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Texas Gardening

What plants for north side bed foundation?

lou_spicewood_tx

15 years ago

My neighbor is asking for some help with the plants but the problem is that it is on the north side of the house and you know half of the year, the area does not get any sun so I need some help with the list of plants that will happily grow in that condition. The soil is mostly caliche (maybe fill sand?). It's one story house ( can't imagine having to do it with two story house in the front yard!). Thanks!

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Comments (6)

pjtexgirl
15 years ago
I always heard put thick evergreens on the north side to stop "blue northerners" from sucking all the heat away from your house and freeze drying your posies dead.
Wax myrtle(my favorite hedge thus far)
fast-growing evergreen shrub or small tree with heavily coated leaves and waxy blue fruit on the female plant; prefers partial shade and a moist site, but will adapt to dryer conditions; good hedge or background plant; dwarf forms exist; 20 ft.
Mine are doing well in a Xeriscape. I have Caliche/calcirous(sp) soil. I hear they will tolerate shade. Yaupons also tolerate not-so-great soil but they are slow growing. I'd interplant the two for a long lived,tolerant hedge.PJ
fool4flowers
15 years ago
If he would ammend the soil very well he might could use camelias. I don't know how well they do in your area though. My ex mother in law had them there to protect from hot afternoon sun and they did beautifully and bloomed too.
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The back of my house faces north, and I have a sloping bed next to the deck I am hoping to replant. The area is approx. a 10' x 12' triangle. I was originally thinking of a lilac for the corner where the deck meets the house wall, but it only gets sun for about 2-3 hours per day-from just before 2 p.m. til around 4:30 or so. Currently, I have a peegee hydrangea there, but it's been there for 3 years now and hasn't done anything to inpress-no height, no flowers, nada. So I want to move it somewhere else, and replace it, but with what? Now I am thinking a small tree. I am considering dogwood, redbud, Japanese maple, weeping cherry, ??? Maybe an evergreen. I want something that won't get too tall-no more than 12'-15', with a similar spread. Thanks!!
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I've seen aspidistra (cast iron plant) used effectively under very large oaks. There are both solid green and variegated varieties. Another possibility is aucuba japonica. With its yellow variegation, it brightens a shady area. I read that this would do well among tree roots so I planted a small - but well rooted - cutting in an area filled with palm roots. What a trooper it has been! It's now about 2.5 feet high and has added some pizazz to the site. Floridata says its a slow grower that will eventually get to 8-10 ft high, but at the rate mine is growing (admittedly fighting for its share of water and nutrients), keeping it at 2-3 feet would be easy-peasy. June Here is a link that might be useful: Aspidistra
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debndal
15 years ago
My house faces north and I use carissa holly, jade tiara cleyera (stays shorter than the standard cleyera), berries jubilee holly and dazzler holly and a pride of houston yaupon. Also have a bluebird hydrangea that gets morning sun. Have a short border of liriope. On the west end of the front there is aster oblongifolia and some flox subulata that gets afternoon sun so I get early season and lates season color there; on the east end there is a perennial hibiscus that gets morning sun and blooms all summer. Also use some impatiens and the purple large leaf oxalis with the pinkish/bluish flowers. Farther out where there is sun in summer I have zinnia augustifolia, white coneflower, and perennial plumbago. All the shrubs grow slowly to no more than 4 feet so very little pruning ever on them. Mostly all I have to do is make sure I water the oxalis and impatiens. It's all low maintenance looks good year round.
lou_spicewood_tx
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks guys! I'll relay the info to the neighbor! He has sad looking red tipped photonia that looked like it got fungus problem.
susansyd
15 years ago
I have had luck with turks cap, hydrangea, azaleas and even a shrimp plant...
mommyfox
15 years ago
I find that loropetalum grows well in inhospitable conditions, as do violets and columbine.

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