Shady characters - a permanent home for shade garden suggestions!

[shovetheholly]

Because we get the question about what will grow in the shade so often, posts about it sometimes don't get many answers. So I thought I'd make a permanent thread that we can point people to when this comes up. I know some of you have written the same thing 10 or 20 times before, so hopefully this will save the repetition!

I'm hoping we can post some pictures of shade plants here so that people can see what they look like. A lot of them aren't all that familiar. Plus, I love pictures!!

Ooooh, pointless - isn't that garden lovely? I went for the first time earlier this year. It was a bit too early, to be honest, but I had the most cracking day looking around the tropical houses. I was very taken with the greenhouse made of plastic bottles too!

Please feel free to post some of the plants you've found on this thread so I can go 'oooooh' and feel a bit !!

I tried the membrane and building up soil method in my problem patch (permanent shade under mature trees). Result: fungi under the membrane and riotously happy weeds overwhelmed everything I planted.

I know some people swear by planting through membrane, but I'm not a fan. I only use it where I don't want anything to grow, e.g. under paths. None of my raised beds have one - I've just used the container to build up a depth of rich soil which is less easily compressed and dried out than the (often depleted) ground around evergreens.

Just wanted to say thanks for starting this thread its just what I've been looking for!

Epimedium, also known as barrenwort, bishop's hat, fairy wings, horny goat weed, rowdy lamb herb, randy beef grass. Gorgeous leaves in spring and flowers in summer, beautiful foliage in fall.

Great thread. Thank you

What a great thread - thank you for all the tips. I'm printing this out!

Awww, thank you! You've inspired me to have some more thinks about shade plants! I will try to post more next week (got a multiply-family-birthday weekend on and I am stresssssssed with cake and biscuit baking. I would much rather be in the garden than the kitchen!)

Brilliant idea to have this thread, holly.

Coming late to the party but I always recommend shade-owners buy 'Gardening in the Shade' by Margery Fish. It's out of print but cheap & easy to get from Amazon. It's quite old so she doesn't mention new varieties, but inspirational. She mentions colourful annuals that love shade such as nasturtiums lobelia and red linum.

Some asters like shade. We have one in flower at the moment deep under an old apple tree (so very shady and very dry). I don't know what variety it is I'm afraid but it's very tall with pale lilac flowers. Bees love it and it's always very late so valuable. It's not Eurybia divericata which Plants for Shade offers -dare I say it's prettier than that. I'll have a rummage & see if I can find it.

I'd love to know which one it is, Searabbit. I've been meaning to get an aster for ages. They grow prolifically in verges here, and I really love late colour in the garden!!

I'm going to check out that book too

Vinca minor (if you don't want to be over-run).

As I understand it, there's aconite (jolly yellow early spring fellow, don't eat the bulb), and acontitum, aka Monkshood, extremely poisonous.

I am now officially EXCITED FOR SPRING, so it is definitely time for more shade plants.

I just got some Pachysandra terminalis variegata, which turns out to be a weird and wonderful ground cover plant, a kind of Japanese spurge that is evergreen. It prefers moisture, but sounds pretty tough so will take periods of dryness. It's grown mainly for foliage, though it does have quite pretty, tiny white flowers.

I'm also growing some foxgloves from seed- a variety called Pam's Choice (see picture), which is supposed to get to some 150cm tall. It's proven remarkably easy to grow so far. I'm hoping the combination of dark purple and off-white will sing out in the shadier areas of my garden. I'm sure I'll get a few of the wild pink ones growing here and there as well, which will be lovely.

I do really love a foxglove. You can get the most amazing range of colours now, from pure whites to delicate creams to deep purples - and then some increasingly loud oranges. Check out Thompson & Morgan's new 'illumination' range of hybrids of digitalis and Isoplexis (the Canary Island foxglove) - they will wake you up if you're feeling drowsy.

Most foxgloves are biennial: you sow them one year, they flower the next, then they die. There is a new perennial form that comes back and back, though, called Digitalis x mertonensis. If I am feeling particularly lazy in the summer, I might give them a go!!

Holly my Merton foxglove died after a year, not having seeded itself freely as I had been promised by the nice lady on the plant stall!! But it is worth growing as it is a lovely crushed strawberry colour.

I have read lately that the Gertrude Jekyll rose is very tolerant of shade. I love roses, does anyone have any experience of growing this one in the shade/part shade or of a rose that will do better?

Searabbit - I LOVE the colour of the Merton. That gorgeous, dusky pink is just amazing! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that you see a few stray seedlings this spring and that it springs back to life in your garden.

Mousekatool - I have a Gertrude Jekyll rose! Unfortunately, it really didn't do well in my north-facing back garden - it grew, but it didn't want to flower. I got a few blooms, but they didn't last very long. I have moved it to my south-facing front garden and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it does better there. However, bear in mind that I am on extremely wet, heavy clay and I'm north-facing. I think it would probably not only cope but do well on a less extreme site, in more partial shade. The fragrance of it is glorious, so it's worth a punt!

David Austin have a page of shade-loving roses: www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/specific-situations/roses-for-shade A Shropshire Lad is a favourite of mine, but I haven't tried to grow it (yet).

Because I just ordered some... a post in praise of primulas.

These poor plants have a shocking reputation thanks to the frankly 'orrible gaudy-coloured polyanthus you can buy as spring bedding. For many people, they're firmly associated with the late 1970s, or with the kind of formal carpet bedding you see in municipal parks. I am not sure why they're so popular - you can buy acaulis varieties that are much nicer in form, feel and colour, but just as vivid and cheery. Sometimes I just want to stand in front of them in Homebase with cards for local nurseries that sell much nicer varieties.

