I would try a Redvein Enkianthus (Enkianthus Campanulatus). The shrub book says they are a good companion for rhododendrons and azaleas, 6-8 ft tall in cold regions and 20 ft tall in warmer, Zones 4 to 9, full sun, deep shade, moist acid soil. Creamy flowers (shaped like lily of the valley) in clusters bordered by red, look yellow in the photo on the cover of my book, pretty leaves, leaves are ovate and glossy, but it sounds like it is deciduous. In the fall their 1 to 3-1/2 leaves turn orange and scarlet.

I have no clue where would find one as I have never seen one, but would sure like to grow one.

Here is a link that might be useful: Redvein Enkianthus

hi aliska, thanks for the post! this tree sounds really interesting.. also checked the deer resistence list at our local university (rutgers) in NJ and deer don't seem to like it that much..

the only thing i'm not sure about is how much shade it can take.. all the research i do online says it's for sun/part sun.. i don't think this site is really part sun, as it only gets filtered sun throughout the day.

although, did a quick search for local nurseries that carry them and there are some within 2 hours drive in NJ!

Variegated five-leaf aralia (Eleutherococcus sieboldianus/ Acanthopanax sieboldianus) will feel and look perfectly there.
Deers wouldn't touch it, but woodchucks might be interested in a new emerging shots before small thorns along the stem develops.
Highly adaptable shrub for any problematic sites.
Slow grow rate in a first 2-3 years before it become fully adopted to new growing conditions be it soil or light, but starting from 3-4th year it will grow pretty fast.

This may or may not be helpful. My reference guide is one book of a series, The Time-Life Encyclopedia of Gardening, Flowering Shrubs, by James Underwood Crockett and the Editors of Time-Life Books, copyright 1972, reprinted 1973, so it is old. I love it. It has nice watercolors of all sorts of shrubs.

It says on p110, "Both [also talking about the white variety] are equally at home in full sun or deep shade, provided they have a moist acid soil enriched with peat moss or leaf mold. Pruning is almost never required."

I once had the whole series, and loved these books. I posted a link where you can get a copy super cheap. Put Flowering Shrubs in the title and under keywords put Time-Life Books, then hit find the book.

I would like to replace the ones that are missing one of these days. To find the ones from that set, I just put in Encyclopedia of Gardening in the title and Time-Life in Keywords. There are ones on bulbs, annuals, houseplants, evergreens, don't know how many in all, some copies dirt cheap.

I have used this site many times to order used books and have had excellent service whether it was a large book company or one of their member smaller dealers in some obscure (to me) part of the country.

It looks like you have room there to experiment with several different varieties. If this shrub isn't too expensive, might be worth a try.

Here is a link that might be useful: Used Book Search

hi guys, ok i'm going to my local nursery to see if either of these plants can be found there. i have a feeling that the aralia is going to be easier to find than the enkianthus, but you never know. since both of them have been tested at rutgers, i am inclined to think that they are at least available in NJ and used in sufficient numbers in NJ gardens.

just curious, what zone/state are you in aliska? oh btw, love that peacock on the front of your website! where on earth did you find it?!

Do let us know what you end up with. I'm in zone 5, eastern Iowa. I don't know how you found my site, maybe I put it in my profile?

I just might try to order one of those enkianthus myself although acid loving plants are iffy where I am. The lady across the street lost her beautiful holly tree, I have one azalea I just planted so don't know how it will do, my mail order bare root rhododendrons came sickly looking and got trampelled during concrete work. Years ago I had great success with three PJM rhododendrons but I finally lost them, think my kids weren't too careful around them and I neglected to give them regular doses of miracid after the first years. Oh well.

Well, I cobbled that peacock site together from a photo somebody posted on a clipart group (I'm not supposed to mention other forums, not really germane to our discussion anyway) and some backgrounds somebody else posted. I lifted the peacock out of the background of the photo and put it on the new background and built the page from there. It's really kind of stale at this point, but I'm in no mood to revamp it. I wish I could find a white peacock to photograph myself now that I have a decent camera, but you have to go to Florida or nw coastal region for that unless there are some close I don't know about.

If you like fairies and click around (I mainly use my domain to dump my photos I post) and find my free antique ebook online with 40 charming illustrations of fairies. I posted the link below, don't think that will cause any flak here because it's free and public domain. That was a lot of work and I burned out on doing websites. I also have a free Victorian postcard site at Fortune City, haven't checked lately if it is still up, haven't touched it for years.

Yep, it's still there. To get to the postcards, google victorian postcards hurlbutt hamilton and it will come up on top. My they have surely messed that up with their in-your-face ads and Active X controls.

For the fairy book (google doesn't pick it up even though I registered with them),

Here is a link that might be useful: Fairy Book Link

hi guys!

so i went to our local nursery and they only had enkianthus. actually seems like enkianthus is pretty easy to find hereabouts. but, if i wanted an aralia i'd have to get it from rare finds nursery which is over 2 hours away...

anyway, so we got one and planted it today and watered it in well. a little concerned with how hot it has been lately and i read all about enkianthus liking cool roots, and moist well drained soil. but at least it is in a pretty shady location so drying up will not be as much of a concern. also seems it is a companion plant to azaleas and rhodies, and my azaleas are pretty happy nearby so with luck it will flourish even without a lot of sun... will keep it well watered and see how it performs. wish me good luck!

aliska, yeah i was on your gardenweb profile looking for what state you were in and got onto your website. very cool! didn't know you did your own website (so do i as a hobby) was the peacock animated when you found it or did you animate it yourself?