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Light shade or deep shade?

Jess91Jess91 Posts: 159
in Problem solving
Patio in front of house on North facing wall, receives no direct sunlight at all in the bit closest to the house, due to fence on one side and another house on the other. 

I always considered it deep shade, but reading this RHS link could it be light shade?

https://www.rhs.org.uk/garden-design/shade-gardening

There are no overhanging buildings and the light level is good, it's not dark or anything, but no actual direct sunlight.

If it's actually light shade then my search for a suitable evergreen pot plant just got a lot easier!


Slowly building a wildlife garden, in a new build in East Yorkshire.

Posts

  • Slow-wormSlow-worm Posts: 1,630
    Can you post a photo of the area? 
  • Jess91Jess91 Posts: 159


    This is an old photo now but shows the area. The seating area and pots in this picture are no longer there. There's no point having a seating area as it gets no sun.

    I now have a growing collection of hostas in pots instead. That'll be fine for spring and summer, but I need an evergreen something that can sit in a pot, to stop it looking bare in winter.

    As I say, it's not dark at all, but the fence to the left and a house on the right block out any direct sun. 
    Slowly building a wildlife garden, in a new build in East Yorkshire.
  • PlantmindedPlantminded Posts: 3,580
    edited March 2023
    Yes, that looks like light shade so there's no need to limit your plant choices to deep shade dwellers!  There are many plants which will tolerate those light levels quite happily.  I have Phormium growing in light shade, Fatsia japonica, Arbutus unedo, and the grass Anemanthele lessoniana, which are all evergreen.  I also grow the perennial Erigeron karvinskianus in light shade, it flowers from April to December.  All these plants can be grown in containers.
    Wirral. Sandy, free draining soil.


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