What to plant in a place that only gets full sun until about 11 in the morning

[wonderingwhattodo50]

I have a bed outside my French doors which needs an attractive shrub or small tree that’s going to look good all year round.

any recommendations please

What sort of maximum size armrest you looking at?

How about some sarcococca, or skimmia? We had both in a shaded courtyard as well as pots with hostas in that come into their own in summer.

It’s about a metre x 1.5 metre

I have a hydrangea in a similar size/shade area. Holly could work but you probably wouldn't get berries.

Not quite a shrub but an evergreen clematis could work too, if you have a something for it to climb on?

I’ve managed to keep a bay tree going without much sun. it wasn’t especially happy but it survived and gave me bay leaves which I cook with.

Hydrangea, ferns, black mondo grass, acer/japanese maple and hostas, all work fantastically in areas like this.

I have a miniature acer under-planted with black mondo grass, it looks fabulous.

I would go for hydrangea Annabelle and some evergreen ferns.

Me! All this sun has been doing my head in.

But as for a real recommendation, I would go with one of the fancier fatsia japonica, such as spiders web, or camouflage. Or an acer, but they drop yheir leaves in winter. Possibly with some ferns underneath as ground cover.

The drought conditions this year have made things very difficult for hydrangeas, even those I’ve got in shady spots.

What about a hebe? The variegated ones can be lovely, and you get colour from them all year as well as pale flowers in the summer season. Easy to look after too.

if it’s very shady Fatsia Japonica can be lovely.

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Winter flowering viburnum? There's one called Bodnantese Dawn which has pretty purply green leaves in the summer, then drops its leaves and has bright pink sweet smelling flowers on bare branches from December through to March.

Hydrangea. They like morning sun and afternoon shade.