Choisya ternata

Pittosporum tobira is an evergreen shrub with either all green or variegated foliage.  The species can grow six to fifteen feet, but “Wheeler’s Dwarf’ gets only to three feet and about five feet wide.  There are also variegated dwarf forms, ‘Turner’s’ that is the same size as ‘Wheeler’s”, and ‘Cream de Mint’ that grows to about two and…

Grown strictly for its foliage, Fatsia adds a very tropical look to the shade garden.  It will have white puffy flowers in late autumn and winter, but they are not particularly showy, just interesting and unexpected.  Fatsia can take deep shade and is very suited to containers.

The handsome, dark green leaves of Camellias provide a great background for the lovely spring flowers as well as for other shade loving plants.  Camellia sasanqua is generally shorter with smaller leaves and flowers. It blooms earlier, usually in winter, and many of the flowers have single petals.  ‘Yuletide’ is a very eye-catching example with red single flower and…

Aucuba japonica Aucuba is a foliage plant that can be very useful in the shade.  The most widely used varieties are variegated.  One of the most handsome is ‘Mr. Goldstrike’ grown by Monrovia Growers.  This evergreen plant is a slow grower, eventually reaching four to six feet.  The green-leafed version is also a very attractive plant with very…

Sarcococca is an evergreen shrub with dark green leaves and very fragrant tiny white flowers that bloom in late winter and early spring.  It is a slow grower that will eventually reach four to six feet.  It can grow even in very deep shade and needs moderate to regular water.

Correa is a fairly low growing shrub to a little over two feet high and about eight feet wide.  It likes fast drainage and does not need a great deal of water or feeding.  Flowers are mostly pink or white.  It does well in pots and in poor, rocky soil.