My dwarf alberta spruce does not like my big daddy hydrangea...

[Baltimike]

and it might not make it. Now that the hydrangea is getting ready to go dormant, what evergreens will not be so bothered by the 'coming back in the spring' hydrangea?

[Botany]

1. Can I be honest? Alberta spruce are not good plants. The nusery industry produces them by the ...

tens of thousands and they look good @ the garden store and for sometime after you plant them but
they almost always go down hill after not too much time.

I'm willing to bet that one side of your spruce is all brown. Usually on the side that gets more shade.
Those brown patches will never come back and they are from spider mites. Alberta Spruce almost always
get spider mites not unless you have a spray program to control them and those insecticides are a hammer
on our native and beneficial insects which in turn hurts out native birds.

Taxus cuspidata 'Capitata' or Boxwood "Green Mountain" are better choices. However I would suggest
you plant a native plant instead.

BTW I'm an expert in this stuff too.

[vanlassie]

2. Ahh. That makes sense. I replaced one and blamed myself that it died

on the shady side both times. Moving on!

[Baltimike]

3. I love their schlubby cottage vibe...

I am in zone 7a, 50 yards away from the Chesapeake Bay

[Botany]

4. Winterberry Holly (gotta plant at least 2 ... male and female), Black Chokeberry, Red Milkweed,

New England Aster, & Possum Haw Viburnum are good picks for your region. Bayberry and Elderberry
are nice too but they get big.

Plant Native!