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North Yorkshire, United Kingdom Gb

Garrya elliptica
I bought and planted this shrub last September. I planted it near a wall in a sunny well drained site. However I am doing a bit of rejigging and double checking best position for some other shrubs. The Garrya is too close to a lilac (only 2 years old) The RHS site says the garrya is shade tolerant but the selling site says it needs sun. Who do I believe and has anybody any experience of this shrub growing in shade with no direct sun. The site I was thinking of moving it to gets the very early morning sun in the summer and some evening sun in midsummer, but none for the rest of the year. Thanks




Answers

 

We had one on a northish facing fence and it flowered OK. It was outside the dining room window and when the house light shone on it at night the catkins looked fantastic. It did get a bit of sun but certainly not all day.

22 Feb, 2016

 

My garrya is growing against an east facing wall and has been growing there very happily for nearly 20 years. It gets some early morning sun but that is all.

22 Feb, 2016

 

In its native American West Coast habitat, it is usually found as an understory plant among Torrey pines or Monterey cypress. From Portland, Oregon northwards, it can be found in full sun, but still prefers to hug the tree line.

23 Feb, 2016

 

Thank you. I suppose it's okay to move now. It didn't have catkins on this winter. The leader is about 30 ins tall with some new growth at the base. Should I nip out the leader as I am planting against a wall and training it in a fan shape, or at least that's the idea.

23 Feb, 2016

 

Its too young to flower yet. I'd leave the leader to get taller another season before nipping it out if you want a fan. As you only bought it last year you should get away with moving it if you do it as soon as the weather permits. Plant it at least a foot from the base of the wall and make sure the soil is good and not full of builders rubble.

23 Feb, 2016

 

An alternative to training it as a fan is an espalier where the branches are trained horizontally. This will show the flowers off better. Although this method is more usual for fruit trees, there is no reason why it can't be applied to ornamentals as well.

23 Feb, 2016

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