cephalotaxus harringtonia tolerates shade for me. Probably would not perform quite the same in BC.

Hi Karen. I actually have quite a few conifers in a pretty heavily shaded area, although it is open shade, rather than the dense shade from a house, and none have been in that bed for more than 3 years, and most of them for only 1-2 years. I've found that the Cham. obtusas do very well in shade here, as do Taxodium distichum, and Cephalotaxus har. We have a small Abies procura 'glauca' that has stayed nice and blue. I moved a Hinoki 'Fernspray Gold' which fried in winter's full sun, into shade and it has recovered, though now more chartreuse than yellow. Cham. nootka in partial shade also doing well. Microbiota decussata in nearly full shade has grown like crazy. I don't know how any of these plants will do in the long run, but so far they all are doing well. I'm guessing they'll grow at a slower rate than "normal", and as you said, the blues, and especially the yellows, won't be as pronounced.

I don't know how any of this will translate to your Zone 8, but it seems to me that shade is shade, regardless of the zone.

Oh yeah, almost forgot, we have 2 Emerald Green Arborvitae along with some Densiforma Yews on the north foundation of our garage which is total full shade. I thought the Arborvitae would die out for sure, but they've done fine for 3 years.

Good luck with your new garden bed. I much prefer gardening in the shade for obvious reasons, and am hoping the conifers will thrive in their cool little environment.

Kim

Karen -- forgot to mention - Picea orientalis 'Skylands' and 'Tom Thumb' also doing great in the shade. Also have a small Limber Pine which I understand will take more shade than most pines. Kim

I can not speak on any spacific tree. but I have read that most pinus trees should be in full sun. but when I go out in the forest where they grow, I often fine them growing fine in shade. so the way I read it they will do better in the full sun but do fine in partial shade. of coarse some pines may be more sensitive than others. I don't know enough to give you specifics on any paticular tree.

"Karen -- forgot to mention - Picea orientalis 'Skylands' and 'Tom Thumb' also doing great in the shade".

True, but color will be washed out.
Once established these conifers need at least 5-6 hours of full sun to promote yellow/gold coloration.

Dave

Karin, Our house faces the exact same position as yours. In the front (north) we have a Hinoki Cypress and Weeping Norway Spruce, which are doing great. We also have a Concolor fir and Weeping Alaskan Cedar that are thriving quite well (those 2 are further out from the house, so they receive some southern exposure also that the others I mentioned don't). Sorry my brain is just too tired at this time of day to think of the Latin names for them... but I am sure you can google the common names to find them. Hope this helps! :) Laura

Dave -- I don't at all mean to be argumentative, and you certainly have much more experience than do I with conifers (and a gorgeous garden!), but I find the Skylands and Tom Thumb to be a very pleasing color in mostly shade, and they're not burning.

As you can see, they're more chartreuse than yellow, but still a nice contrast to the greens and blues. Perhaps as they get a little older we'll move them into a sunnier position.

Hello Kim

If you are happy with them in the setting they are in that's all that matters.

Concerning the above mentioned the more sun the more color that was all I was trying to emphasize.

Nice garden setting. The lime stone rock is a nice touch.

Dave

I get the impression that many of the plants with sensitive juvenile foliage do better in mostly shaded areas.
For example, everyone says how terribly unreliable Chamaecyparis lawsoniana 'Blue Surprise' is, but mine seems to be quite happy in a mostly shady place (only about 3h of sun a day).
My Chamaecyparis thyoides 'Red Star' burned to a crisp, but I think that if I had planted it in a similarly shady place, it would probably still be kicking today...

Hmmm... very helpful, thank you so much. Cephalotaxus - of course, I wasn't thinking. I'm also happy to hear of the many Piceas, as I've just bought a few and was particularly nervous about those in shade for some reason. And I've burned a few Chamaecyparises too.

I've also been blown away that the inhospitable places pines can grow, though my observations are strictly urban. I have silently hailed more than one as heroic.

I've observed junipers doing well in shade too.

Kim, your garden looks great; I envy you all that room.

KarinL

Generally, the coniferous genera that are listed as most shade tolerant have already been mentioned: hemlocks, taxus, cephalotaxus, chamaecyparis (primarily obtusa but other selected forms), cryptomeria and podocarpus. Most larix will tolerate partial shade and various species of other genera will have varying degrees of shade tolerance. I would not recommend most pines for a shady PNW location - many species struggle here with too mild conditions and excessive winter moisture and more shade than they prefer will only add to their problems. Same with many species of Picea and Abies - it's just too mild and/or damp for their liking. I see lots of junipers growing in very shady situations, however most were planted before the shade developed and the plants uniformly look bad with very sparse foliage and lanky growth.

While you can no doubt get various sun loving conifers adapted to a shadier location, you may be asking for more problems that it is worth. Growth may be leggy, needles or foliage sparse and color may be off and the plant prone to more insect and disease problems than a similar choice planted in more ideal light conditions.

Because of our extreme northerly location, summer sun in the PNW is of far less intensity than it is further south, even though our climate is very mild. Most conifers with golden coloring, like the Skylands, can be grown here in full sun without fear of scorching or burning, provided they receive adequate irrigation in our typically dry summers.

It may be difficult to generalize by genera because some are quite diverse, while others will have very similar requirements. Species are easier to judge, and those that are most shade tolerant tend to be climax species. In the Pacific West lowlands these are the Grand Fir and the Pacific Silver Fir, both quite beautiful species, if you have the room.

Karin (sorry I mis-spelled your name earlier) -- I thought Botann might chime in on this topic as it appears his beautiful garden in the PNW has quite a bit of shade. Kim

I've noticed that too, Kim, and have taken note of what Botann is growing, though it's hard to tell from one photo what all day brings. One example is Cryptomeria, and so I appreciate you confirming that, Gardengal, as I do the perspective on Pacific Northwest conditions specifically. I also was wondering about larch in particular, and had forgotten Podocarps. Although I have a couple of those in mod. shade that are putting on much leggier growth than they came from the nursery with, so there's that trade-off. There will be sunnier areas to plant, so there will be better spaces for many of them. It's just particularly hard to find little treasures to tuck into a shady rock garden, and something like a Picea abies 'Fritsche', just purchased, would be perfect - unless, of course, it won't grow!

I will probably have room for one large tree, further out, but it won't be a grand fir... Not only because it's TOO big but because I have this thing about not using up my garden space to grow things I can readily see elsewhere growing much better. And this IS, after all, the Pacific Northwest!

Many thanks again,

KarinL