Shade-loving Flowering Eco Hedge Collection

This is a collection of 10 varieties of shrub with evergreen or deciduous foliage, decorative with their flowers or foliage, selected for their ability to tolerate low light exposures. You can plant them in a north-facing position, in the shade of a wall, or under trees, for example. They will create a changing and beautifully coloured screen in areas of the garden that are often difficult to design. A kit of 10 plants in pots allows you to create approximately 10 metres (33 feet) of hedge for shade at a lower cost.

The collection consists of:

- 1 Pieris Forest Flame - Japanese Andromeda: approximately 1.50 metres (5 feet) tall and 1.25 metres (4 feet) wide. It is known for its great hardiness, its ability to grow in limestone-free soil, but also for its beautiful evergreen foliage in winter, which changes colour throughout the seasons from red to coral pink and green, as well as its early and nectar-rich flowering in March-April, which resembles large clusters of white lilies.

- 1 Aucuba japonica Crotonifolia: approximately 1.80 metres (6 feet) in all directions. Superb evergreen foliage in winter, dark green invaded by bright yellow cream. At the end of spring, the Aucuba produces beautiful purple flower clusters, hidden among the foliage. Aucuba is dioecious, it will be either male or female, and a female plant will produce small shiny orange-red fruits only in the presence of male plants nearby. These small fruits, which turn black in winter, delight some birds during the colder seasons.

- 1 Choisya ternata Sundance - Mexican Orange Blossom: approximately 2 metres (7 feet) tall and 1.50 metres (5 feet) wide. It is a compact shrub with a rounded habit and evergreen foliage in winter. The aromatic foliage is golden yellow in spring and then tender green, making it a bright focal point in the garden. The small pure white flowers, delicately fragrant, bloom in spring and bloom again in autumn.

- 1 Acer palmatum - Japanese Maple: deciduous, it can reach 6 metres (20 feet) tall and 4 metres (13 feet) wide. It is appreciated for its beautiful palmate leaves, very graphic, in a pretty tender green colour that turns fiery in autumn before falling. The pretty reddish flowers grouped in small bouquets in April are insignificant, but the red fruits with curved wings are interesting from September onwards. It should be planted in preferably acidic, fresh, fertile, well-drained soil.

- 1 Escallonia Donard Seedling: approximately 2 metres (7 feet) tall and 2.50 metres (8 feet) wide. Beautiful evergreen foliage in winter, which is a glossy dark green colour, which highlights its spring to summer flowers made up of small pale pink to white bell-shaped flowers. It is easy to grow in all soils without too much limestone, and it can briefly withstand temperatures as low as -15°C (5°F).

- 1 Hydrangea macrophylla Nikko Blue - Hydrangea: approximately 1.20 metres (4 feet) tall and 1.50 metres (5 feet) wide. This extremely floriferous and particularly hardy variety offers beautiful flower balls from June to October, the colour of which depends on the acidity of the soil. They can be a magnificent azure blue in acidic soil, or they can have a pastel pink hue that is charming in neutral soil. They have a deciduous foliage, disappearing in winter.

- 1 Nandina Fire Power - Sacred Bamboo: evergreen, approximately 60 cm (24in) in all directions. It stands out for the variations in the colour of its foliage throughout the seasons. The juvenile shoots turn a red colour ranging from copper to burgundy in spring, then tend towards blue-green in the middle of summer. Later, it ignites the garden by turning purple until the end of winter. This species does not flower.

- 1 Variegated Osmanthus heterophyllus Tricolor: approximately 1.50 metres (5 feet) in all directions. Magnificent evergreen foliage in winter, composed of "three-coloured" spiny leaves, starting out pink-orange in spring, becoming bright green and then punctuated with yellow. Flowering from September to October, the small white flowers have a pleasant jasmine scent. They are followed by blue-black fruits.

- 1 Rhododendron catawbiense Grandiflorum - Grand Rhododendron: evergreen, approximately 2.50 metres (8 feet) tall and 3 metres (10 feet) wide. Vigorous and fairly fast-growing, it impresses with its resistance to cold and difficult conditions, as well as its massive spring flowering, made up of large light lilac flowers with a gold eye, maculated with brown at the throat. Abundant foliage present in winter, narrow, glossy, dark green.

- 1 Viburnum davidii: approximately 1 metre (3 feet) tall and 1.10 metres (4 feet) wide. Beautiful evergreen foliage in winter, glossy dark green, enhanced by the red hues of the petioles. Flowering in June: the rather discreet flowers are slightly fragrant and are followed by very ornamental, bright blue fruits, carried by red peduncles, which persist on the shrub for a long time.

Plant this kit away from the scorching rays of the sun, in acid to neutral soil, which is flexible and well-draining, but remains somewhat moist in summer. Plant them in partial shade or shade, with a spacing of 1 metre (3 feet) between each plant. This hedge is perfect for brightening up a large wall neglected by sun-loving plants, the shady side of the garden near the house, or the edge of a grove of tall trees.

Tip: Avoid pruning your hedge to enjoy the flowering, or individually prune each plant after flowering.