Shade gardening – how to choose perfect shady garden plants

01.03.2024 - 01:43 / themiddlesizedgarden.co.uk

Before you plant anything in a shady garden, you need to know what kind of shade you have.

Plant expert Stephen Ryan is one half of The Horti-Culturalists YouTube channel, with Matthew Lucas. He also has a nursery called Dicksonia Rare Plants. He says that people often come in asking for plants that will do well in shade.

‘And when you question them, you realise they have no idea what sort of shade they’re working with,’ he says.

(The Horti-Culturalists produce weekly videos showcasing individual plants and gardens, and you can find their video 8 Plants That Flower In Shade here)

What kind of shade do you have?

Not all shade is the same. Indeed, sometimes shade isn’t even as shady as you think.

So it’s important to think about what kind of shade you want to plant up.

‘Look at where the light falls and when,’ advises Stephen. For example, don’t assume that planting under a tree will always be in shade because if the tree is in a sunny spot, then sunlight will often fall under the canopy of the tree.’

You can have dense shade – where there is hardly any sunlight or less than 3 hours of sun a day.  That may be in the shadow of tall buildings or underneath evergreen trees.

Or you may have partial shade, which is 3-6 hours of direct sunlight a day. There’s also dappled shade, where a light tree canopy allows a certain amount of light through.

And finally, you have seasonal shade. This is when deciduous trees shade a border in summer, but in winter they lose their leaves. That’s why many spring bulbs do so well planted near deciduous trees – they get the sunlight they need while the leaves are off the trees ( See where to plant spring bulbs here.)

Do you have morning or afternoon shade?

What time of day is your shade? A border which has