>It does not get sun except for 3 months of year for 2-4 hours a day in afternoons. Avoid rhododendrons and azaleas. They can make do with scanty dappled sunlight but if they're totally in the shade for 9 months of the year, they won't do as well as what you would like/expect. (August and later into the fall is mainly when they're asking for sunlight to help them make the bloom buds that will open in the spring.) Plus, if watering is a problem, they won't do at all; they're not deep-rooted and don't survive droughts at all without plenty of water. There are reblooming azaleas and a few rhododendrons will have a few fall blooms, but they won't work well without regular rainfall/watering and some sunlight. Camellias won't survive the first year without good regular watering either, but after that they can survive a drought much, much better than rhododendrons and azaleas. Depending on the height you are wishing for, camellia varieties Shishigashira and Bonanza, either one or both, would make nice plants for that spot. They are sold with the sasanqua camellias (but are really hiemalis). Shishigashira can for sure do well and bloom well with less than an ideal amount of dappled or direct sunlight. I have read a post by someone who had some success growing a Madame Alfred Carriere up the wall on the north side of a house. The rose didn't bloom much at all until it got to the sunlight of the roof area but then it did okay. The trick would be in getting the rose to the upper areas of the wall where it could get some sunlight, but maybe in your situation your 3 months of the year would give enough sunlight to allow the rose to get there. There are some other shade-tolerant climbers that might work that way, mostly Noisettes (like Cato's Cluster or Champney's Pink Cluster). But camellias would be close to a sure thing, and they'd look good there too, even when not blooming. You might try a combination of the two--a shade-tolerant rose with some evergreen camellias for variety in foliage size, color, and texture. The polyantha rose Eutin with its red blooms might work to the left of the window and you could pull some canes down to parallel the window bottom too; Liz Druitt credits Eutin with a good bit of shade tolerance. Some (but not all) of the hybrid musks also have good shade tolerance and can climb; red Skyrocket (aka Wilhelm), Will Scarlet, or Nur Mahal might work there. One Shishigashira centered under the window with a climbing shade-tolerant rose planted on each side might look nice and might also work with your sun situation (might work--I certainly wouldn't say that with any certainty). Eutin might have a better chance at blooming heavily in the months when you have some direct sunlight there than would the hybrid musks. And once established, Eutin would survive a drought. But survival is not the same as blooming; you'd still have to water it well for it to bloom well when you weren't getting good rainfall. Shishigashira is small enough that there would still be room for a few rose canes pegged beneath the window behind it. Shishigashira in front of a rose pegged below a window would stay really short for a long, long, long time. Our Shishigashira that is maybe 25 years old now is wide but still under 2' tall, though it has been grown in almost no direct sunlight and might have grown faster under ideal conditions. It has been a heavy bloomer in spite of its slow growth. (Once-blooming only, but the bloom period lasts a long time each fall.) It would be interesting to see how this turns out with whatever you decide to plant! I hope you'll post some pictures! Best wishes, Mary

I read an article years ago about roses on the north side in Arizona. It said they get adequate light from the desert sky with no direct sun, provided the plants can see a lot of blue sky, especially the zone 60 to 90 degrees (my vague recollection) up from the north horizon. A light-colored building or fence nearby to the north can also reflect significant light. If you have foggy winter days near the coast, of course that wouldn't be much like Arizona light. Still, I would guess your climbers would do well, and at worst, bloom in would be reduced during December and January.

You didn't mention the size of the area - are you looking for small shrubs or low growing flowers & groundcovers? If it's next to a driveway did you check the dirt to see if it's high pH? (One of my areas is high alkaline from all the limestone used around the foundation & under the asphalt.) I've got a similar areas. Yews, itea and swamp pumilla dogwood does well. (It's also close to a walnut tree so it's got that issue too.) Daylilies may do well, ferns, lily-of-the-valley, and sweet woodruff. I have a beauty-berry I might move to this area depending on how it does in its current location.

Ok, here we go... Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Tsukumo' This is a cultivar of Chamaecyparis pisifera. The true full name is Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Tsukomo' Cryptomeria japonica 'Atawhal' Must be written as Cryptomeria japonica 'Atawhai' Taxus x media 'Veridis' Must be written as Taxus x media 'Viridis' Cedrus atlantica 'Glauca Pendula' Must be written as Cedrus libani var. atlantica 'Glauca Pendula' Cedrus atlantica 'Aurea' Must be written as Cedrus libani var. atlantica 'Aurea' Pinus banksiani 'Uncle Fogy' typo, banksiana Metasequoia glyptostroboides 'North Light'. Known in Europe as 'Schirrmann's Nordlicht'. This make's me furious, not personaly to you Dave but to Talon Buchholz who made this cultivar name change! My German friend Winfriend Schirrmann found this beauty as a witches' broom in a Metasequoia glypt. 'White Spot' and gave it the name 'Schirrmann's Nordlicht'. This is the cultivar name we must use and not some commercial translation! 'Schirrmann Nordlicht' it is, please rename and never use 'North Light' again... Picea jezoensis 'Landis' Clement mentioned at least a dozen times here that this is a cultivar of Picea glehnii. The true full name is Picea glehnii 'Landis' Pinus thunbergii 'Okinakabie' The cultivar name isn't correctly written but at this moment I don't know what is wrong. I'll come back to this very soon.. Picea bicolor is the old name for what is now Picea alcoquiana Juniperus procumbens 'Greenmound' Is a commercial renaming for the original name Juniperus procumbens 'Nana' The last name must be used. My pleasure, Dave :0)