help?

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Comments (7)

viburnumvalley
21 years ago
Darn hard to find a place coralberry (Symphoricarpos orbiculatus) won't grow, unless it's permanent standing water.

It's normal to find it in sunnier spots, especially along the edge of a woods. But it will persist under closed canopy, so I bet it would work fine as a foundation plant on the north side of a house. Fruit persists throughout winter here in central KY. Extremely drought tolerant plant, not too tall, and rejuvenates exceptionally well. One mass planting here in a Louisville park was inadvertently whacked to the ground, one year after installation. All plants came back, almost too uniformly, and reminded one of a mass of little round boxwoods for the first season. They've since re-naturalized.
Elaine_NJ6
21 years ago
Coralberry is not evergreen, and although the berries are pretty in fall, and they persist all winter, they kind of turn a mucky black/brown. So it's not realy pretty in winter, and I wouldn't use it as a foundaiton plant, unless you like to look at very thin bare twigs and blackened fruit.

As previous posters said, this will grow almost anywhere, and it's most useful for filling in natural-looking areas. I have closely-planted tree and shrub islands that include a variety of species, and I use coralberry to kind of tie things together and fill in holes. Snowberry is a taller shrub (maybe 3-4 feet) and it stays put, but coralberry sends out runners all over the place and travels. Not in a nasty way, though.

For foundation plants that can take deep shade, you might try mountain laurel. You'll have to acidify routinely, however.
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BabyHelpful
Original Author
21 years ago
I know it isn't evergreen, but I thought the berries would be nice. I'm certainly not wedded to evergreen plants, especially since we plan on planting some evergreen groundcover. I don't find bare twigs unattractive actually, since the plant seems to have a graceful, arching habit, but that's good to know about the berries turning brown.

Acidifying routinely and maintaining nice loamy soil is out of the question, eliminating most of the natives that will grow in architectural shade. My mother-in-law can't maintain anything in the yard on her own, and I am several states away, so I can only come a few times a year to do maintanence. I can do pruning and mulching, but not watching for moisture levels and cholorosis. The soil is clay-silt and quite difficult (I will initially lighten it a bit, though). I'm trying to find something that will stay around four feet and grow relatively easily in deep shade. (snort) And isn't boxwood. Other possibilities include Itea, Ribes alpinum, Dircus palustris, Hydrangea, Cornus racemosa (dwarf cultivars), Taxus (of course) (but how boring), Eutherococcus sieboldus, viburnum trilobum, and cherry laurel. I would prefer to plant one of the natives, but I'm not bent on it, as long as I'm not planting something invasive. Any feedback on how these plants do in full shade would be appreciated. Snowberry seemed like the best option at the moment.
Elaine_NJ6
21 years ago
Chokeberry (Aronia sp.) will flower and fruit in deep shade, at least the black-fruited species (melanocarpum?) will. I don't think the ones on your list will. V. trilobum and C. racemosa want to be at a woodland edge or an east- or west-facing exposure. They need some sun to flower and fruit abundantly. Flowering dogwood (C. florida) or C. rugosa (roundleaf dogwood, a shrub) are shade tolerant, but the latter is not grown commercially to my knowledge. V. lentago will take more shade than many other viburnums.
viburnumvalley
21 years ago
B Helpful:

From your list of plants and minimal requirements of 4' height, shade, and soil/moisture, your best bets are:

Coralberry (good intuition)

Aronia dwarf clones like Iroquois Beauty (and they'll flower lightly the deeper the shade is)

Itea, doesn't like really dry ground, though

Clethra is worth a try, but dry summers are rough on it; put it near a downspout or lowest wet spot

Hydrangea arborescens Annabelle, or the H. macrophylla group; not much wildlife value but decent summer flower show, but these also hate to dry out

Cornus racemosa (great multiseason and multi-animal friendly plant)

Viburnum dentatum compact clones (maybe tough to find, but a Lake County OH wholesale nursery distributes two, Blue Blaze and Raspberry Tart; another from IL/WI is Little Joe)

Viburnum acerifolium (again tough to find, and can throw some longer stems, but fabulous understory viburnum that is too little known and grown)

I am glad to read of others who are extending a gardening hand beyond their own properties, and demonstrating the values of using native plants in residential landscapes.
BabyHelpful
Original Author
21 years ago
Thanks! I was just down there this weekend, reviewed the soil and light levels again, and feel that the shade, while constant, is fairly bright with ambient light and the soil will tend to stay relatively moist with the clay, I think. We did add some peat and some compost to ligten things up, but we've decided to go with Itea to start with, and we may plant Cornus Racemosa near the doors, maybe one of the new smaller cultivars out from Lake County OH.

I think I still may try Symphoricarpos on a very shady corner with a bad erosion problem. It's confined by architectural elements, so that would hopefully help control the suckering problem.

And yes, I am happy to be spreading the word on natives and gardening to share with wildlife! The best part is that it seems to be having a ripple effect: the lists I am compiling now of plant options for shade and part shade are being passed on to neighbors and local relatives who are also looking for something new. Yay!
indiancreeker
21 years ago
We have tons of coralberry growing naturally in our woodland. I've always encouraged it until I found out it has a coefficient of conservatism of 1 in Illinois! I must admit it has gotten rather out of hand and could probably use a good burn! Even said, I dug a bunch of it up 2 years ago and transplanted it alongside a long retaining wall where it is heavily shaded. It was the perfect height and the perfect price! It has done very well, and the lawn mower keeps it in its place. I find that a lot of the berries do stay that bright crimson color throughout the winter, and since the wildlife doesn't care for it, they last until spring. I think you would be happy with it.

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