Good plants for a shady area

[Gill Passman]

Hi All,

I'm a newbie here but have been lurking for a few weeks....I'm in the process of replanting part of my garden - it was ravaged by the dog over the winter and most of the the plants have been destroyed (along with the lawn). The dog has now been evicted from this part of the garden.

The problem that I have is that there are a lot of shaded areas and trees in the garden and I'm trying to come up with some ideas for planting other than Hostas...

I'm in the SE of England. The garden is West facing...

TIA Gill

[Doug Kanter]

Here's a nice one:

paste the long link back together:

mind the vendor - they're expensive. You should have no problem finding this plant in England. There's a white-flowered variety, too. The leaves really stand out in the shade. Nice plant, spreads at a moderate pace, but it's easy to control. I've got it in zone 5, upstate NY, and it laughs at snow & ice.

[higgledy]

This site has a list of shade perinnals

[Doug Kanter]

Also, the best book on earth for shade plants: The Complete Shade Gardener, by George Schenk. Be careful. The book makes so many plants sound interesting, you may need to take out a 2nd mortgage.

[Phisherman]

In my shade garden I have a mix of annuals and perennials. Ferns, pachysandra, lily of the valley, mondo grass, wandering Jew, inpatients, ivy, and several varieties of coleus. There are a few varieties of lawn grasses that will tolerate shade, but some dappled sun is needed for grass to grow well.

[Emery Davis]

[]

Hi Gill,

You really want uk.rec.gardening (urg). The faq page will probably tell you all you need to know, and for your climate too.

For shade:

main faq:

as usual the rhs is very helpful. The plant selector is at

will enable you to find what you need for very specific needs.

HTH

-E

[Gill Passman]

Thanks - I've had these before....certainly have a space were they would fit in....

[Gill Passman]

Thanks...quite a list there....I'll do some googling on some of them before my next trip to the nursery...I'm familiar with many of them but am always on the look out for something a bit more unusual....Astilbes don't seem to do very well in my garden but could well be worth another go....

Gill

[Gill Passman]

I've always considered Busy Lizzies to be full sun plants - how much success do you have with them in the shade compared to full sunlight? Sounds like an interesting idea for this summer

Grass and shade is an ongoing problem in the garden....but at least by evicting the dog it gets a small chance of recovering....

Gill

[Gill Passman]

Thanks....I did try uk.rec.gardening once but my post got lost in amongst thousands of troll messages - I never went back....is it quieter now?

The links are good - the RHS one I think will be of great value not just for this question but for the rest of the garden as it develops - Can't think why I didn't think of it as I've got a cousin who works at Wisley and if asked I'm sure would supply me some plants...

Gill

[Emery Davis]

[]

Quieter, but by no means troll-free. For reasons best explained by the British URG is massively attacked now and again. Still, it is a very knowledgeable source for our gulf stream influenced climes. Sometimes advice from this americanocentric :) group does not apply well to the UK or even northern Europe.

Indeed, RHS is always a great source. Also for finding plants using their "plant finder." I live in Normandy, but there are many species unavailable here that can be ordered from the UK.

-E

[Jenny]

The single impatiens (American for "busy lizzie") does beautifully in the shade, but the double ones that look like little roses need much more sun.

I've grown them profusely on a shaded north foundation in extremely poor soil and on a rock bank with almost no soil and only a bit of wood mulch where they actually reseeded themselves and came roaring back the next year.

I have quite a lot of shade in my garden and last year I planted "non-stop begonias" which were spectacular from May to frost. I dug them up and kept them in the basement after frost, and planted them in pots this spring and 4 out of 5 are growing beautifully. The flowers are huge, long-lasting and vibrantly colored. They are expensive but they are worth every penny.

--Jenny

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[William Wagner]

We let these guys ( double impatiens) live out side as long as possible then rip them ( Propagate) and start new ones over winter in house. Sometimes we lose a few sometimes we nurture a few.

Neglect in a large pot with my bamboo begonias seems to work well.

Bill

[Tom Randy]

Astilbe is real nice.

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

Yep, we have a few Astilbe and they are nice. Today we bought some Lamium ('Pink Pewter') and it looks like the foliage will really look nice in the shade.

Carl

[William Wagner]

I like to add caladiums to my hosta patch. I also treat them as a one time joy. "Christmas" which is white caught our interest in particular.

Bill

[Wendy Goldberg]

Winter blooms: Hellebore (Christmas Rose), camellia. Spring blooms: Lungwort (Pulmonaria), bleeding heart, Kerria japonica Summer blooms: Groundcovers: Lamium (including silvery "White Nancy"), blue-flowering Ajuga (green or bronze leaves), pachysandra. Perennials: Astilbe, hydrangea (likes dappled shade). Annuals: impatiens, begonia

Wendy Sequim, WA (Zone 8, similar to England)

[Jenny]

I've kept one double impatiens going for going on 3 years. I put it out in the garden in summer, dig it up in the fall, pot it up, and bring it into the house where I put it in an east-facing window. It was spectacular all winter long this year, filled with blooms. Just recently it caught a bad case of aphids from another plant and started dropping leaves and getting rangy, so I gave it a severe trimming, treated the remaining leaves with an alcohol spray and am expecting it to bounce back.

--Jenny

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[Gill Passman]

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions....I've started the plant shopping :-) Got lots of shaded areas to fill....

Gill