Shady ladies
Brighten up your sun-starved spaces with these evergreen beauties
areas can be tricky. It’s not just the lack of light, often the soil is very dry as well, for example where shade is cast by trees.
In built-up areas, neighbouring buildings can overshadow parts or even all of our gardens. Basement flat gardens can often be quite shady, depending on which way they are facing, and many balcony gardens will have an overhead canopy.
So it’s quite a common situation but there are a number of evergreen shrubs which do pretty well even in these circumstances. At this time of the year we are more appreciative of evergreen plants and the continuous foliage they give whatever the weather throws at them.
Sarcococca (sweet box) is one such, with the most deliciously scented flowers for a few months mid-winter.
It’s slow growing with small, elliptical, glossy leaves and is generally trouble free.
The little white flowers are followed by black berries that often remain until the following year. Look out for ‘Winter Gem’, which is a recent introduction and has a more compact bushy shape and larger leaves – this would be ideal in a pot for a shady courtyard garden.
Aucuba japonica is the spotted laurel and has an ability to thrive in the most unpromising soil. You’ll be familiar with this shrub as it is widely planted in municipal settings, the large leaves splashed with bright yellow variegation. It can tolerate pollution, deep, dry shade and salt-laden winds.
If you dislike variegation, there is a variety called ‘Rozannie’, which has plain green shiny leaves, the top edge of which are somewhat toothed. This shrub is ideal for hedging.
When the soil is bone dry, gardeners can choose Ruscus aculeatus. Known as butcher’s broom, it’s native to Britain and is found growing in dry woodlands.
The upright stiff foliage was once used for cleaning butcher’s blocks, hence the common name.
It is multi-stemmed and will only grow to around a metre in height. Female varieties will bear plump, red, attractive berries later in the year. It’s a curious-looking plant – what you think are leaves are actually flattened stems capable of photosynthesis!
Ferns suit shaded areas but you do need to be careful to choose dry, tolerant varieties when there isn’t a lot of moisture available to them.
Our native polypody fern naturally grows on rocks and cliff faces so you could grow it on a shaded wall by tucking it into a crevice with a bit of soil. It will also perSHADY form well as an evergreen groundcover underneath trees.
The soft shield fern, Polystichum, is another native fern that can handle periods of drought and has lovely lacy fronds.
Pachysandra terminalis or Japanese spurge is a member of the box family and shares its excellent characteristics – glossy dark evergreen foliage and a neat elegance. It is a good groundcover that will carpet most soils but it doesn’t like to dry out completely.
You can plant it in partial or complete shade and in spring there are tiny white flowers.
Even though these plants are very robust and resilient, it’s still a good idea to improve water retention in dry soil where possible by digging in compost and manure before planting.
Water in well after planting to help newbies find their way. Annual mulches are also good soil improvers and help keep moisture in the ground.