Good plants for a woodland border (novice gardener)

[ProfessorPlumInTheLibrary]

I have my own garden for the first time, and I’ve been feeling a bit overwhelmed by it. It’s long, narrow and overgrown, and part of the east-facing side is shaded by my neighbour’s deciduous trees. I’ve decided I’d like to try to turn this area into bit of a woodland border, with some shrubs, ferns and perennials. Could you recommend any of your favourite plants for this kind of location? The soil seems reasonable if a bit dry, and we’re in a fairly dry and sunny bit of England. Thanks for your help!

Too many beautiful native ferns to list, but this place sell lovely plants. I am about to order some things as I need plants for under very large trees. www.plantsforshade.co.uk/

My astilbes go positively bonkers in my shady border! Hellebores too, to have some nice colour and winter and spring.

I recently saw Himalayan poppies and candelabra primula used to great effect at Harlow Carr, but they do like to be moist. See pic!

Fox gloves and hydrangea both do well in shade.

Crainsbill geraniums, are always a winner. I grow them under my neighbours east facing leyllandi hedge. Lots of varieties ranging from white, blue, pink and purple.

I've got 3 shady borders. One is pretty much all large mixed ferns with hellebores, whatever self seeds there and then a carpet of sweet woodruff to keep the weeds down and stabilise the ground a bit as it falls away into a ditch. Another is sort of a rockery and has Brunnera, lungwort, hardy geraniums and London pride, plus a random fennel. Under my large birch I have a fatsia, a hydrangea quercifolia and many hardy geraniums, that one is it's at its best in spring when it's carpeted with bulbs.

You might find www.plantsforshade.co.uk/this will get you started.

*ignore the 'this' on the end of that link.

Pulmonaria (lungwort) is a must! Beautiful silver splashed leaves year round for great ground cover, and the earliest of flowers provide essential forage for emerging bumble bee queens in February and March. A brilliant woodland plant. I have it in every shady corner and the bumbles go wild for it.

My woodland border (is most of my dry shady garden) is ferns and hellebore and Solomon's seal. Also iris foettidisma and more ferns.

Alchemilla mollis is pretty and spreads well. Sweet cicely. Cyclamen. Primroses. Box. I second foxgloves for a bit of height and interest. Violets.

Thank you all so much for these suggestions! I had never heard of pulmonaria or astilbes, but they are lovely! Hellebores are now on my list too. I'd already pencilled in foxgloves and Cranesbill/hardy geraniums so it's nice to see those recommended. And thanks so much @SirVixofVixHall and @Knittedfairies for the recommendation for www.plantsforshade.co.uk - so many beautiful ferns!

Yes, so many gorgeous ferns ! I must order more.

I have a woodland border. In it I have:
Pulmonaria
Brunnera ‘Jack Frost’
Hellebores
Toad Lilies
Geranium ‘Rozanne’
Heuchera
Astrantia
Camassia
Bergenia ‘Eroica’
Liriope muscari
Japanese anemone ‘Honorine Jobert’
Aquilegia

Plus shrubs: Cornus kousa, Hydrangea, Sarcococca, Viburnum plicatum ‘Mariesii’,
Camellia sasanqua.

Fatsia Japonica thrives in shade. I'll get a photo of mine and post it here in a moment, but it's really beautified what was an otherwise lonely, tight-squeeze of a shady spot in one of my borders.

One of my favourite nurseries... amazing quality. All of my plants from these guys have only ever thrived. Lovely, lush, healthy, generous-sized specimens.

www.charellagardens.co.uk/

Fatsia Japonica (total shade lover!)

And it's evergreen.

I've sort of ignored your 'woodland border' bit. Sorry about that!
I was thinking 'shade'.
Anyway...
An emerald lace Acer could be absolutely beautiful in a woodland border. I have one and it's just glorious... grows well in a shady spot with a bit of dappled sun in my own garden.

It's funny that you mention Fatsia Japonica @TheVanguardSix - I've actually uncovered one in a different shady corner of the garden! It's quite big, but unfortunately it doesn't look as good as your (beautiful) one - the leaves are a bit yellow-ish. We've hacked down a giant bramble that it was competing with, so hopefully that will help, but do you have any other suggestions for restoring it?

Oh how wonderful! They are easy to bring back to life!
Leaves can turn a bit yellow at this time of year anyway.
Simply peel off the yellow leaves from the stem (rather than cutting the leaves off). I'd give it a good water, maybe add a nice little layer of compost to feed that soil it's growing in, along with a bit of plant feed (an all-purpose feed should be ok- one with some iron in it).
Before you water though, check the soil and make sure it's not too damp. Over-watering or too much sun can make the leaves turn yellow. But if it's in shade and the soil is not too damp, give it a nice water and just keep in mind that this time of year, you're bound to have a couple of yellow leaves that need peeling off. They are a low-maintenance shrub.

New growth can look 'diseased', like small, burnt, curled leaves. That is normal! The new leaves emerge looking like paper that's been singed at the edges. You'll be pleasantly surprised to find lush, green leaves evolve.

My little woodland corner with some of the plants I mentioned

Thanks for the advice @TheVanguardSix. Hopefully we can give it a new lease of life! And that's a lovely picture @Iveputmyselfonthenaughtystep, I especially like the white foxgloves. Thank you again for all the suggestions, everyone - this has got me really excited to get started!

Woodlandy I'd go for:
English bluebells for spring
Foxgloves
Astrantia
Anenomes (wood and the Japanese ones)
Dryopteris and Hart's tongue ferns

This was my shady corner in may: tiarella in flower.
Heuchera
Hardy geranium
Hydrangea
Hellebores, you definitely need them in a woodland setting!

I’ve got a rose doing well in dappled shade, I looked at roses for shade. Also hostas.

Solomon’s seal gives lovely late spring dash of colour as does bleeding heart.

Lots of bulbs will do really well in spring before the trees get going.

I planted a couple of acers too.

Heucheras are fabulous.