Shrubs & Hedges for Shady Areas

A yard with extensive shady areas needn't be a yard lacking color. Many shade-loving shrubs and hedge plants produce colorful blooms, foliage or both and do a great job of defining and drawing attention to shady spots, advises University of Vermont professor Dr. Leonard P. Perry. Choosing shrubs and hedges native to your region -- and already adapted to the local climate and soil -- is a low-maintenance way to bring life to your garden's shady areas.

Eastern leatherwood (Dirca palustris), a shade-loving, deciduous thyme family shrub, grows in forest understories from the Atlantic west to North Dakota and Oklahoma. This 4- to 6-foot-high shade bush is hardy to parts of USDA plant hardiness zone 3, whose average winter low temperatures approach minus 40 degrees F. Before leafing out between March and April, leatherwood branches bear long-stemmed clusters of lemon-colored blooms with yellow stamens. The tiny flowers give way to small, green spring and summer fruits. The shrub's 3- to 4-inch, greenish-yellow spring leaves progress to medium green in summer and golden yellow in autumn. The bush's leathery bark can trigger allergies in some people. Eastern leatherwood likes partial to full shade and consistently moist, fertile, acidic (pH below 7.0) soil.

Many gardeners love English ivy's (Hedera helix) looks but dislike the invasive tendencies leading to the plant's noxious weed status in Washington in Oregon. Those same gardeners will appreciate Arborescens. This English ivy cultivar grows as a compact evergreen bush, 2 to 3 feet high and wide. It's hardy to zone 5, whose winter average low temperatures are in the minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit range. Arborescens lights fall gardens with September and October clusters of white blooms. Bluish-black berries that follow the flowers provide further interest. Its small stature is appropriate for low hedges, shrub borders or containers. While the bush tolerates full sun, it's happiest in partial to full shade with shelter from strong winter winds. Arborescens grows best in fertile, consistently moist loam.

Holly-leaf Oregon grape (Mahonia aquifollium) a low, spreading broadleaf evergreen, grows sporadically in coniferous forests through the northeast and the Pacific Northwest. Seldom taller than 6 feet, it has multiple branches with glossy, sharply toothed foliage. Its copper-tinged new leaves progress to deep green over the summer before taking on red tones in fall. Clusters of vivid yellow, bell-shaped blossoms occurring from March to may have made this shrub the Oregon state flower. Blue berries following the blooms feed several wildlife species. They also make tasty preserves. This barberry family bush, hardy to zone 5, likes partial to full shade. It thrives in moist, fertile acidic loam.