Shade-loving plants for a notorious plant killer

[AtLeastThreeDrinks]

Can anyone recommend a few very low-maintenance pot plants? We have a very small, paved courtyard garden that’s in full shade year-round, but I’d love to improve the appearance of it with some greenery.

Please keep in mind that my H has (jokingly) banned me from buying house plants as I kill them all (yes, even the unkillable ones).

I’ve Googled but am utterly confused by the options and hoping some of you green-fingered lot can help instead! TIA.

The obvious for full shade and fairly low maintenance is ferns of various types. Hostas would also be good in the shade and seem happy in pots which can help to keep slugs and snails away although if you have many in the garden you’ll probably need other measures as well to keep them off. Dicentra can cope with pots and shade and should give you some flowers in spring.

Looking after a plant in a pot is much harder than growing it in the ground. Can you remove some of the paving?

I like hard shield ferns and harts tongue ferns.

It's a no to hostas from me (slugs).

Unfortunately we can’t take up the paving to make beds. How much harder are we talking to grow in pots? Is this why mine always die?!

I’d not heard to dicentra, so thanks for that – they look very pretty.

Those ferns look good and the hostas looks very pretty. Google suggests coffee grounds can deter slugs?

Would now be a good time to get the plants or should I wait until the spring?

You can grow all sorts in pots OP - don't worry about that. You'll just need to make sure you water them well. I am obsessed with pots and have literally hundreds of them of all shapes and sizes. Go along to your local garden centre and have a look at the various styles available - you'll be able to make your patio look amazing.

Use bark chips or small pebbles as pot toppers (spread over the soil around your plants in the pots) and they will help keep moisture in, suppress weeds and will look nice too.

If I were you, I'd plant a variety of ferns in pots at varying heights, with perhaps some lovely white hydrangea (also shade loving) for some cool colour.

Hostas are glorious but I agree with a PP, total slug magnets, I've only ever tried growing them in pots and they've been eaten to death every. single. time.

Oh and don't worry about the fact that your house plants always die. I am officially Death to House Plants everywhere but my garden thrives!

Pulmonaria are very pretty, I've never had them in pots though so not sure how they would do.

You can buy slug deterrent spray, I bought mine from Poundland
I used it on hostas, dahlias, young lupins, heucheras and calla lillies and not one suffered any damage. You spray it until it drips off the leaves, if there is heavy rain re apply.

It's non poisonous and child and pet safe, I assume the slugs just don't like the taste.

Thanks everyone and especially @FlyingPandas, I feel reassured! I hadn’t considered hydrangeas, a great idea. And perhaps I’ll avoid the slug-prone hostas; I don’t want to demoralise myself!

Good evergreens that take a lot to kill and like tolerate shade are:

Japonica
Holly
Ferns
Eunonymos
Daphnia

A couple I have in very shady spots - apart from Hostas are Brunnera and Euphorbia.

The most important thing is to use the very biggest pots you can. Makes lief much much easier. They’ll always require plenty of watering but pretty much anything will prefer a bigger pot. I’d do most pots with a variety of tough evergreens and a couple with mixed seasonal bedding for some colour

Brunnera are okay in deep shade, pretty variegated leaves, and seem to be tough as old boots. Even the one near our compost heap manages to fight off the slugs.

Are you looking for evergreen shrubs? Deciduous shrubs (lose their leaves in winter but keep their wood)? Or would you be happy with hardy perennials (die back to ground level in the winter)?

Japanese anemones maybe, at the back of a larger display? They spread a lot and I think are quite un-killable

https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/japanese-anemones-grow-guide/

If you are likely to forget to water them you could install an automatic watering system

I've got a dwarf comfrey and epimedium that are in pots and do well. The comfrey flowers early in spring for quite a while and the bees love them, and the epimedium have lovely foliage in late winter and autumn when they turn brown.

Yes, think, honestly, about how much time and how often you're going to water them. Then buy and appropriate number of pots. Obviously, a hosepipe will make thing easier. If you've just got an outside tap and a watering can I'd considering putting a large flexitub under the tap. That can be filling while you're watering then just plunge the watering can in it to refill. It's much faster. Also good for diluting liquid plant food. I've got one and it might be my most useful piece of garden equipment.

Hmm, I suppose evergreen, although I’m not completely against the others. Saying that, I don’t love the look of winter gardens, all twiggy and brown. I think it reminds me of my houseplants, ha.

Thanks for all the suggestions and that’s a good tip about the flexitub @IcakethereforeIam. I’m looking at all the options and making a little plan/diagram for the space. I should probably set a budget first, but that’s less fun!

If you’re looking for evergreen, then maybe consider evergreens that have a bit of interest. Like if you were looking for a euonymus, maybe choose one with some variegation. Or maybe some evergreen flowering shrubs like camellia. Or a holly, for the berries.

If you’re happy with deciduous shrubs, maybe a dwarf lilac? Or a cornus with colour in the branches?

I agree with having massive pots. I have three large ones and a million smaller ones. The three large ones are so much more effective and impactful. You can always plant around a shrub with bulbs (like tete a tete in spring, and then dwarf tulips in later spring) or maybe bedding plants in summer with something trailing like geraniums or bacopa or whatever, and then cyclamen or violas for autumn/winter - if you’re looking for some colour in the pot as well as structure from the shrub.

I’ve used this specialist nursery before for shade plants. As others have said they will need regular watering in pots but you can buy automated watering systems quite inexpensively nowadays.

Yes, they have a better range of shade plants than anywhere else, and good quality plants, but research for ease of growth before you buy.

Ooh @ThinkingAgainAndAgain, the dwarf lilac looks beautiful. Our neighbour actually has camellia in her shady front, I noticed them yesterday and thought they might be a good idea for our patch. Noted on the massive pots, I'll have a browse at our local garden centres and see what I can find. Or if anyone knows of a good website for pots, do let me know.

Thanks so much @Girlattheback, the website I never knew I needed!

I hadn't considered an automated watering system, but that would be the obvious solution to my propensity for forgetting to water the plants.

You’re welcome. Lots of garden centres have their end of season sales on now, so you might find some bargain pots in store.

As a have reduced their 40 litre bags of bark to £2 a bag.