A shady east facing narrow border plant suggestions

[longtompot]

I have a border next to our conservatory which is very shaded and faces east. Does anyone have any suggestions of what to plant here? We need to be able to get a wheelbarrow past for logs etc
I just planted out some daffs and put the various things I have in pots in there for now as we still have some rendering to do on the wall.
Photo added which should appear soon

Ferns?

Ferns would be lovely @onelumporthree Forgot about those. They tend to die down for the winter don't they? Ideally I'd like something there all year round

We have a very shady bed, and I have filled it with loads of ferns, hellebores, cyclamen, brushes and primroses. It seems to work!

And the ferns I have stay leafy all year. Mainly varieties of Dryopteris.

Sarcococcus does well in shade, is evergreen and smells lovely. It might need a bit more hacking back than you’d like.

Hellebores and ferns for sure.

That sounds magical @noclingfilm I have some hellebores in pots which I could plant in there for now. I'll look up those ferns you mentioned

@minipie thats winter flowering box isn't it? I have some cuttings that have taken really nicely which I could put in there. I don't mind something that needs pruning, just rather no thorny things

Heucheras have many shade-tolerant varieties - most are evergreen, maintaining their colourful leaves throughout the year.

Do you mean the border on the left or on the right? If on the left, how much will you actually see it? I would be inclined to put something very low maintenance, like a shady lawn substitute or something that won't mind the occasional step on it and leave it at that. You can add a few bulbs to grow between it, but you wouldn't have to do a lot to it.

It looks like it might be quite uncomfortable to weed and maintain.

If you are talking about the one on the right that's a completely different story.

Brunnera, Hakonechloa, Asplenium

@CatherinedeBourgh its the one on the left. We will see it. Where I've planted the daffodils at the end we can see them inside. We won't need to step on the border, the path is just wide enough for the wheelbarrow.
The border on the right is a work on progress. I have a rowan that I want to plant in there, but need to replace the fence first

@AlwaysGardening those are lovely suggestions, and will definitely consider the brunnera. The Hakonechloa is also very nice, but the RHS website says the leaf colour won't be as good in the shade as it is in the sun. Might look for somewhere else to put one or two of those as it's really interesting

Then I'd keep it simple and fill it with heucheras in different colours. In my gardens they have always been bullet proof and they stay nice and low (but not too low).

I'd put them in blocks of 3+ so that it doesn't look too 'spotty' and so that the more vigorous varieties don't overwhelm the more delicate ones too much. And I'd have quite a few green ones (pluie de feu is nice) to balance out the colours.

Hardy geraniums, pulmonarias and foxgloves seem to grow anywhere.

I have an east facing shady bed albeit a bit wider than yours and these are plants the which are flourishing.

Foxgloves are a nice idea - you’d see the flowers from inside through the window, but hopefully not see the messy leaves!

I went to my nieces house today to dig up some plants from her new garden. She just wants to pave it but gave us first dibs at any plants we wanted, which was wonderful. It was a loved garden once a time, and now I have all the ferns I need for my border plus more, with some carex grasses I think, a tall one and a short one, and a load of peonies colour unknown, some Kerria Japonica, and some primroses. Lots of planting to do over the next few days

Gaultheria procumbens? Low, will cover the ground well, and has flowers in summer and berries in winter.

Not terribly easy to find in the UK (I know it from living in Canada), but JParkers had some.

Saving as a shopping list!

@Tigerbalmshark thats a lovely suggestion, thank you! I need to test my soil as it says it likes acidic soil, but if suitable I might put it at the top end, so if it gets run over we get the scent of the leaves