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If you want to jazz up a shady spot for a special event, add some plants in containers. All plants can tolerate a shady spot for a day or two.
Matthew Pottage is the curator of the RHS flagship garden, Wisley. He has a passion for shade-tolerant plants
Shady gardens can be just as beautiful and rewarding as any sunny space, and if given a choice, I would personally choose shade. Just stick with the old saying ‘right plant, right place’ – only choosing shade-lovers for a shady spot. You could create lush tapestries of foliage plants, punctuated with flowering bulbs in late winter and spring, and again in autumn.
What will grow in shade apart from weeds?
Many beautiful woodlanders love shade. They include foliage plants such as bergenias, brunneras, hostas, Solomon’s seal, ruscus, lily-of-the-valley, actaea, daphnes, aspidistras, euonymus and all manner of ferns. Choose a mixture of evergreen and deciduous plants. They’ll look best in groups of three, five or seven, rather than singly. Repeat the groups too if you have space.
QCan I have flowers in my shady garden?
Many bulbs are happy in shady spots. If your shade is cast by deciduous trees, that’s ideal, as late-winter and early-spring bulbs grow up and flower before most trees come into leaf. You could start with bright yellow winter aconites (Eranthis hyemalis), snowdrops (Galanthus) and a lovely white daffodil (such as Narcissus ‘Thalia’) to give a visual lift. Then add colchicums for autumn flower power. Both springand autumn-flowering cyclamen are great choices for shade too.
QWhy does everything I plant under my tree die? Perhaps the hardest part of gardening in shade is establishing plants under mature trees. The soil can be very dry and poor, so plants need a lot of help to settle in. Lay a seep hose (a special hose with holes) through the bed, coiled around the plants, to water easily and effectively. Then every winter add a thick layer of mulch (garden compost or well-rotted manure)
QPrioritise and save time
Water new plantings and containers by soaking, not just splashing them. Hoe weeds when it’s sunny and pull them when it’s rainy. Concentrate on deadheading and harvesting too.
Improve a windy plot
Plan to plant some tough shrubs in autumn, on the side the wind comes from. But for now, you can make a wind break with woven fabric and sturdy posts. Include a few gaps so that a little wind can pass through, rather than blowing the windbreak down.
Make compost faster
Turn compost heaps frequently to mix all the ingredients.
With a compost bin, tip it onto a tarpaulin, mix with a fork then put it back in the bin. Neaten the lawn Keep up mowing, but set the blades high this month. Then make the edges neat using longhandled edging shears. Conquer weeds Cut the flowers off all weeds before they can shed seeds, then pull or dig out any with big roots. Hoe weeds with little roots – push the hoe over the soil to cut off their tops. to seal in the moisture before spring. Also consider removing some of the tree’s lower (but not the top) branches to reduce the depth of shade.
What can I do about the slugs and snails that eat my shade-tolerant plants? Slugs and snails love hostas, so if you have a lot of these pests then growing these classic shade-loving plants can be tricky. I suggest you choose varieties with stiff, silveryblue leaves (which are their least favourite), such as ‘Halcyon’ or ‘Hadspen Blue’. Slugs rarely cause problems for tough plants such as bergenias, which are good alternatives to hostas, with large glossy leaves and showy spring flowers. I recommend ‘Bach’ and ‘Beethoven’. I find beer traps very effective in shady areas too.
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