Large flower bed/rockery almost completely in the shade

[nikki1978]

Can I do anything with this? We bought the house 2 years ago but have only just gotten around to dealing with the garden. It is south facing and all along the back is a 6 meter long by 2m deep raised bed. The back of the bed is a very tall hedge which creates great privacy. Then there is a fence on top of the bed separating the hedge from the bit I can see in my garden (if you see what I mean!). So I can't remove the bed easily without the hedge collapsing. The bed has a good slope to it so will make a great rockery. But it gets pretty much no sun. One corner gets a bit at the end of the day but only a bit. The other end gets none. Can I grow anything on this? It is pretty big and is the main thing you see when looking out of the window. Thanks

Nikki I'm in the same position, hope you don't mind me marking a place.

Had a large empty 'should be a rockery' for years now. The garden centre suggests alpines a rockery but I'd need hundreds.

Hopefully there will be someone along soon with some ideas.

Just bumping this :)

Some to try: morello cherry alpine strawberries rhubarb raspberries chives herbs spinach chard salad leaves kale carrots parsnips beetroot leeks courgettes garlic asparagus broccoli sprouts blackcurrants gooseberries... numerous inedible flowering plants... camellia dicentra snowdrops ferns saxifraga astilbe lily of the valley hostas anemones rhododendrons bluebells bergenia... as long as the hedge isn't sucking out all the moisture and fertility. Sweetness of fruit generally comes with sun, so you may have to macerate with more sugar. Dry shade is more limiting.

Is it wet or dry shade?

Your usual rockery plants - alpines - are used to growing on mountain tops, and tend not to appreciate very dark high hedges.

Um I don't know. What is wet shade?

Wet shade means that rain gets to it, so the soil is reasonably damp, just under the surface (the surface will usually be dry-ish if it hasn't rained for a week).

Dry shade is where either a hedge or fence or tree etc blocks all the rain out, or the roots of the hedge or tree suck up the rain water so the soil is dry to the touch most of the time.

this month's Gardeners' World magazine (May issue) has a big section on shade planting.

also try this website plants for shade

also I should have said that if you have a rockery, ie a slope, probably the rain will drain away very quickly so the soil will not be soggy, so it will be more dry as a result.

I am a huge fan of grasses, and there really is one for every location. they need almost no care at all and shimmer in the breeze.

For dry shade, try these perhaps interspersed with some small shade tolerant shrubs like hebes, and perennials like alchemilla, aquilegias, euphorbia.