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When choosing any plant for your garden, it is vital that the right one goes in the right place. Otherwise, you will not get the best from it. Sun-loving plants need light intensity to instigate flowering, so sun-lovers put into a shady environment will either flower much less, have smaller flowers or not flower at all. The shoot growth on these plants will also be affected and will be weak and spindly as the shoot grows out looking for the light.
On the other hand, plants that require a shady spot will often shrivel if put into full sun. Generally, plants that are suited to a shady position will have larger and greener leaves as they try to capture whatever light there is in order to photosynthesise.
However, the light level is not the only consideration, as soil type also plays an enormous part in how successful your plants will be. There are plants that will happily grow in, or require, dry shade, but also some that need moisture retention. While some sun-loving plants require moist soil, most are happy with well-drained soil.
The pH of the soil should also be considered. This means whether your soil is acidic, alkaline or neutral. If you’re not sure, you can purchase a cheap soil test kit from your local garden centre. It is important to know, as acid-loving plants will not grow in alkaline soil, and vice versa.
Research is vital to make sure that you are buying the right plant for the spot you need it for. A nursery or garden centre website should provide you with all the information you need, as should the labelling on each plant. My advice would be that if you do not know if a plant is suitable and the label does not give you that information, absolutely do not risk it.
Plants suitable for a well-drained, sunny spot
• Cistus: A shrub that produces saucer-shaped flowers, generally during June and July, and is evergreen
• Cornus: This is a large family of different types, but the ones that produce coloured stems for essential winter colour are great. They all produce white flowers in spring, followed by small berries, with some also having variegated leaves, such as Cornus alba ‘Elegantissima,’ which give interest in the summer, too.
• Verbascum: A perennial usually with hairy, grey-green leaves and spikes of flowers in a range of colours during summer
• Achillea: An easy perennial that will grow in most soil types and produces heads of flowers ranging from white, cream and yellow to pink and red, depending on the variety you choose. They will flower in summer.
• Agapanthus: A South African perennial plant – some are evergreen and some are deciduous. The deciduous ones cope with our colder winters better. They produce rounded heads of trumpet-shaped flowers throughout summer and autumn in various colours.
• Salvia: Another large family with more shrubby types as well as perennials. Virtually all will flower throughout summer, with the perennial types having spikes of flowers. In contrast, the shrubby types can have spectacular bicoloured flowers, such as Salvia’s ‘Hot Lips’ with its white and red flowers.
Plants suitable for moist shade
• Hosta: A perennial primarily grown for its often spectacular leaves, although many produce a lovely summer flower spike, too. The grey-leaved varieties tend to be more slug and snail resistant.
• Rodgersia: Another leafy perennial plant that also produces a lovely summer flower. The fingered leaves of many varieties emerge very brown before maturing to different shades of green with dark tints.
• Primula: There are lots of different types from the humble wild primrose and cowslip to cultivated varieties and candelabra ones. The candelabra varieties, such as Primula japonica ‘Apple Blossom,’ have whorls of pinky-white flowers up sturdy stems.
• Astilbe: These perennials produce fluffy flower spikes during June and July, which can be white, cream, shades of pink or shades of red
• Viburnum: There are some varieties of this shrub that will grow in shade, such as Viburnum davidii or Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’, and others that will grow in semi-shaded situations. Viburnum davidii is evergreen and has white flowers in early summer, followed by metallic-blue berries if you have a male and a female plant in close proximity. Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’ is winter and spring flowering, producing the most beautifully-scented, pinky-white flowers.
Plants suitable for dry shade
This is one of the hardest positions to fill, but these plants should thrive:
• Dryopteris: And one particular variety called filix-mas, which is happy in very dry shade. It is deciduous, so will dy back in winter but its lovely green fronds reappear in spring.
• Heuchera: Most varieties, and particularly the prule-leaved types, seem to do very well in dry shade. Their evergreen leaves darken during the colder winter temperatures.
• Begenia: An almost indestructible evergreen perennial with large, oval green leaves, many of which darken to a deep purple in winter. In spring, they have either pink or white flowers.
• Elaeagnus: A lovely evergreen shrub that is primarily grown for its coloured leaf, often variegated but there are also some really good grey-leaved varieties. However, in late summer, it produces very indistinct creamy-white flowers amongst the leaves that have a moist, fabulous and strong fragrance.
• Geranium: There are innumerable varieties of this plant, with most being happy growing in sun or semi-shade, but the most vigorous varieties are the ones suitable for this position, as they have that vigour to keep going. Don’t worry about them taking over because in dry shade, the vigour they have keeps them going, but at a vastly reduced rate. Varieties such as geranium endressii or Geranium x oxonianum will do well.
Nick Hamilton
Nick received his commercial horticulture training at Writtle College. He completed his sandwich year placement at Darby Nursery Stock in Norfolk, where he later worked. Prior to his father, Geoff Hamilton, buying land next to Barnsdale in 1989, Nick worked at different nurseries. After Geoff passed away, Nick took over ownership of Barnsdale Gardens and transformed it into the motivational garden it is today.
