heather morning sun afternoon shade best shade trees that grow quick are lelyand cypress i grow my hyd. in large pots and put on the shady side of my house also endless summer blooms on new growth and not as subject to frost i live on the barrier island and it does get hot have eight different types of hyd.and they all bloomed last year i pinned a dwarf snow quuen to the ground to root and got five nice rottings all of them bloomed thid spring however the mother plant did not i guess i rotted all of the bloms for the next year this was an oak leaf hyd. for the fastest shade try leland cypress trees the really rrow fast and give you fast shade you did not say where in n.c, you are from could make a difference