How do I plant up a spot that’s in both sun and shade?
A Wright, by email
AMATT SAYS Improve the soil with well-rotted organic matter, so it does not dry out completely, then plant spring-flowering bulbs, which go dormant through summer. Try dainty multi-headed daffodil Narcissus ‘Lemon Drops’ or deliciously fragrant ‘Avalanche’, which produces up to 15 flowers per stem, wood anemones, especially clear lavender-flowered Anemone nemorosa ‘Robinsoniana’ or lemon Anemone x lipsiensis. Try trilliums, including gorgeous red-flowered Trillium erectum, or corydalis – blue-flowered
Corydalis flexuosa is a beauty. Some ferns also tolerate these contrasting conditions, including forms of our native evergreen
Asplenium scolopendrium, such as Crispum Group, whose wavy margins become more pronounced with age, and ever popular Dryopteris erythrosora, boasting brick-red spring growth. The more sun-loving hostas, notably fragrant, white-flowered species Hosta plantaginea, grey-leaved H. sieboldii and
H. ‘Sum and Substance’ will also flourish in this situation.
ABOB SAYS You tell us that your house blocks direct sunlight much of the year, but there will still be indirect light from the sky, so it is not as bad as you imagine. Far worse is the shade under dense trees or evergreens. Even so, your shade would be a problem for sun-worshippers, like silver-foliaged Mediterranean and marginally hardy plants, which will find such a spot difficult during cold, wet winters. Heavy shade can also make many plants start into growth a tad late.
However, after the frosts end you could plant out most tender bedding as the sun will then be fully available right throughout most of its flowering period. Do avoid variegated, coloured and particularly yellow-leaved plants as these may often scorch, and especially so in the conditions you describe.