I have a lot of shade in my garden, mostly because I can't stop planting small trees and shrubs, which cast shade over everything on the ground. Because this can look a bit dark, I tend to go for light coloured flowers and foliage to lift it. This may not exactly be bright, but white flowers look great next to dark areas. At the moment real favourites are Brunnera 'Betty Bowring' and Pulmonaria 'Sissinghurst White'. They're tough plants, and dogs and slugs are not usually interested in them. Try these plants for shade as well.
I'd also recommend heucheras for year-round colour. As Viola111 says, they now come in an amazing range of leaf colours, love shade are trouble-free and evergreen.
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
I would like to recommend 'Skimmia Japonica'. Leathery green leaves and red berries in winter, followed by tiny bunches of white flowers in spring. Also get a female or hermaphrodite 'Skimmia'. (eg Reevesviana)
Consider getting some colour from foliage as well as flower - euonymous fortunei are tough, easily available and give a patch of yellow or white in shady spots. Other than whats already been mentioned, I've found hellebores, hemerocallis (day lilies) and astilbe flower well in shade. Pleioblastus is one of the few tall elegant grasses that doesn't mind it - carex are good too if you want something smaller and more tussocky. Heucheras are essential for me - particularly the lime green or silvery ones for shade. Hardy geraniums are excellent - if you've got several clumps you can cut back every other one before they flower and they'll happily grow back, but will flower after the ones you left alone have finished, giving you colour for longer. There are gazillions, in white, pinks, deep burgundy and purples. Allium bulbs also do fine in shade in my experience so long as the soil isn't boggy. Overall, my advice is not to forget to vary your foliage colour and texture to stop it all being flat green and you'll get away with the fact that you'll have less flower colour than in a sunnier spot.
My garden is surrounded by very high walls, tall buildings and mature trees. It only sees the sun in the middle of the day in the middle of summer yet I find pelargoniums do reallly well, even where the sun don't shine! Last winter one even overwintered in a pot against a northfacing wall and has flowered its head off all summer. Try them and prepare to be amazed.
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Hello one girl and her dog(s),
I have a lot of shade in my garden, mostly because I can't stop planting small trees and shrubs, which cast shade over everything on the ground. Because this can look a bit dark, I tend to go for light coloured flowers and foliage to lift it. This may not exactly be bright, but white flowers look great next to dark areas. At the moment real favourites are Brunnera 'Betty Bowring' and Pulmonaria 'Sissinghurst White'. They're tough plants, and dogs and slugs are not usually interested in them. Try these plants for shade as well.
Emma
gardenersworld.com team
I'd also recommend heucheras for year-round colour. As Viola111 says, they now come in an amazing range of leaf colours, love shade are trouble-free and evergreen.
hi these do well with littel or no sun columbines, periwinkle, fog glove and hyssop
I would like to recommend 'Skimmia Japonica'. Leathery green leaves and red berries in winter, followed by tiny bunches of white flowers in spring. Also get a female or hermaphrodite 'Skimmia'. (eg Reevesviana)
Consider getting some colour from foliage as well as flower - euonymous fortunei are tough, easily available and give a patch of yellow or white in shady spots. Other than whats already been mentioned, I've found hellebores, hemerocallis (day lilies) and astilbe flower well in shade. Pleioblastus is one of the few tall elegant grasses that doesn't mind it - carex are good too if you want something smaller and more tussocky. Heucheras are essential for me - particularly the lime green or silvery ones for shade. Hardy geraniums are excellent - if you've got several clumps you can cut back every other one before they flower and they'll happily grow back, but will flower after the ones you left alone have finished, giving you colour for longer. There are gazillions, in white, pinks, deep burgundy and purples. Allium bulbs also do fine in shade in my experience so long as the soil isn't boggy. Overall, my advice is not to forget to vary your foliage colour and texture to stop it all being flat green and you'll get away with the fact that you'll have less flower colour than in a sunnier spot.
My garden is surrounded by very high walls, tall buildings and mature trees. It only sees the sun in the middle of the day in the middle of summer yet I find pelargoniums do reallly well, even where the sun don't shine! Last winter one even overwintered in a pot against a northfacing wall and has flowered its head off all summer. Try them and prepare to be amazed.