Tall Shade-Loving Plants, Any Suggestions?

[NoviceGardenLady]

Me again!

I've got a shady corner of my back yard. I'm after something tall to add a bit of life/height/colour.

I'd like a flowering plant, maybe ever green but mainly something that loves shade and will grow quite tall (about 5-6 feet eventually)

Any ideas or suggestions?

We have a photinia red Robin that is doing quite well in our North facing front garden. It only gets sunshine on summer mornings and evenings and in midsummer when the sun is high, otherwise it is in the shade. Neighbours have an assortment of hydrangeas and one has a ceanothus quite close to their house, so not getting much sun at all.

Bears' Britches? (Acanthus Mollis, I think)- tall spikes of pale flowers, and massive leaves.
Or climbing hydrangeas are meant to be good.
I just saw Angelica Gigas in a catalogue and was very taken by it too! Tall reddish purple umbrellifer, with a lovely smell, apparently.

Foxgloves, angelica, rhododendron?

Euphorbia. If doesn’t flower, but the colour in the foliage changes throughout the year. Mine are quite lime-y right now. The sap is an irritant though.

Fatsia or mahonia? Ive just ordered one of each for my shady front garden. Or sweet box?

@WellTidy

Euphorbia. If doesn’t flower, but the colour in the foliage changes throughout the year. Mine are quite lime-y right now. The sap is an irritant though.

Euphorbia does flower. The flowers have a peculiar structure specific to Euphorbias, and are surrounded by showy modified leaves called bracts. Yellow in most of the hardy Euphorbias, red in poinsettia. There are several species which are easy to get hold of. The grey leaved ones tend to need sun. Euphorbia amygdala, wood spurge, flourishes in shade, but won’t get tall enough for you.

Be very very sure you want Acanthus before you plant it, because you'll never be able to rid of it again (she said ruefully). It is an amazing looking plant but can be reduced to tatters by snails.

I've got a hydrangea in a pot in a similar area. Not evergreen but a good height and does flower.

I've got some camellias that do fine in part-shade/shade.

Camellia or Mahonia.

Fatsia, Laurel, climbing hydrangea

I've got climbing hydrangea and ordinary, mahonia, rhododendron, also dogwoods which give year round colour though the flowers aren't very interesting. Also Japanese anemone and purple loosestrife for quite tall summer flowers.

I would second hydrangea (loads of amazing ones out there - not just those horrible pink or blue), Japanese Anemone are lovely, not evergreen, but very long flowering as is hydrangea. Ferns are beautiful too.

Apparently the white acanthus mollis rue ledan is less invasive than the usual pinky white kind. Not sure if this is true as I’ve only just planted mine but fingers crossed....

Sweet rocket also does very well in my shady border - it gets upto about 4ft but dies back in winter. Flowers smell great, I’ve got the white variety but you can also ge5 purple I think

@Ohchristmastreeohchristmastree

I would second hydrangea (loads of amazing ones out there - not just those horrible pink or blue), Japanese Anemone are lovely, not evergreen, but very long flowering as is hydrangea. Ferns are beautiful too.

I have a large collection of hydrangeas, some of the blue ones are an electric glowing blue. Stunning!

Wow, these are all such brilliant suggestions. Thank you!

It'd be planted in a pot/trough rather than into the ground so not too much risk of it taking over. Sorry, should've mentioned that before in the OP.

I have Japanese ananomes on my front border, too. They're glorious through late summer into early winter.

I say have - I found a big muddy gap where the leaves should have been springing up, a few weeks ago. Clearly someone else liked them, too. There's a few left but they'll not completely recover, this year.

I've got Japanese anemones trying to take over part of my back border - I dug some out earlier this year and have them in a large pot. If they do well I'll probably move it to beside the front door when they're in bloom.

I'd be thinking of pots plural, OP - something big and evergreen, and then smaller pots which could be moved into place for seasonal interest