Rhododendrons that will take some midday sun, rest shade?
muddlethru
9 years ago
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morz8 - Washington Coast
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agomuddlethru
9 years agoRelated Discussions
foliage garden - midday sun
Comments (2)Skip the Solomon's Seal and dwarf hydrangea (unless a dwarf oakleaf or a paniculata, like Little Lime). Japanese barberries come in great colors - burgundy, red, copper, gold. Also smokebush, ninebark, scads of dwarf conifers, Pieris japonica (many variegated choices and perfectly happy in PNW sun with enough water). For perennials, look at heucheras and heucherellas, euphorbias, all manner of ornamental grasses........ Lots of great nurseries and garden centers in the Vancouver - Portland area. I'd take a day trip tour and see what's available. I'm sure you'll be hugely inspired :-)...See Moretwo hours of mid-day sun -- and that's it... flowers?
Comments (5)I planted a shade garden on the north side of my house last summer. On the other side of my house, where it's sunny, I have a lot of bright flowering perennials, so I decided to concentrate more on foliage in the shade. The shade garden is now my favorite, and I'm planning to put in another shade garden this summer. I planted lamium, astilbe, ferns, tiarella, heuchera, polygonatum, cimicifuga, ligularia, and probably a few more. A lot of these plants have flowers, but when they don't have flowers they look good too. They were all also deer resistant, if that matters. I'm in a much colder zone, so I'm not sure if these will all work in Virginia. Here is a link that might be useful: Shade garden pictures...See Moretall, sun tolerant rhododendrons
Comments (12)That's an interesting article morz. Seattle having a night time low of 71F is a bit mind boggling, it's almost the high. I happened to be visiting the PNW during one of the worse heat waves you had in the early 1990s...maybe 91? I can't remember exactly when my family took that trip. It was no more than a couple years after the Loma Prieta earthquake because there was still evidence of it in San Francisco. Anyhow, although Port Angeles (where we spent the warmest 24h before taking the ferry to Victoria) was in the upper 80s, which they said never happened, we all agreed the humidity was not as bad as eastern US humidity. How could it be, with all the cold, deep water around? So I bet when Seattle had that 71F low the dewpoint was still several degrees lower. Dewpoints at or above 70F is where the discomfort truly becomes surreal. Anyhow, yeah the PNW is a rather different kind of maritime climate than the UK. Much sunnier in the dry season, alas, also wetter in the wet season. Which might explain why people have a little more luck establishing plants like Phoenix canariensis, at least temporarily until the next Siberian outbreak, in places like London than in even the urban heat island of Seattle. London's DJF precip total is 6 inches, Seattle's is 14.5! Main advantage of the PNW compared to the UK's is the relative lack of late spring freezes over a broader area, instead of just the favorable maritime areas like Cornwall. Hence the reason we can buy Oregon grown hazelnuts and not West Midlands grown ones!* Probably related to the changeability of Atlantic conditions and jet stream movements versus Pacific, which is strongly influenced by the monotonicity of the Asian monsoon/Siberian high. (and all this from a Seattle gardener of many years who extensively studied the climate, a certain Robert Wagner...not my deductions but I agree with them) On UK gardening forums I often spot posts of some spring flower being snatched by a late freeze, at least in frost prone parts of the garden. * (among other reasons, of course. Fresh UK grown agricultural products are rare in the US, period. I noticed when I was shopping in the UK that most of the even the temperate produce came from the European mainland. I think a lot of UK agricultural land just grows grains, not fruits and veggies. Spanish clementines? All over the US in winter. But I welcome a correction if I'm wrong. At any rate, my gosh, some of the pit fruits grown in France were absurdly tasty and reasonably priced to boot, at least when I spent a summer in the UK in the mid 90s...also noticed on later visits. OTOH packaged foods like orange juice, of course, are much more expensive in Europe, period. No 'Juice Trains' crossing the continent LOL, as in the US.)...See MoreNeed size and sun duration info for some Chinas, Polys, Teas, and Misc
Comments (10)As you may have noticed from my previous posts, many of the roses in the Tea and China classes get BIG here: Comtesse du Cayla, 8' x 8' at 8 years (with regular, firm pruning -- heaven knows how big she would be otherwise...has on occasion tried to climb the nearby orange tree...), blooms do fry in temps over 85F, but I imagine if you have some humidity, they may have more fortitude. Etoile de Lyon, 7' x 12' at 10 years, totally heat-proof (one of my best if it is over 100F, and generally a great, favorite rose here), but a total catastrophe if there is even a hint of moisture in the air (brown blooms that hang on forever -- this one always gets deadheaded). The first flush is almost always trashed by moisture. Ducher, hit 4' in a couple of years and was still going, but was such a mildew magnet that he was removed. Ferndale Red China, hit 5' here in 3 years, got moved last winter because obviously NOT a front-of-the-border rose, but already now back to 5' as if nothing had happened (I call that "vigorous"). I'm glad, seeing Mendocino Rose's comment, that the new spot gets afternoon shade. Mildews, but not insufferably. Miss Lowe's Variety, perfect tea-like foliage, amazingly does not mildew. 6' x 6' in 5 years, spring and fall flushes are best, but some blooms all the time. Alliance Franco-Russe was mostly annoying here. Mildewed leaves always, fragile blooms (moisture, heat, you name it) , so he was a big (7' x 7') ugly plant that really had no good time of the year (and in a great part of the garden). I put up with him for 6 years, hoping for improvement, then said goodbye. Devoniensis did not fry in the sun, but did mildew badly on the east side of the yard. Was fine on the west side of the yard. Was going to be too big for space available (5' x 5' when he left), and I needed the space for rarer roses, so no longer here. Thomasville Old Gold was such a mildew magnet that he only lasted two years here. Cramoisi Supérieur, like most Chinas, mildews some, but not so much as to get booted out. I am charmed by this rose, especially the spring and fall blooms. 4' x 5' so far (4 years)....See Moremuddlethru
9 years agomuddlethru
9 years ago
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