Q Which colourful evergreens suit a small shady garden?
Nick & Kym, by email
A MATT SAYS Variegated evergreens will provide year-round leaf colour and structure, and you can add ground cover and bulbs beneath. The compact shrub Skimmia japonica ‘Perosa’ has green leaves with cream margins and produces bright-red buds and cream flowers in winter. The foliage of Aucuba japonica ‘Picturata’ has a bold central splash of yellow and yellow-blotched edges. Mahonia x media ‘Charity’ provides yearround architectural form, plus fragrant, bright-yellow winter flowers opening from the central rosettes of stiff spiny leaves.
If your soil pH is acidic, then try compact Rhododendron yakushimanum ‘Koichiro Wada’. Its new leaves are silvery white, turning deep green with brown undersides. Its pink flower buds open into white blossom-like clusters in May. If your soil is unsuitable, grow it in a container.
Gaultheria procumbens is an attractive evergreen groundcover shrub with small white bell flowers in spring. Its dark green leaves (which smell of wintergreen when crushed) are tinted red in autumn, complementing its red berries. It likes acidic conditions, so add some organic matter if necessary.
A CHRISTINE SAYS The following selection of shrubs like a range of shady conditions, but do check they’ll suit your soil before buying. Many camellias do well in shade and there are lots to choose from,
with single or double flowers in shades of pink, white or red. Desfontainia spinosa looks similar to holly, with small, prickly, glossy leaves. But it
produces red tubular flowers with a yellow mouth from July right through until October.
Daphnes are renowned for their highly scented pink or white flowers. Some varieties bloom as early as February, while others flower from early spring through to summer.
Garrya elliptica is covered in long tassel-like grey-green flowers throughout the winter months.
It is often grown against a wall, but looks great as a free-standing shrub too.