Shady Characters – The Beanery

When light is in low supply, gardening can become a challenge, but not an insurmountable one. Shady gardens can be beautiful, colourful and serene.

Dicentra Spectabilis Bleeding Heart glinting in part shade — Jewel-like Dicentra/Lamprocapnos Spectabilis Bleeding Heart glinting in part shade. These also come in white (‘Alba’) and red (‘Valentine’), albeit I find that the latter can turn very close to pink as the petals develop. Although they will tolerate full sun if kept moist, part shade is best to keep the flowers lasting longer in spring.

Dicentra/Lamprocapnos spectabilis Alba — Flowers beginning to develop on a young Dicentra/Lamprocapnos Spectabilis ‘Alba’.

Hosta flower rising out of the showy foliage. These will cope very happily with light to medium shade and like to be kept moist (think mulching on lighter soils), but not waterlogged. You can grow them in a container or directly in the ground, but be wary of slugs. No protection is too much protection for Hostas’ delicious (for slugs and snails in any case, please do not try and eat it yourself) foliage, which can be reduced to rather unsightly lace very early in the season if left unprotected.

And then there are the ferns, kings and queens of the shady spot (provided that the soil conditions are right; many of mine are still in pots – a legacy of having most things in pots when ready to move house!).

Dryopteris fern unfurling by the front gate (same as the one above, a different spring.)

After the ferns there is a perhaps surprising candidate for a shady border – a geranium, dusky cranesbill (for example, Geranium phaeum var. phaeum ‘Samobor’.) Delicate, chocolate-coloured or purple-black flowers rise above decorative, deeply-lobed green leaves with distinct, purple motiff around the centres. These will thrive in the trickiest of conditions, such as dry shade. Because of the abundance of mature trees in our garden, these geraniums come in handy to line paths amongst them.

For wonderful, uplifting scent in the winter, sweet box (Sarcococca confusa) is a winner. It holds an Award of Garden Merit from the RHS, and justifyably so. It is a compact, evergreen shrub with glossy, wavy leaves; slow-growing, but in winter covered in cremy-white, highly scented flowers. Tolerant of dry shade and general neglect – perfect!

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