Got a North-Facing fence and clay soil - Almost nothing will grow in its shadow

[SarahL2]

We have a very strange shaped garden due to being crammed in between lots of other gardens. It's also quite small.

We've ended up with a small trianglar bed at the northern edge of the garden which is in full sun and blooming and a very narrow bed at the eastern edge of the garden which gets almost full sun and which I've filled with veggies in pots (we don't want to make it any deeper as the garden is quite short and a big bed would make the lawn look very squat) The biggest bed by a long way is the one along the southern edge of the garden but the fence (the only one that belongs to us) blocks out all the light to this area - it's even ruining the lawn!

I've got a couple of plants which are struggling but looking okay-ish but the bed is still very bare. I've even tried filling it up with garden ornaments (windmills for my son, metal mushrooms etc) but it still looks awful.

Any suggestions for plants which could cope with both the heavy shade and heavy clay?

[claireybee]

We have a similar bed, also clay soil. I'm having a durr moment and cannot for the life of me remember what these plants are called but have uploaded a pic for you and the plant in the background is all along the side shady fence as well and did really well last year. We also have a forsythia and a budlia along that fence, bluebells, daffodils etc have all been ok there too.

[claireybee]

Excuse the state of the grass btw, had just come back from a week away!

[SarahL2]

How do I see the pic Claireybee?

We have a Buddlia in the corner of the bed where it meets the sunny bed that is so huge now it it taller than the fence anyway.

I'd love the bulbs but we have rabbits who occasionally excape and bulbs are poisonous for them.

I had heard that bamboo and honeysuckle would do well in a shady border. Not sure if they'd cope with the clay though

[claireybee]

click on my name then at the bottom somewhere on the page that comes up it should say pictures...

[lalalonglegs]

How about gunnera if it's damp? Also toad lillies (really pretty flowers in autumn), dicentra, elephant's ear, crane's bill geraniums. We had terrible clay and a north-facing garden at our old house and found that most things would grow if you broke up the soil with plenty of compost. David Austin roses are gorgeous and seem to thrive anywhere (Brother Cadfael is gorgeous cabbagey looking rose and has unbelievably heavenly smell as does the less evocatively names Trevor Griffiths). Plant some herbs that don't need much maintenance (mint, parsley, thyme - not Mediterranean ones).

[Pannacotta]

There are some tough shrubs which you coudl try, such as Viburnum Tinus, Aucuba (Rozannie is plain leaved and smart), Holly and Portuguese Laurel.
GOod ground cover could include EUphorbia robbiae, ferns, Hellebores, Pulmonaria, Geranium phaeum.

I agree that adding compost/soil improver would really help, perhaps worth paying a good gardener to do this, as they will know what to use and how to dig it in.

This site is good for shade plants and the owners are very helpful (they have replied to both my email questions v quickly).
www.plantsforshade.co.uk/index.html

[SarahL2]

We've got some lovely Hellebores in the front garden so maybe i could trnsplant one and see how it goes.

Will have to do some internet hunting for pictures of the rest..

Love the roses idea.

Had a look at the photo claireybee thanks. Plant looks good (and baby is very cute ) Not sure I can tell what it is though...

Thanks so much for everyone's help!