Gardening advice - shade loving plants

[thebellagio]

I’m
In the process of revamping my back garden. It’s a south facing garden but the only place to put a flower bed is along the back, which is a shaded area. We have clay soil and as I’m a newbie gardener I have absolutely no idea what types of plants to choose. Ideally, I want something colourful but hardy and easy to grow - I guess some sort of shrub?

Can anyone give any suggestions? I’ve looked in my local garden center and I’ve been looking online but I’m starting to get a bit punch drunk with information now!

What would you all recommend if you could start a shady border from scratch?

Clay,dry soil, shade a nightmare,sorry
Roses, perennial pelargoniums. If you're prepared to water,ferns, hostas, astilbe. Add organic matter, compost, bought or made,dig it in

It's a shame it's the only place you can have a border - is there no way you can move other stuff around a bit?

My shady areas have, as nannybeach says, hostas, ferns, and other woodlandy bits. Is the soil dry, or is it quite damp?

Lots of gorgeous flowers - snowdrops and hellebores and those ruffled yellow flowers for late winter, lungwort, bluebells, scilla and forget me nots for spring, aquilegia and camellias for summer, and japanese anemones do well for autumn. Or shrubs like holly, berberis and others.

dry shade is hard. look on the Beth Chatto website for the 'Shade' section. I have lots of ferns and hellebores.

And all of those are perennials, so they will settle in , dig down, establish themselves and return each year. The shops will still have some hellebores now, to fall absolutely in love with, but start with the shrubs for structure, and plant perennials and bulbs around them. Plenty you can work with, and putting a thick layer of mulch in and organic matter will help with tje dryness. You could also plant a green fertiliser like phacelia, to help nourish the soil. Sounds like a workable area :) also comfrey, crocus, vinca do well in shade, as does lilac, fragrant and divine.

Thank you all! I’ll do a bit of a shopping list and start planning where things will go.

We moved into this house last year - unfortunately because of where the patio is, there’s no way of moving things around. I have got loads of pots though so I can plant some containers of sun loving flowers as well.

The main issue is the house behind us has huge bushes and trees which is causing the bulk of the shade

Ime mahonia grows in shade.
London pride (low growing like a rock plant) grows in shade.

If you log on to the Crocus website and select 'plants' then you get the option of choosing shade and heavy clay soil, plus flower colour and plant type. You get loads of plants to choose from that should suit your garden.

Don't know if they're happy in clay or not but hucheras are lovely

I have a very shady, dry back garden with poor soil thanks to neighbours trees, farmer and previous occupant had leylandi and glass houses. I moved in 5 years ago and successes In the border have been Mahonia, Viburnum, Pittosporum, Dogwood, heuchera, interspersed with a few ferns and grasses and foxgloves for the bees (and my favourite flower). A few shade loving shrubs have died 2 years later frustratingly. The few partial sunny spots have Hebe in. I have tried to plant, wildlife & pollinator friendly stuff but it has been tricky.

Lots of ideas here

@Janedownourlane

If you log on to the Crocus website and select 'plants' then you get the option of choosing shade and heavy clay soil, plus flower colour and plant type. You get loads of plants to choose from that should suit your garden.

Thank you! Because I’ve never really gardened before, I’m not sure where to look online so that’s really helpful!

My back garden is mostly shade, I have lots of heuchera, an acer tree, a fuchsia bluebells and ferns. This winter I planted a rose variety which is supposed to do well in shade. These plants have also survived the slugs. I don't know what type of soil I've got though.

I have a small shady area around the side of my house and l have grown several varieties of hydrangeas and they are all thriving, however my soil isnt clay.

Heucheras are happy in clay. Tellima is excellent under trees. Epimedium also. As long as you’re not on alkaline clay, Fothergilla

Apple Butter,most of the plants you listed require damp shade, not a south facing garden

I’m on clay and have a north facing border which is in deep shade until 4pm. It’s damp in winter and so dry it cracks in summer. I have honeysuckle up the wall, mahonia, aucuba, Japanese anemones, astilbes, ferns, Solomon’s seal, pachysandra, a large skimmia (I think it’s called Kew green) and liriopes all growing happily.

@Knittedfairies

Lots of ideas here

I second Long Acre Plants. They specialise in plants for shade and the plants I've bought from them have been excellent.

I’ve got a south facing garden too, but the end of it is in woodland and shady all the time.

I’ve found that hellebores do well as do herchera (spelling), strangely a fatsia japonica is as happy as all hell down there too.

Euonymus, skimmia, phototinia, fatsia, mahonia, viburnum and choisia are all nice and leafy shades of green and do well in our dry shade. I find it hard to get summer colour but bulbs do ok as they come out before the trees start blocking the light, same with hellebores.

Euphorbia - Especially the semi-wild wood spurge one.

I have a north facing back garden, which according to experts gets no sun. Well it's an eighth of an acre, completely unoverlooked,gets sun somewhere from sunrise in the east to the west all day in summer. I do have a border by the property permanent shade,full of fatsia, astilbe, primula, scabious, fern,arums,but clay and permanently wet.

I have a skimmia in a pot underneath a silver birch which does very well. Mahonia very good for shade. Perennial hardy geraniums are brilliant and excellent for pollinators.

I have a north facing border under a wall that gets very little sun, and the shrubs that have done particularly well there are Viburnum Tinus, Sarcococca and some large ferns- these are known for being pretty bomb proof in shade. I've also got lots of woodland-type bulbs in too, which can cope with the conditions and make the border look prettier- snowdrops, muscari, cyclamen, anemone nemorosa and bluebells. Make sure you put loads of organic material in before you start planting, and then add a fresh layer every year- the conditions are quite tricky so you want to give the border as much of a fighting chance as you can. I put buckets and buckets of well rotted manure in mine! If you have a stable anywhere nearby locally they'll often give it away for free.
It can be tricky to get very colourful plants that can tolerate deep shade; I'm sure they're out there but generally plants that can cope with these conditions tend to have white or pale flowers. Still, this can look lovely too as it can help lighten up the gloom!

I third Long Acre Plants- they are amazing for this kind of garden.

I think Astrantia is good for shade