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Please Recommend plant seeds for shady area.

ThelemanTheleman Posts: 54
in Plants
hi all

Moved some big plants close to privet hedges which caused holes in the hedges from front garden, and we have large area of bare ground.
Thinking of planting ground cover plants which could be germinated and established with seeds.
Also the area is shady, so shade tolerant, winter hardy and perrenial type shrubs or fowery plants would be great.
Any recommendations would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Posts

  • DampGardenManDampGardenMan Posts: 1,054
    Hard work getting shade loving ground cover to go from seed I would imagine! Initial thoughts would be epimediums and cyclamens, but how easy it is to get and grow seed for the former I don't know. I have grown cyclamen from seed, but it took five years to get the corms to a reasonable flowering size.

    For flowery plants see https://www.meadowmania.co.uk/wildflower-seed-for-shady-areas.htm

    Another idea would be to just buy seed for plants that are easy and spread well and chuck them in and see if they can handle the shade (and dryness?), e.g. nasturtiums and the poached-egg plant. But be aware these do spread like stink if they're happy - I speak from experience. Foxgloves might be a no-brainer too.

  • RubytooRubytoo Posts: 1,630
    How tall do you want them to be?
    Sorry you mentioned shrubs which I can't think of any easy ones from seed. I know there are small shrubby things that are little like alpine type plants.
     
    Primroses and violets do okay here, and grow from seeds. some are in partial shade others come up in the house shadow under trees.

    Do you want to grow seeds in particular it is very satisfying. But as some can cost a couple of pounds a packet sometimes buying some small starter plants in little pots can be as cost effective and spread, Little Ajugas are good low ground cover and I have a moss phlox that was small pot to start with. That grows a foot or so away from a shady shrub. So partial shade I guess.

    You may find seeds for these, Chilterns seeds  used to do a lot of more unusual seeds, I don't know if they still do.
    They do ajuga reptans.

    A dry shade plant that does cover some ground eventually is Chiastophyllum, stays all year with a succulent type leaf and has pretty yellow flowers in tall clusters early in the year.

  • ThelemanTheleman Posts: 54
    Thank you for your advice and info.  I want the shrubs not too tall. Because there is a row of privet hedge in the front garden, and before there were some plants there which grew tall, and blocking the Sun and air to the hedge. Due to that the hedge had a lot of holes, and in poor condition.

    I took out all the tall plants, and moved to the back garden. Now it is bare ground in the front garden, and the hedges getting good air flow and lights.

    But the bare ground looks a bit empty and well .... bare :)

    I was thinking of putting something in there, but rather than red chips or slabs, it would be better with ground covering shrubs? and hardy and spreading well to cover the soil.

    And I could go and get some seedlings, but it would be expensive to fill all the space, and more work digging and planting.

    I thought it would be cheap and fast to get some seeds, and just spray into the ground and cover with thin layer of top soil?
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    edited March 2019
    Vinca minor (lesser periwinkle) does well in shade and the low stems root where they touch the ground, so will it spread nicely.  Has blue/purple flowers, mainly at this time of the year.  You could perhaps mix with a few euonymus fortunei which have leaf colours like green & gold or green & silver.  Even if never pruned, those won't get bigger than about 1m x 1m and can easily be kept smaller with a simple spring prune.  Hardy cyclamen are also good for covering patches of bare soil in areas like this.  The cyclamen can be grown from seed but you'd need to buy the others as potted plants.

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    If it's very dry and very shady,  small-leaved variegated ivies might work (cheap plants to buy and grow fast), maybe mixed in with periwinkles to brighten things up after flowering finishes.  Come to think of it there's also a variegated vinca minor. With ivy you'd have to do a bit of maintenance to pull out what grows up into the hedge, because it will try to make a bid for freedom. Lots of people hate ivy, but it has it's place and dry shade where not much else will grow is it.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 7,093
    mix things like alchemilla mollis and aquilegia (easy from seed) with evergreens like ajuga and lamium and periwinkles for winter cover (better from cuttings but grow fast). Foxgloves grow pretty much anywhere and are also easy from seed.
    Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon

    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
  • RubytooRubytoo Posts: 1,630

    This is a white Vinca minor with yellow and green variegated foliage.
    Not hard to pull stray stems up. There are a lot of varieties to choose,  and as Jennyj said ivy can be a bit thuggish, the vincas try but are easier to pull out or bits off of if they stray.

    One small plant, you can place a little soil or stone or peg down the stems,  they do make roots quite quickly at leaf nodes where they touch the ground, so by the end of season into the next you could have smaller bits rooted to cut off if you wish and spread out.

    raisingirls alchemilla and other types from seed.
    https://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/search?q=alchemilla
    Ajuga
    https://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/search?q=Ajuga
    Lamiums
    https://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/search?q=lamium

    Other seed companies are available :D

  • ThelemanTheleman Posts: 54
    Great ideas of plants, thank you. We had some Foxgloves in the front garden, grew kinda tall one year, but it never came back after that.
  • SarahKateSarahKate Posts: 37
    Ajuga grows anywhere it seems - also bluebells if you want them. 
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