What to plant in shady garden?

Blixen

I was hoping I could get some help with my garden. Ive just cleared a large area of weeds and ivy and now want to plant something in this place. The problem is that it is in the shade for most of the day. Any suggestions would be very gratefully received! Thanks

magicbastarder

what sort of look do you like? shade plants usually lean towards lots of foliage, but that may not be your cup of tea.
ferns, hostas, etc. are usually the first thing which spring to mind.

blackharvester

hi Blixen, you can plant lots of plants in shady garden, you can check this garden center, they are selling plants which grow well in shade.

http://http://www.johnstowngardencentre.ie/shade-loving-plants/65cat.aspx

i hope you will find something for your garden

wildlandscape

Many plants thrive in shade and provide seasonal interest with leaf, flower and seed heads. If you have acid soil, the camellia has great shiny foliage and large flowers in spring.

Other plants that grow well are hydrangea quercifolia, helleborus, polygonatum (Soloman seal), candelabra primulas, ligularia and the hostas!

mise_me

Any recommendations for creepers in a shady garden? Need hardy creepers that don't require alot of attention. Thanks

pegleg peggy

The National Garden Exhibition Centre has over 20 show gardens and many of them are in partial, dappled, or even full shade. They're in Kilquade, Co. Wicklow just off the N11. The Gardenworld nursery there sells all the plants you'll see in the show gardens.

Entry to the show gardens is a fiver but its half proce on May 22 during their Open Day.

Their new website is under construction but I've been told it should go live today or tomorrow and it will contain directions and a map:
http://www.gardenworld.ie

There's a map to the Exhibition Centre at the site of one of their suppliers:

http://gardenfurnitureireland.com/furniture-store-direction-map.html

Phone number for NGEC is 01 281 9890. Good luck!

lalorm

You have to look at the soil type you have and also if it's any of the following...

Full shade... all day full shade no sun.
Partial shade... sun in the morning and or evening but not during the rest of the day.
dappled shade... gets a little sun through branches of the trees above etc.
Damp shade... The soil remains damp alot of the time either because of clay or beside a river etc.
Dry shade... dry soil most of the time. Can be dry if beside a wall or under a large tree which takes the moisture.

In general, most area's a a little of everything. The key it to take notes and look at the area during different times of the say to see what way the sun effects it.
my garden has a shady spot and I've used some woodland plants like hardy ferns, small tree ferns, hosta's, and for colour, try foxgloves.



Heuchera plants like some shade and give a splash of colour also.

For ground cover... be carefull. Some plants can take over your garden. I used a dead nettle last year and it looked great until it started to cover all the other plants, so they had to come out. If you use alot of the above plants, they will cover the ground with their leaves and it won't look bad at all.

Here's my shady spot taken a week ago. The tree ferns haven't opened up yet and the hosters need to fill out a little more over the next few weeks, but it's starting to bulk up now.

Sonnenblumen

^^^^Well done Lalorm, that's a fine looking garden which proves that there is always a practical and attractive plant for almost any garden position and site condition.