But they are so much more lovely and diverse than this, and it's such a shame that so many brilliant varieties with so many lovely colours get overlooked in favour of versions that are not nearly as nice. There are literally HUNDREDS of types, many of which I'm only just starting to discover! (All recommendations very welcome!)

I can hardly pretend to be an arbiter of taste on this subject, however, as I have to admit, I have an utterly girly soft spot for Primula denticulata. They produce pompoms of tiny flowers in white, pink, or gorgeous purples, I find their candy-coloured lollipops hard to resist, much to the chagrin of my more modernist DH who rolls his eyes at my delight in them. I have to admit, there are less frou-frou ways of achieving the same effect. For a slightly larger but beautifully delicate flowerhead, the Primula farinosa with its tiny rosette of leaves, is a thing of beauty, and the Primula sieboldi with its beautifully divided or serrated petals and washed-out pastels has an almost ethereal quality in the spring.

DH prefers the candelabra/japonica primulas, with their taller and more statuesque beauty. These can have fierier colours, which I have to admit are absolutely stunning - my favourite is 'Miller's Crimson', which give a fantastic shot of purple when planted in a large group, but there are also some flame-coloured oranges. These primulas grow naturally on hillsides in China, and they can look terrific on a slope against azaleas or rhodos.

Some of the old, traditional varieties are well worth a look. I challenge anyone not to be charmed by the Elizabethan era 'Hose in hose' or 'Gold laced Jack in the green' - if only for the names! The later Victorian 'Gold laced polyanthus' has more petals than the Elizabethan version and the red/gold contrast here makes an even greater impact.

Then you've got the totally weird Primula vialli, with its pyramidal spikes of vivid purple and bright red. It wouldn't look out of place in Star Trek. Unfortunately, however, I've found that slugs are a big problem with this variety - I really struggle to grow it as a result. Auriculas, too, can be almost supernaturally coloured, like a strange photographic negative of a primrose: check out the green-edged show varieties or 'Prince John'. And some of the double forms are even more girly than my denticulatas.

All that said, though, the wild primrose takes some beating. Whose heart isn't lifted by that gorgeous, creamily soft yellow in a woodland on a sunny spring morning?? Sometimes nature just does it better than any plant breeder could.

Pictures above: Primula denticulata (mauve and purple); primula japonica Miller's crimson (purple); auriculas.

Pictures here: Primula vialli, the old Jack-in-the-green variety, wild primrose.

I absolutely agree Holly. We went on a walk yesterday and I got so excited by the wild primroses- even though we have them in the garden at home. They are so lovely in the wild.

There is a lovely National Trust garden, Trengwainton, that has a long stream along a drive, planted with masses of purple/pink/red/orange/yellow candelabra primulas that are just stunning - Google Trengwainton + primulas for images, although amazingly the available pictures don't give an accurate idea of how gorgeous a sight it is, except one in Pinterest.

I remember my father growing 'polyanthus' that were delicate colours and lovely but like you I look at the primulas on offer in the garden centres with horror. I like bright colours in the garden but they go Too Far.

Oh my lord! I've never seen that garden before Searabbit. You know sometimes you see something and it's just so beautiful you feel quite emotional? That Trengwainton garden is like that.

Sometimes I think that if we could just get politicians and big decision making types into beautiful gardens for a bit, we might solve some of the world's problems.

I really, really want to go to Cornwall and spend a week looking round the gardens. So many incredible feats of gardening to be seen in that magical part of the world.

I really love Trengwainton - it has some beautiful hydrangeas in the summer, a huge walled garden, and that gorgeous stream planting. And one of the best tea rooms I know, with 3 alternatives for jam with the cream tea...

You've not mentioned Liriope muscari yet, I don't think, it's on my list for the shady side of my garden. It's an autumn flowering small evergreen that likes dry shade. I like both the purple/blue and the white (Monroe white, I think?) so I'm going to have to have both

And Sarcococca hookeriana is a good one for dry shade, I don't know if i missed it upthread.

Thank you for this thread, it's great to have all the shade lovers in one place!

Love this thread, so many good ideas for my north-facing shady garden

I have tried so many times to get anemones to grow in my shadiest border but they always die. They grow like weeds next door

TheFogs - you're right, it's one of many things I've missed. I bought some last year ('Big blue') and put it in, but it didn't take off straight away. I may have it in too wet a spot so I am waiting to see how it comes back this spring and will move it if necessary.

I love the smell of Sarcococca hookeriana - Hodsock Priory have a small hedge of it alongside their snowdrops and the smell is just divine in February. Really sweet and musky, like an expensive perfume. When I finally get around to sorting my south-facing yet still damp front garden, I'm going to have lots of plants in a row along the path, I think. I really hate winter, so it'll be good to be reminded of one of the upsides!

Mewling - thanks for your kind words . I just use this thread as a chance to learn about more plants! Which varieties of anemone are you growing? I find they like it in the partial shade in my garden (which is really quite shaded), but not in the deep, deep shade where it's dark all the time. Could it be that there's a slight difference in light between you and your neighbour (caused by, say, a tree or a building) that gives them just a few more photons next door? Could you move them to a slightly sunnier spot?

Fogs my Liriope has been in 2 ½ years and hasn't flowered yet! And Sarcococca has died on me twice. White anemones flower profusely in this garden - though they always died in our last garden. Gardening can be such A Challenge, can't it?