A pic of the area would help. Light colored walls may provide enough ambient light whereas dark walls may form a grotto. What kind of conifers are you thinking of?

tj

Id like to grow bun shaped pines like densiflora and parviflora, or low growing pungens or p. omerika maybe.

Pines and pungens would be tough but omorika could work. Again, pix would help. I also have a Chamaecyparis pisefera ‘Variegata’ on the north side of my garage that does well.

tj

growing hosta in the heat of the day in GA ... and them not scorching to ugly ... tell me what?? .. lol ... he watered a lot ...

its really hard to figure out ambient light versus direct sun ... i have grow some conifers in the north side of my house.. and the only direct light they got was near dusk and after dawn .. minis ... they did fine ... because it was open sky above ... it was rather what might be called bright shade ... and i did grow hosta i the same place ... in my MI ...

if all other variables are just peachy for your zone 7... [see what i did there..lol ] ... then i suspect you might have more success than you worry about .... but you are probably just going to have to try it ... and roll the dice ...

its very hard for anyone to give you spot on advice in your garden in your shade in your GA ... on any definitive basis ...

now all that said ... i have had problems in my high humidity hog heat summer MI with various types of very congested pines ... and that might be what junkie was thinking about ... when he made suggestions that werent pine based ...

you can overcome some of the pine issues by cleaning them out religiously .. which i never did ... someone else will be able to tell you the name of the disease issue ... maybe plathoforujurasik or something like that .. pretty sure it begins with a P ... but after that.. lol ...

soo ... just give it a try ... and try things other than pine ... and become your own local expert ... never stop trying ...

ken

to answer specifically re winter ... i beat all around that bush without ever hitting it.. i fear ...

if its bright clear sky above ... i dont know why a dormant or near dormant tree/conifer would care.. or why it might be to its detriment ...

what i dont know is how dormant/active they may be in GA ... in winter

one thing for sure.. they arent in the basement/root cellar/bat cave ... so they get some light ...

ken

ps: are there any good conifer arboretums in GA ... that you might ask about this???? .. the dormancy part .. if not the light part ... maybe sara knows someone in GA???

Cox Arboretum in Canton is likely the best in Georgia if that’s nearby.

The pines and pungens I poo-pooed was due to the likely lack of light.

tj

IME, cryptomerias are very tolerant of less than full sun positions.....and a few even demand it. There are many dwarf, mounded or cushion-shaped cultivars to choose from as well. Will probably also be a lot more tolerant of GA summer humidity in a partially enclosed location than the pines would.

I second the Cox arboretum as a resource for your area, along with Tom Cox’s book Landscaping with Conifers and Ginkgo For the Southeast.

They are dormant in winter. Shouldn't be a problem.

Yes, no sun during the winter = no problem. I have a host of conifers on the north side of my house (just like I have a host of them on the south, east, and west sides!), where they get no direct sunlight during the winter.

“It's a courtyard type setting where the bed is surrounded by 3 walls and the bed faces perfectly north.”

I suspect the lack of sun extends past winter and well into spring and fall. It may, in fact, only get direct sun for a short period around the summer solstice.

tj