Help me plan a difficult border

[LemondrizzleShark]

We live in a conservation area, and have been notified we need at least 50% “soft planting” in our front garden. Unfortunately our front garden is a) north-facing, and b) overshadowed for most of the day by a large cordyline tree and a 5 ft privet hedge on three sides. The previous owners had grass which unsurprisingly died so replaced with slate chippings.

Give me some suggestions for a 2x2m border which will thrive in partial shade, on heavy London clay, moderately dry (we are up a hill and the cordyline tree roots and privet take up a fair amount of water, plus our summers are fairly hot and dry). Then also needs to look nice under a cordyline - I was considering woodland planting with hellebores and cyclamen, but I think that will look odd with a massive palm tree in the middle. Exotic planting mostly won’t do well in north-facing partial shade.

Oh, and we also have a massive slug problem! So no hostas!

I was thinking ferns, fuchsias, maybe lilies if I can get them to grow. What else might work?

Photo below if it helps! Border would be encircling the cordyline.

ferns and foxgloves?

Hydrangeas are fairly shade tolerant, but do need a lot of water. I have a Cordyline (west facing) and find there is a real dry patch underneath (plants under it need watering even when there has been rainfall). You may be able to put Hydrangeas along the path though, away from the Cordyline a bit.

How about a Fatsia, they are pretty hardy and the slugs ignore mine, it will pair well with the cordyline.

I have Bergenia thriving in a couple of shady patches in my garden. I don’t love it but it’s an excellent green ground cover and flowers when not much is happening in the rest of the garden. I think that it was a popular pairing with Cordylines in Edwardian garden design.

In another shady patch of my garden I have Japanese Anenomes currently flowering their socks off.

I also have Euphorbia thriving in a shady North facing patch where it shouldn’t be doing so well, so sometimes plants surprise you.

These are all great, keep them coming!

Lots I hadn’t thought of

I would get rid of the cordyline to let more light and moisture in but then I am not a fan of cordylines. Then I would fill it with ferns and hostas and foxgloves.

Hydrangeas won't like it if it is dry.

We can’t! Ridiculously restrictive rules on trees round here, we even needed both estate management permission and separate planning permission to remove a small ornamental cherry tree (not under TPO) which was long-dead and had fallen over onto the neighbour’s shed. The estate management unit have been really clear that we can’t touch the trees or hedge in any way.

Wow, super strict!

Brunnera is another good shade loving ground cover (have a look at Jack of Diamonds, very sculptural)

Heuchera is usually pretty happy in shady spots too.

What’s your style - do you want a mass of one thing for a clean / contemporary look. Do you like a more eclectic cottage garden feel. Is fragrance or colour v important?

Going by the aggregate you put down, I’m guessing a carpet of low maintenance, evergreen planting is probably the goal?

You need woodland plants for shade really, because they're shaded by the canopy of the trees anyway in their natural habitats.

Still, they do get at least 6-8 hours of dappled sunlight, so your planning committee or whoever is in charge might be expecting miracles, especially given the hedges blocking out all the light.

I would look at which hardy geraniums you like as many thrive in the shade and spread well. Heucheras as someone said earlier do well in the shade on my garden and we are on a hill. A shout out for foxgloves, which will self seed beautifully and maybe some hellebores. And cyclamen, forget me nots and primroses dotted about too.

Ferns, Solomon’s seal, Brunnera and Japanese anemones all mingle nicely in my shady garden. But not much to see in winter. None of them seem hugely fussy and have survived this dry summer with only an occasional watering.

Yep, Dulwich Estate, notoriously unreasonable 🤷‍♀️

Ideally I would like something unstructured. The back garden has roses, dahlias, peonies, salvias, verbena, hellebores, crocosmias, California poppies, nemesias, jasmine and creeping thyme. But obviously not much of that will thrive in a north-facing shaded area!

We didn’t put the slate down, our predecessors did, but yep it is handy that it never looks untidy, even in winter. Evergreen would be good. The back garden definitely has an “off season” 🤣

So, I am now thinking ferns, more hellebores (which I love), try some hardy geraniums (which I also really like), foxgloves, maybe a fatsia or fuchsia, Japanese anemones (which I also really love).

What do people think to Vinca minor for ground cover? Or creeping phlox? Or wood anemone?

So is the garden not compliant with the rules at the moment? The slate needs to go?

The flip side to the strictness is that our conservation area is a little oasis, so can’t complain too much. It is why we bought around here, really pretty area with ridiculously big gardens for zone 2.

Yep. We want to put a bike shed in and replace our windows, and a condition of that approval being granted is that we “fix the scheme of management violations in the front garden”.

Dicentra? Alchemilla mollis?

Oh I love dicentra - will it do ok in dry soil?

I have crocosmias doing well in a shady spot, which you could plant in between more shrub like plants for some colour and interest.

Also love astilbe and bistorta, has anyone had any luck getting them to grow in dryish soil? RHS says “thrives by the side of a pond”, so it doesn’t sound like it!

Realistically I’m not going out front with a watering can to recreate a bog garden every day… but then I have a salvia in a tub out front and it has done surprisingly ok (it is out of the shadow of the hedge so does get some sun in the morning).

Astilbe’s do like very, very damp soil. Dicentra is a lovely idea. I think it should be ok. Before you plant the area, put a good thick layer of compost down to help the moisture levels.

Vinca can be useful ground cover but if you are going for a more eclectic mixed planting look, maybe avoid it. I find it spreads and really takes over. Hardy geraniums would be a far gentler way of introducing some blue tones to the scheme.

I can’t get astilbes to grow in dry soil. I also find some plants don’t grow in my garden even if the conditions are, in theory, ideal.
What is thriving in your neighbour’s gardens? That might be a good starting point for some ideas.

Just looking out the window and things that I don’t think have been posted so far:

Kirengeshoma palmata does well in shade - mine is just starting to flower
Choysia and Mahonia do well in dry shade - Mahonia Soft Caress is not as spiky as some. Both are evergreen as are Spotted Laurels and Photinia which might get too large but do well in my dry shade.
Fastigiate Yew
Oomphalodes Cherry Ingram is evergreen and blue flowers in early spring.
Tellima Grandiflora
London Pride I know it’s a Saxifrage but not sure which one
Hakonechloa
I have moderate success with Primula Miller’s Crimson in a fairly dry part (but not the driest) of the border
Don’t plant Galium Odorata - it’s a bit of a thug for me 🥴

Also there are a number of hostas which are fairly slug resistant (look at hostalists.org) but they won’t do terribly well in very dry conditions unless you help them out with watering.