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| Folks -
I have a longish driveway with a 30 foot wide open strip on one side between the driveway and forest. I'd like to jazz up this area (about 125 feet long). The other side of the driveway has a narrower strip (maybe 10 feet) and then forest. So, essentially I'm looking for a flowering or ornamental understory tree. The area gets perhaps 2 hours of direct sunlight, and the rest of the time it's sunlight filtered through the canopy of the forest (grey birch, red maple, oaks, cottonwood). I haven't had much luck at the various tree selection sites finding a flowering tree for our zone for a mostly shaded spot. Any thoughts? We are zone 5b, northern Connecticut, close to the Mass border. I would want a mature spread of no more than 20-25 feet, height maybe 30 feet. Thoughts? Ken Platt
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Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by strobiculate none (My Page) on Mon, Apr 30, 12 at 23:02
| Redbud. pagoda dowood...just about any dogwood. viburnums, many kinds. but i've had good success in particular with v. lentago in shade. laburnum. |
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- Posted by mainegrower Z5b ME (My Page) on Tue, May 1, 12 at 5:01
| A good deal depends on how dense the shade is. Many flowering trees will grow in even dense shade, but their flower production will be much less than what it would have been with 4 to 6 hours of direct sun. This is true even of trees which naturally grow in the understory. One possible solution is to look at trees with variegated leaves. They would provide an ornamental touch for far longer than the brief bloom period. There are several variegated dogwoods - kousa, alternifolia and others - to chose from, as well as many other tree species. |
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Tue, May 1, 12 at 8:32
| native dogwood ... any chance a a pic or two of the area .. how dark your shade is.. is IMPOSSIBLE to define in words.. at a minimum.. how many hours of sun.. and what time of day ... and are you under the canopy.. or on the edge??? south facing??? etc.. and what are the predominant trees ... and equally hard for anyone to tell you what will succeed.. let alone get established and thrive ... hence pix.. would give us a better idea of what you are dealing with ... i would suggest smaller transplants.. as compared to larger ... |
Here is a link that might be useful: how to post pix
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| Thanks folks. I took a couple pix but kind of ran aground at posting them online to link to. Anyhow, I'm not sure that my photographic skills really were able to capture the area well, since it's so long, it just didn't photograph well. The driveway runs northwest/southeast, so the area gets sun for a couple hours when the alignment with the sun position is right, shines right down the length of the drive. I'm taking a run up to Tripple Brook Farm (it's nearby me) in a couple days and was trying to plan what all I wanted to follow me home. They have viburnum lentago - it looks very pretty. Might be a good choice, thanks for the heads up on that one. The kousa dogwood sounds good also. We have anthracnose in this area, so I'll need to stick with the resistant dogwoods, a pity, the pagoda dogwood is very attractive. Ken |
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- Posted by gardener365 IL 5/6 (My Page) on Wed, May 2, 12 at 7:16
| Was driving about yesterday and saw a stunning 'Tricolor' beech situated in light conditions like yours. Driving toward the tree I thought for certain it was a dogwood in bloom, but to my behest, it was a variegated beech. You cannot go wrong! Dax |
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