Plants for a shady raised bed

[Upsy1981]

Apologies if this has been done before.

We have a raised bed at one side of our garden which gets next to no sun. Can anyone suggest 3 or 4 (easy to care for!) plants that like the shade please?

TIA

Damp shade or dry shade?
If damp shade, make a bog garden with ferns and mosses etc.
Dry shade is more tricky, could you grow tall stuff so the tops get some sun?

thought dryopteris is ok for dry shade? hope so as i just ordered some. i have choisya - mexican orange blossom, in dry shade under big oak tree and it does fine. the man at the garden centre said it would - though obviously fairly big, not sure how much space you have?

I'm forever recommending this website and with good reason - I think they should pay me a commission though!
www.plantsforshade.co.uk/

Great recommendation Cuttedup.

Shady plants are hugely underrated. My favourites are fatsias, hostas, ferns, aconites, heucharas, laurels and hardy geraniums.

If you think of the jungle-look, you won't go wrong - large glossy dark leaves. Combined in with spiky structural plants it can look so stunning.

I've also discovered a lovely new flowering shrub called pachyphragma macrophyllum. Produces little white flowers which look great in the contrast of deep shade

I love the RHS book on Plants for Shade (it's called something like that) for ideas.

Digitalis will thrive, as will camellias for some early cover as long as they're not on an East facing wall. We have a dark back garden and have finally got it looking good with a bit of savvy. We went for a muscari blue paint on the deck and it has really brightened it up all year round.

Got any cuttings of Pachyphragma macropyllum ashesgirl?

I sure do! In fact, I've got one trying to root in a glass at the moment. Do you want one? :-)

Yes I would love one! My shady garden is full to bursting with lovely things but I may have to move my Magnolia stellata next year so there will be a gap....

Thumbs up for shady plants. Though where I am, in Australia, is warmer than the UK, the same rules apply. I have 25 foot shady raised bed running down the side of my house, overlooked by floor to ceiling windows, so having something to look at it is the thing. It's definitely the jungly look.

The plants I use are similar in shape to ones described in other posts, but one or two degrees warmer, IYSWIM, hoya, aspidistra, temperate bromeliads, clivia, Swiss cheese plant, acanthus. I haven't tried hostas here because of the dry, but would love to.