Zone 8 north facing shady front yard garden - where to start?

7 years ago

I just bought the house and love the front yard, I think it has really good "bones". Nevertheless there are things that don't look quite right to me, but I don't have enough experience to put my finger on it. Please help advise...this is in rainy and dark Seattle. It faces the north, sits at a down slope, shaded by trees, neighbors, the house, and the elevated street. My previous yard know-how is the drought tolerant kind of landscaping, lush Northwest is definitely new to me.

1. I want some privacy hedge between myself and neighbor - will a container with bamboo work? It is very narrow, maybe 1'6" only.

2. I find the evergreen trees/shrubs? very dense and dark, to the point that I see lots of bird poo on the walkway. Should I trim or remove?

3. I want to find a place for a coral bark Japanese maple to bring in some red color in winter, but not sure if it can do well in this much shade.

4. The tree ring under the big magnolia looks very bare to me. It has a few hellebores but they don't look healthy. What can I try there? I love the look of vinca and ice plants but they run amok...

5. Any chance of introducing succulents in this type of shady

environment?

Thank you!

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Comments (5)

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
7 years ago
Given that that I don't know your area, my only suggestion is to do next to nothing for a full season other than get everything identified and do basic maintenance i.e. Weeding and trimming off anything which attacks you on the way to the gate. Only after a year of living with the garden will you know how it fits with your life.

'Vinca' (actually Catharanthus roseus, not true Vinca) and ice plant need full sun and they won't get that under your magnificent magnolia. You need to be looking at shade tolerant plants and spring bulbs. You can tell by the moss that the bed is shady. Ferns would love it. There's little point hankering after the types of plants from your hot dry garden. Embrace the lush woodsy spirit of the space and don't try to make it into a prissy suburban flower bed of bought in annuals. Yawn. The selection possible in this new type of environment is enormous and beautiful. Personally I'd choose it over a bunch of rubbery succulents any day. That bed could be full of colour right now if there were small bulbs in there. Snowdrops, narcissi, corydalus, hyacinth, Scilla, cyclamen.... all gorgeous. I have enlarged the photo and I confess I can't clearly see any hellebores. But they would be ideal candidates. You can get any plants you don't recognise identified over on the Name that Plant Forum. There are experienced PNW gardeners there and also on the Perennials, Shrubs and Trees forums.

Japanese maple would certainly enjoy that space but I'd be patient about placing it. Autumn would be fine. The bamboo in a trough would also work in all likelihood.
L T
Original Author
7 years ago
I just realized that the big tree is not magnolia, I have no idea what it is. The hellebores are pretty sad, collapsed on the ground, so cannot see. Daffodils and other flowers sound like a great idea. I definitely will trim back the trees and shrubs to begin with. We will probably stay in this house only a couple of years, so I want to start early and enjoy as much of it's garden as possible!:)
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floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
7 years ago
You can get the tree identified if you post a close up on the Name that Plant Forum.
wisconsitom
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Like Floral, I urge you to be patient. I can't count the number of times I've seen perfectly good landscape compositions maimed by unknowing and impatient new property owners. Check out what you've got.....see how it works living with what's there.....see if a little bird poop on a sidewalk somewhere is really an emergency.....that sort of thing. Take two deep breaths and call me in the morning!
caroline sawyer
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Hey! I am brand new to this forum and I am super excited to be here. I love chatting with strangers about a shared interest or passion. I LOVE everything gardening and always enjoy any extra communication about it.

To start, I want to share this bad ass Interactive Planting Zone map with you all because I feel as if it hasn't been discovered yet. Gilmour is my GO TO site for all things gardening & they created this new map --

https://gilmour.com/planting-zones-hardiness-map

I know you will enjoy it as much as I do. Enjoy!

Zone 8 north facing shady front yard garden - where to start?

Comments (5)

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK

L T
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Zone 8 north facing shady front yard garden - where to start?

Comments (5)

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK

L TOriginal Author

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floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK

wisconsitom

caroline sawyer

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L T
Original Author