What to plant in a container in a very dark corner?

[DesolateWaist]

I have a standard bay fronted semi.
At the side of my bay, next to the next door house, I have a large wide concrete planter. It's a nice planter and it fills the corner. I doubt I could move it even if I wanted to.
The house faces due north and there is a wall next to the planter and then a tree. Therefore the planter get pretty much no sunlight at all!
At the moment it has bluebells in it but not much else.

What can I plant in there that can cope with the conditions and will look ok all year round?

[mumonashoestring]

We have a corner of our garden that never gets direct sunshine (north facing garden overshadowed by neighbour's trees & house) - hostas do great in there and if you have them in a container you can put a strip of copper around the rim to deter slugs which are usually what decimate hostas and make them look tatty!

[DesolateWaist]

This is similar to the planter, to give you an idea. www.thehoarde.com/dealers/ben-southgate/p/willy-guhl-planters-1070

Hostas are a good thought.

[NennyNooNoo]

Ferns, but you'd have to remember to water them. You could get evergreen or deciduous or a mixture.

Fatsia japonica grows well in shade. It's got big shiny leaves and looks more like a house plant.

Hostas but you need to protect against slugs and snails.

[chatnanny]

Our hebe has survived pretty much anything including a very dark courtyard in our previous house. There are many varieties.

[DesolateWaist]

Ohhh I a love the look of Fatsia japonica. That it exactly my taste in plants. That is just right for that corner. The wall behind and to the side of it is covered in ivy so that might work there. It would work in my back garden, which is pretty much a woodland too.

I have a hebe in the back garden Chat, might well work there too.

[shovetheholly]

I LOVE your planter! How chic!

I have a north-facing garden with some very dark corners - the good news is that there are many things that will do well without direct sunlight. The trickier thing is no direct sunlight AND little water (because it sounds like the planter might be sheltered by the wall and the tree?)

Things I think might work: fatsia, alchemilla mollis, aquiliegia (Munstead white really sings in a dark corner), brunnera, cyclamen hederifolium (note: getting the right type here is vital), epimediums, woodruff, hardy geranium 'mount olympus' (also brilliant for brightening things up), silver holly, silver deadnettle (lamium), tiarellas.

[shovetheholly]

(NB fatsia gets big - so if you want to use it in something relatively shallow, you might have to reconcile yourself to binning the plant occasionally and buying a new smaller one).

[echt]

Agree about what shove said, though you can get round this by getting it out of its pot, chopping off a load of roots, and putting it back with new compost.

I've done this for a while with agave attenuata, whose response to any chop is to grow a baby. To be fair, I am In Melbourne, where it never gets really cold, and you can plant in pots all year round. Still worth a go, though.

[shovetheholly]

echt - I love hearing about all the things you grow! I would love to hear more about Australian plants, especially. I have friends down under who grow Grevilleas (sp?) and other natives, and they look fabulous.

[Tessticklesyourfancy]

We have a Fatsia Japonica in a very shaded part of the garden,it's lovely but it's about five feet tall and probably as wide. We've got some really nice evergreen ferns too,a Japanese Tassel fern grows next to the Fatsia and it's really nice, delicate looking but very hardy.

[megletthesecond]

Adding the japonica to my list now. Partner my garden is always shaded and I've been looking for something substantial to pep it up.

[fiorentina]

I have a couple of skimmia under trees in a large planter, seems happy. Or hosta?

[cakeandteajustforme]

A small acer that you could bonsai prune? They do well in low light conditions.