shade

Best readers,

My garden stands in the Netherlands, I love the way you all communicate on this forum. My neighbour has a 10 meters brick wall and he want it to stays like this. I have a lot of shade (only 2 hours of sun in the morning) and it's very damped. I don't know what to put in on this side of the garden. Who wants to think about it for me?

thanx,

Herbert

I would go for a stumpery with ferns.

Alternatively, you could try a mixture of shrubs, such as mahonia and pyracantha, with woodland flowers such as foxgloves and Welsh poppies.

Hi Kate 1123, not heared of a stumpery before.  I'm also interested in all shade plants as need to plant a north facing bed which is under the umbrella of a huge yew tree.   Bottom of umbrella is about 5ft from ground.   At the back is a tall wooden fence.  I'm not too bothered about colour in winter but would like some colour in summer if possible.   Have just planted some aquilegia and foxgoves so 'fingers crossed' they do something.  Have plans to plant shuttlecock fern and the perennial 'painters palette' which likes damp shade but I hope there's not too much shade .for it to cope with..  The area is 4ft deep by 12ft in length.  Maybe I have given some ideas to - 'from holland' who probably has a better plot to garden with then the one I mention.

Hello Herbert.  I garden in central Belgium and have a damp bed shaded by the house wall on its north side.  This bed gets sun before 9am and after 3 pm when the sun is up high from April to mid September.   It gets very cold in winter and is exposed to strong winds.

Plants thriving in there are some hardy ferns, Japanese anemones, chelone, hostas, astilbe, tall primulas, drumstick primulas, astilboides, a small bronze conifer, aquilegias, fritillaria meleagris, hakonechloa aurea, lily of the valley and pulmonaria.

Very many thanks obelixx for so many plants.  I have made a list and will check them out as some I have never heard of.  What I envisaged as a real problem in a garden I have been asked to look after,  has now left me feeling quite motivated and anxious to get started on.  Well done Herbert for your original posting.  I had delayed asking for advice as expected a very negative response.  

Have just been looking thro' other blogs and there are some more plant ideas from a thread started by petryn 2012 at 11.11am on 29.9.12

Hi - my response to the similar shade post copied here for you:  If you are looking for shrubs, then Skimmia are small shrubs (they grow to approx 2 - 3 foot) which love the shade and have the benefit of very late flowers and bright red berries (you only get berries if you have both a male and female plant to cross-pollinate, but all will flower happily) which provides interest late into the season.  A larger shrub (but slow growing so be prepared) is Sarcococca Confusa (also known as Christmas Box, although the leaves are a lot bigger than traditional box) which will grow in total shade and dry soil.  It flowers in the winters and has goreous-smelling white flowers.  Hope that helps.

thanks Lunarz, I do like those small skimmia so will add them to my list

It looks beautiful Penninepetal

Hi - a couple of other lovely little plants I have grown in total shade and which have flowered all year since May and are still flowering now:

Corydalis - I have Kingfisher Blue and China Blue but there are other varieties.  They are about 20cms round and have 30cm flower spikes with many long, tube shaped sky blue flowers.  I believe that these are best planted at this time of year although I planted mine in Spring.  I think that there are also larger shurb sized varieties with yellow flowers.

Tiarella - I have Brushes but there are loads of other varieties.  They are about 20-30cms round with lovely spikes of flowers with multiple tiny flowers in a cone shape.  Mine are light pink, but I believe that they come in every shade from white to dark pink.  Again, plant now or in Spring.

Hope that helps.

Thanks Lunarz, they look rather good and I have added them to my list.