Weeping Trees for the Shade?

[rrayres]

Hi folks, I'd love to plant an ornamental weeping tree in our back garden so I can admire it from my deck. However, it's awfully shady back there in the summer (we have a huge walnut tree that shades the whole back yard and garden). Can anyone recommend a weeping tree that will do well in partial shade (it does get about 2-4 hours of sunlight in the summer in the morning) for zone 6 (the Boston area)? I'd love to be able to plant something and then share the pictures with you!

 

[thistlebloom]

I have a small weeping cherry that only gets morning sun, but I don't really like it so much. It's prone to shot hole fungus and the shape is a bit distorted. But I didn't buy it , it was a customer discard. ( They didn't like it either I guess! ) That's not to say that there aren't some beautiful specimens out there....and I know of a beautiful one that has stunning bark. But it also gets shot hole fungus every few years. So...?

One small tree that I really like is the Dappled willow. It comes in shrub or tree forms and will do well in part sun. They have a beautiful variegated leaf, new growth is tinged pink. Pretty low maintenance too, and takes well to pruning.

You may have trouble growing another tree under your walnut. Do you know what kind it is?

( the botanical name for the dappled willow is Salix integra, "Hakuro Nishiki" if you ask for it at a nursery)

 

[rrayres]

It's a large black walnut. Beautiful tree, but you don't want to stand under it when the walnuts start to fall off - they are huge! I was thinking of a weeping Japanese maple or a weeping redbud. I've heard those do well in part shade. Anyone have either of them to attest to their shade-ability?

 

[thistlebloom]

Ooooh, black walnuts are bad news for growing anything under. Actually all walnuts are They produce allelopaths called juglones in the soil which make a hostile environment for most plants. Your best bet is to plant beyond the dripline if possible, or to plant whatever tree you go with in a large container.

Redbuds are understory trees so they can live in a shady environment, and some japanese maples will also grow acceptably there. Some would do better than others.

If you plant in a large container, I would suggest placing it on a paver so the walnut tree roots don't invade the pot.

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

Another option might be a Henry Lauders Walking Stick. We have one in the front of the house, faces due north, not too much sun. It is not perhaps technically "weeping" but has very interesting branches and is fun to look at.

 

[thistlebloom]

Yeah, the 'walking sticks (Contorted filbert officially ) look really amazing in the winter with snow on the branches.

 

[897tgigvib]

At the nursery greenhouse I used to work at we sold a good number of different weeping trees.

There was a weeping Caragana that was grafted. We discovered Caraganas are one of the easiest to graft when one of them, a large expensive one, had a main stem that was broken off in the truck that delivered them. I splinted it back on and together in a very simple way, just lining it up, and taped it together with electrical tape. It grew and healed up.

There is a real beautiful Ash called Leprechaun I think, that is double grafted. Low for the rootstock to a tall 8 foot straight trunk, and on that is grafted at the top a bushy smaller leaved Ash. A weeping "standard" great for along drives.

Yes, there was a weeping Cherry. For quick and easy, there are a lot of Weeping Willows. We had a couple of "curly" Willows with twisty branches, really cool. Oh, and around here I notice some few of the wild Willows have that curly trait just not quite so selected for a perfect twistiness.

There was an "Amur Maple" that is tough as nails, (I think they are from Mars), that grows in a bushy form from several trunks that does some weeping. Prettiest bark, like a Birch only in shades of golden.

So many other weepers.