What to plant - tree and wild ish ground cover

[Indecisivelurcher]

I've just moved the kids playhouse and now have a decent corner to plant up! Am wondering about a silver birch for screening and interest, with fairly natural type ground cover that benefits invertebrates. It's pretty much full shade so never going to get mega flowers. Any suggestions?

I think a silver birch, though lovely, would not be a good idea so close to your neighbours, even if you hate them! It would eventually grow too large for the space, though admittedly that would take a while, but in the meantime it would not be much good in terms of shade or privacy.

I would put up something like a very basic pergola and grow summer flowering climbers up it, would give you some privacy in the summer months when you are likely to be out there ,and some shade and some scent depending on what you plant.

Avoid anything marked “good ground cover” on the label.it is garden speak for thug that you can never eradicate..

For ground over I would try some of the tougher geraniums for a start . Some ferns could be happy there too. Try Googling “dry shade “ plants and see what comes up.

To encourage invertebrates why not make a bug hotel? You can buy small ones but you can also make your own with old logs, bricks, concrete slabs etc layered up and filled with cut down canes, old books, corrugated cardboard, straw.......... again lots of ideas on google/Instagram.

Thank you for the ideas!
I had to take an elm right back out there which 'revealed' the view of the back neighbours building that in not really enjoying! I guess I wanted something tall and skinny to cover it back up!!!

I'd go for one of the smaller birch species. It doesn't need to screen the neighbours, just draw your eye away from them. And the white stems of the birch would show up in that dark corner. I find an illusion of privacy far easier to achieve than actual privacy (eye invisibility from neighbours) and does the job as far as feeling comfortable in the garden goes.

Bark chippings would benefit invertebrates. You could plant one of the Vincas. Or go wild with eg red campion.

An alternative would be some other tree with not too dense leaf cover, and try growing one of the white-stemmed brambles under there - Rubus thibetianus or R cockburniensis - to give a thicket of white stems to lighten the corner.

Oo thank you, lovely suggestions.