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!!

Fab. Thanks

shove and fog great ideas ,thank you .I'm not so keen on box but holly sounds attractive ..

I just googled heuchers ....what a choice ,I love the lime green ones ...

Feeling really excited now ,brilliant thread .

We put 3 different ferns on our shady side a few years ago now, and they seem very happy there. Plus children love the way new leaves unfurl - there's almost something a bit prehistoric about them!

MY PLANTS ARRIVED FROM THAT EBAY SELLER!

Picture as promised! Pleased with the quality of the plants and with the very clever way they were wrapped to protect the crowns of each. Considering they are supercheap, I'm chuffed.

Had to go back and remind myself what you ordered shove

• pratia penduculata
• disporpopsis pernyi
• dodecatheon 'alba' (this is breathtaking)
• peucadanum ostruthium

Oops, sorry, I should have said! The pratia (the thug I'm a bit worried about, which will go in a carefully-monitored pot) is the tiny thing that looks like mind-your-own-business. Who would have thought such a titchy plant could be such a pain?

Mind Your Own Business is a bit of a "taker" too

They look nice and healthy!

They do look good, and the Dodecatheon has got flower buds on? Marvellous.

I am actually wondering now whether my shady border is going to have too much sun in it - I had forgotten/not twigged that in summer I will have many more hours of sunshine after the sun has reached that border around 5pm. I will have to monitor it this year.

It's amazing what a difference the height of the sun can make - also leaf cover, when it gets started, suddenly changes everything. I have a ligularia that is very happy in spring and autumn but a bit too dry in the summer due to being too much in the shade of an apple tree. It just wilts unless watered every day. I'm going to create a bog garden for it, where it'll be much happier!

I've been out trimming back some of my neighbour's overhanging things - he has a lovely ceanothus and a variegated holly tree then a big prunus and couple of oaks.

I don't know what kind they are, but they're quite quick growing. My neighbour (whom we get on very well with) has already cut back some overhanging oak branches that cut out a lot of sun last year. I'm finding myself in the bizarre position of hoping I haven't brought in too much sunlight for all these shade lovers I want to plant now....

Ha ha ,I know exactly what you mean .

Last summer I spent ages creating a flower bed where the grass won't grow because soil poorly drained + heavy shade .
Dug in lots of manure and special acid soil, researched and planted shade loving plants .
Come January and my neighbour decimated his adjacent plot ( pending the world's longest running works prior to development of 2 houses and road ) and now 80% reducation in shade .

But I tell myself the plants will probably be happy .And I know my grass will be .

Oh gosh, two big transformations there!! It's difficult when things change isn't it?! Fortunately, I think a lot of plants are quite adaptable. Many are woodland plants, and those woodlands do have light coming in at times. I'm probably going to have some work done on my house later in the year, and I'm worried about how a new extension will change the quality of light in my garden or cast a longer shadow. I wish I could model it!!

Some things are just really tough and will survive in sub-optimal conditions. I've had a viburnum x burkwoodii growing in very deep shade for a while. It's been flowering brilliantly, but it hasn't grown as much as it might. I moved it to a slightly lighter area last night as I decided I love it too much to let it sit there and suffer . I do like a viburnum.

The partial shade ones would be OK, it's the ones that get scorched by the sun I would fret about. Still, will have to wait and see.

I do like Viburnums, they are so forgiving.

I really wanted a particular variety (this happens a lot) that is so difficult to get hold of - Viburnum plicatum 'Popcorn' (Japanese snowball) So many of them have the white snowball flowers - I want the green!

I meant to add, this used to come into our florist shop as a cut flower.They were actually greener than that picture.

I have some fake ones in a vase. It's just finding them in a pot to buy.... and my plant list is already bursting at the seams darn it

Viburnums yes .I've been gazing at this one
www.mailordertrees.co.uk/products/viburnum-tinus-half-standard-viburnum-tree

that I found on that fantastic majestic trees link that expanding posted on poor cakey's thread re screening .

That's very nice, I do like the fragrant winter flowerers, and I'm thinking my fancy one wouldn't be happy on my heavy clay. Some of them do prefer a lighter freer draining soil.

So I will probably have the Viburnum burkwoodii, like shove has!

Yes that is pretty gingeroots though I quite see the attraction of the green one. There is quite a lot of variation between plants sometimes which is why I sometimes think it is good to get them when in flower from the nursery or plant fair because then you know exactly what you are getting.

ginger - viburnum tinus is fantastic on clay. I have one in the deepest, darkest shade in my garden and it is doing really well.

fogs - they have a wonderful snowball-style Viburnum on clay at Renishaw Hall in partial shade. I reckon you might be able to do it, especially if you dug a big hole and gave it plenty of grit!

This has been a fantastic thread, thank you to all for sharing your knowledge and experience.
May I ask whether anyone has previously purchased from the mailordertrees site? I'd really like some viburnum.

I've not used them - but they have very impressive customer satisfaction ratings and a 2 year guarantee, which is better than a lot of garden centres, tbh.

(I feel a bit disenchanted with a lot of garden centres these days. Many seem to be reverting to cafes that sell jam and a few very standard plants.)

I had ever such a piece of luck last night.

DH loves studying cities, so we go on a lot of long walks around urban neighbourhoods, where he talks about things I don't understand like the use classes order and I look at all the gardens. Anyway, yesterday we were in an old industrial area that is turning into cafes and bars and a warehouse was being cleared and there was a skip. And in that skip were some really solid pine drawers, with dovetail joints and proper pine bases and everything.

I insisted that we immediately walked back home (3 miles) and then brought the car to collect them. I'm going to take the handles off, treat them with some good dark grey weatherproofing paint, mount them, and then turn them into mini AURICULA THEATRES for my fence at the end of the garden.

The only snag is I don't actually own any auriculas yet. But I think this is a clear sign from the universe that I need some in my life.

shove I have been thinking about Auriculas too.
The 132 Auricula show is on April 30th I might go.
southernauriculaprimula.org/Diary.aspx

I saw this on another site and liked the sound of it, but this is a much clearer picture of it.

It likes woodland conditions, dappled shade, cool root run - and the flowers are beautiful!

ooh I do like that fog ,perhaps I could plant on the shady side of my path .....