TOP PLANTS FOR AWKWARD CORNERS

INTERESTING PLANTS FOR SHADE

Fatsia japonica, Skimmia x confusa ‘Kew Green’, hydrangeas ‘Limelight’ and ‘Bluebird’, Berberis dictophylla var albicaulis, Begonia evansiana, Paris polyphylla, euphorbia characias subsp wulfenii ‘Jimmy Platt’.

USEFUL FERNS FOR DRIEST SHADE

All the polypodies are good in winter as they make new leaves in the autumn. Polypodium x mantoniae ‘Cornubiense’ was a Christopher Lloyd favourite, but Polypodium cambricum ‘Cambricum’ is lovely, too. Polystichum setiferum ‘Pulcherrimum Bevis’ is, I think, the most glamorous of the easy-to-please evergreen ferns.

SUMMER-DORMANT PLANTS FOR GAPS AND EDGES

Lamprocapnos (formerly Dicentra) spectabilis (bleeding heart) flowers in spring and dies down in summer. The new form, ‘Valentine’, has darker flowers than usual. Ferula communis will disappear and reemerge in the autumn.

RELIABLE BULBS FOR SEALED UNITS

Galanthus (snowdrops), Tulipa batalinii, Iris reticulata, Cyclamen hederifolium, Anemone blanda, Anemone nemorosa, and yes, even Hyacinthoides hispanica (Spanish bluebells) – but deadhead them before they seed and watch their leaves don’t suffocate later plants.

ADVENTURERS

Oenethera (evening primrose), Lunaria annua (honesty), aquilegia, primroses of many hues, Geranium pyrenaicum ‘Bill Wallis’ – all can seed freely.