Shrubs/plants in front yard

[ESMcLane]

Hi Everyone!

My husband & I just bought a house and it's in need of some landscaping. One side of the front yard is sunny & the other is shade- we don't know what to plant that will be uniform since one side gets more sun than the other.

Ideally, we would like flowering, but greens are fine too. there are a few small bushes there now, which we will keep, but it's a decent size area and needs to be filled in.

If a picture would be helpful for a visual, I can put one up- also, is the spring time an okay time to plant shrubs & bushes?

suggestions are greatly appreciated : )

thank you!

[rainbowgardener]

If one side is sunny and the other side shady, a symmetrical planting, identical on both sides is not going to work. Even if you can find a few hardy adaptable shrubs that can grow in either sun or shade, they will not grow at the same rate. I have two flower beds on opposite sides of my front lawn, with some of the same flowers in them. But one of the beds gets a lot of shade from a big old lilac tree and the other doesn't. The plants in the sunny bed are half again as big and bloom two weeks earlier.

What you can aim for is plants that give a similar effect, with a similar color scheme.

[rainbowgardener]

Here's a thread from someone else with a sunny side and a shady side:

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=226277#226277

some suggestions for adaptable shrubs:

Here's a list of nice native shrubs in a range of heights, that are hardy, tolerate sun to shade and have flowers and berries and are attractive to birds and butterflies:

serviceberry (40 some different kinds of birds love these berries!)
bearberry (evergreen)
ceanothus/ snowbrush (evergreen)
gooseberry/ black current
thimble berry
buffalo berry
snowberry
Mahonia/ Oregon holly-grape. It is evergreen, with yellow flowers, berries, very nice. It does well with the shade, but is a bit less tolerant of the full sun than the others.

[rainbowgardener]

PS viburnum should have been on the list of shrubs!

[ESMcLane]

wow, thank you! I will post a picture tomorrow (it's rainy today & it would be pointless) but it won't show the full shade because there's a tree in the front that doesn't have leaves on it yet.

but knowing that we won't be able to put the same plants on each side is helpful. I will look at the list of shrubs & hopefully find some.

What do Hydrangeas require for light? they are so pretty : )

thanks again...a picture will be up soon : )

[rainbowgardener]

Hydrangeas like morning sun and afternoon shade or all day filtered sun. Don't do well with the hot afternoon direct sun.

[ESMcLane]

what is all day filtered sun?

thank you : )

[skiingjeff]

We've had good luck with azaleas. For the partial sun/shade area we have a lemon drop azalea - beautiful yellow flowers. For our sunnier areas we have hardier red azaleas. We like them better than the Rhodies because they have smaller leaves but our Rhodies have done well in both types of areas as long as they get some sun.

Spring planting has worked very well for us but since we have most areas with FULL sun (all day and hot) we needed to be mindful of watering come the summer heat.

Good luck!