Hebe James Stirling can cope with partial shade and has a very different form to your usual hebes.
If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
Many thanks for the additional suggestions everyone, I am really spoilt for choice now and in serious danger of gold shrub overload! I had Sambucus ‘Lemony Lace’ on my list early on and if I had more space I would definitely have that too 😊
For interesting foliage, Pittosporum illicioides var. angustifolia is another variety that caught my eye, only borderline hardy in my zone though.
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
Update, well I finally got around to ordering some shrubs! A couple of things were awaiting new stock, but I was keen to get planting, so ended up with the following:
I really struggled between the Cotinus and the Philadelphus Aureus. To avoid gold overload I decided to go with the P. Lemoine, which looks to have fresh green foliage and the yellow stamens should link nicely with the yellow/apricot roses and white (and now pale blue) shade-tolerant hardy geraniums. I also got some Aster Divaricatus (@Loxely’s recommendation on another thread) and some ‘goldcrest’ foxgloves.
Planting in a mostly shade area is a new venture for me, so I’m looking forward to seeing how it does. I’ve gone mad and totally overbought, so a bit of border creep along the north fence is inevitable 😃 Thanks again for all your help everyone.
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
Still awaiting my Philadelphus as that turned out to be out of stock despite what the supplier’s website said, so I have ordered that from another source, but here are the others:
I’m pleased with all of them, but the dwarf Hebes ‘Green Globe’ (40x40cm) are fab. Good, dense spheres that (for once!) actually look exactly like the photos. I’m almost sorry I didn’t order more of these:
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
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East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
You'd want it somewhere you can see it quite well though, as it's a bit subtle.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I really struggled between the Cotinus and the Philadelphus Aureus. To avoid gold overload I decided to go with the P. Lemoine, which looks to have fresh green foliage and the yellow stamens should link nicely with the yellow/apricot roses and white (and now pale blue) shade-tolerant hardy geraniums. I also got some Aster Divaricatus (@Loxely’s recommendation on another thread) and some ‘goldcrest’ foxgloves.
Planting in a mostly shade area is a new venture for me, so I’m looking forward to seeing how it does. I’ve gone mad and totally overbought, so a bit of border creep along the north fence is inevitable 😃 Thanks again for all your help everyone.
I’m pleased with all of them, but the dwarf Hebes ‘Green Globe’ (40x40cm) are fab. Good, dense spheres that (for once!) actually look exactly like the photos. I’m almost sorry I didn’t order more of these: