It's a dandelion ffs

[ohfook]

I have a very shady part of my garden that has a flower bed in it but never really gets any sun.

The first year we lived here I left it just in case anything had already been planted. It hadn't.

Second year I adopted my usual sink or swim approach to gardening and just planted stuff I liked there on the off chance they'd be fine - they weren't.

The third year I threw a load of cow parsley and wild flower seeds down with my thought process being a) I love cow parsley and b) it's grows bloody everywhere so it should be fine. No cow parsley or wild flowers grew.

After last summer I finally researched flowers that grew well in shaded areas and ordered a few different bulbs as a 'test'. Out of all of the ones I ordered, only one has really taken. It's been growing really tall and I've been eagerly awaiting it to bloom so I can see what will grow in this stupid area. Well today the buds have finally started to open and it's a fucking dandelion- granted a very tall one. Possibly the tallest dandelion I've ever seen but it's still a dandelion!

The stupid area has me stumped. I'm now wondering if I just lean into it and have it as a dandelion patch. My garden is shit it's 90% concrete and gravel yet it's this one flower bed that is refusing to grow anything except one solitary weed!

So does anyone have a completely fool proof plant that will thrive in the shade before I commit to the dandelion patch!

A weed is just a flower that isn't meant to be there. Dandelions are actually quite pretty.

I'm extremely good at growing Dandelions! I kill most things...

Lily of the Valley, Bluebells

I feel your pain with regards to the wild flower seeds. I have a patch in my garden that I thought I would cultivate as a wild flower area to attract insects. I raked the soil, threw a load of seeds down, thinking they're wild flowers so pretty much just weeds and so should just grow...and nothing! I tried again with a different seed mix...nothing....tried again with Autumn vs Spring planting...nothing!
However, I did read that those wild flower seed mixes are pretty much rubbish and often the seeds just get eaten by birds so it's better to plant seeds indoors and plant out when they get to seedlings. They should then self-seed and keep going. So that's my plan for my little wildflower area. You could maybe try the same?

Lily of the valley... I wish. It just won't take. I've probably spent a fortune on bulbs over the years, tried it in all sorts of positions. A garden down the road has it growing like a weed. I've taken some that has been dug out. 2 years later... nothing. It should grow brilliantly here. I have a similar problem with snowdrops.

Was it really a dandelion, or a yellow allium of some sort? I like dandelions - yes, they spread madly and have deep tap roots, but they have such happy flowers and beautiful seed heads, and even the leaves are interesting shapes.

Is it one of those orange dandelions (Hawkweed?) We have lots in our lawn and I don't mind them as they have nicer leaves than normal dandelions. I've never had much success with sowing seeds or bulbs in shady areas, it is better to just buy small plants. Hostas, ferns and primulas might be worth a try, or even hydrangeas.

I have only had success with wildflower seed mixes in a carefully prepared planter.

Although now I have introduced red campion to the garden, it is been very successful...

What about ferns and hostas? The hostas flower you just need to protect from the slugs

Ferns and hellebores grow really well in shade.

Grape hyacinth grow everywhere, you never get rid of them, they just take over. A hydrangea will also thrive in the shade.

I love dandelions! They are very pretty and wildlife love them.

We also tried the wildflower seeds to no effect. My friend who has a lovely wildflower patch tells me that she cheated and used wildflower turf, so you could consider that? It is quite pricey though!

Pulmonaria will grow in shade. And London pride Saxifraga x urbium-not spectacular but you will get some greenery. Try geraniums,they won’t thrive but should grow. Japanese anemones might grow.

How big is the patch? Take a picture would help.

Tellima is lovely, bullet proof and super understated.

This made me laugh op, sorry 😄

Following for some ideas, as I too have a barren shady area with very few signs of life. The edge of it which gets occasional dappled sun has a decent covering of forget me nots - they seem pretty determined and unkillable?

Goatsbeard? What are its leaves like?

Hello Ohfook,

If you want a beautiful woodland/shade garden you must check out dear old Beth Chatto very sadly no longer with us a world renowned plantswoman.

Beth Chatto’s garden in Elmstead Market, Colchester if you have not been to is a must! In their garden the Chatto’s Beth and her husband Andrew were faced with a number of different growing conditions one of them being a woodland. As a result Beth wrote a book on woodland gardening.

https://www.bethchatto.co.uk/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beth-Chattos-Woodland-Garden-Shade-Loving/dp/0304363669

https://www.bethchatto.co.uk/garden-nursery/gallery/woodland-garden.htm

Happy gardening
TheSustainableGardener

P.S. Beth Chatto also wrote a range of other books on other growing conditions which are well worth checking out.

Depends where you are, though@thesustainablegardener

Beth Chatto's style of woodland garden, and its plants, wouldn't be a good fit in Scotland, especially the west which specialises in spectacular woodland gardens.

I never knew why Beth wasn't given a dame hood. You'd have thought the present king, being a gardener, and all...........

I don't think most flowers like the shade much, and cow parsley usually seems to grow in very sunny, open spots like roadsides. I'd make it into a fern garden! You could also plant foxgloves, which are happy in shade, and they might self seed every year.

I am struggling with a similar shady patch.
I have a hosta- very nice that I planted last year and it took.
I have some leopards bane I planted a few weeks ago and it’s taken.
I might have a geranium coming up.

I have thinned the branches shading the area this year thinking dappled shade might be better.

I have noticed the patch was so shady, it was also bone dry and so have been checking moisture levels and watering it as needed. The dryness probabky explains while no seeds, not even shade mix seed balls have come up.

Just leaving this here @ohfook 😂

I have a similar area.

when we moved in, there weee loads of ferns planted in a complete dark shady area. Oh how boring, I thought, and spent countless seasons adding small shrubs and perennials, none of which did well at all. I tried loads of things. I had some success with some hebes but they all withered two seasons ago.

And then I had a lightbulb moment, and I thought last year that I’d try some ferns. Which - believe it or not - have done superbly! I’ve added some heucheras too and they look good.

In another very shady area, I have hellebores, bluebells, foxgloves and Japanese anemones. Hydrangeas can do well in shade, if you have some sun.

First of all, wild flowers are BASTARDS. What they want is nutrient depleted soil, not the nice rich stuff you find in garden borders, so our lovely, well-meaning attempts to scatter wildflower seds everywqhere and have a riot of colour for pollinators rarely bloody works. Obstinate feckers.

Cow parsley loves lots of sun, which makes it pickier still.

Dandelions, on the other hand, will grow anywhere. Ditto docks.

Ferns, hostas and native geraniums all grow well in my deep shade area (although the snails hit the hostas pretty fiercely). Also bluebells, although they took a good while to get established.

This has made me howl with laughter! I did this! Threw every wild seed for about 4yrs - seed bombs, wild flower grass seeds. I ended up with 4ft ragwort and brambles 🤣 Nothing else, not even a dandelion.

So, be proud. Nurture your dandelion and embrace its stubbornness and endurance!

(I've given in and got someone to mow my weeds!)

Helleborus are great, ours grow in dense shade and flower really well, you can get nice shades and double varieties now too.

Just echoing other PPs - plants that do well in the shady part of my garden are:
Pulmonaria (comes in various colours)
Ferns
Foxgloves
Vinca minor
Hydrangea
Hellebores
Wild garlic
Bluebell's