Our Marden garden has various areas of shade. The whole garden faces generally North East and is on two main levels, down steps from the sunny patio to the larger part of the garden which is bounded by quite tall, mainly native hedgerow trees and shrubs. It then slopes very gently away towards our riverbank. Being lower down it has always seemed reasonably sheltered by its one boundary wall nearest the house, and the trees and shrubs along the two sides. We also like to encourage wildlife to the garden, so most areas are a mix of cultivated and native wild plants.
We’ve been here 14 years but it’s really only since the first lockdown that we’ve begun to get to grips with which plants have half a chance of surviving in the different areas. I used to waste more money than I want to admit to by buying plants I loved the look of, then placed where I thought they might look good, not realising that I was not remotely taking their light-level or any other preferences into account. I’ve also discovered that there are different types of shade. Unexpectedly, fairly near the river we have an area of dryish shade. That’s under the cover of our very mature weeping willow and has some of its roots going through it, but it’s a dryer area mainly because the neighbours have a couple of tall conifers which do tend to take everything out of the soil beneath them including any moisture.
It’s the larger, lower part of the garden where we have to consider the shade tolerance of the plants we choose. Although most areas get varying amounts of sun throughout the day we do have one small corner which never gets any sun shining onto it and is very clay-ey. We think there must be an underground spring there too as it Never dries out completely. During this year’s (2022) drought I thought I could catch a chance to work in that area without getting clods of mud attached to my shoes – I was wrong!
During the first lockdown, when the sun made it easy to see the shadowed areas I began to note how much sun and shade different areas of the garden got at different times of the day. I found that the large area under the spread of our huge weeping willow actually gets quite a lot of sun over winter and up to late spring since then the tree is either bare or only in leaf bud. That same sun dapples as the tree gradually leafs up. All that sun helps things develop and grow, especially the early flowerers. It seems to give the other plants a good start before the tree eventually reaches full leaf and casts its shade, which even then is surprisingly not total.
It’s the side of the garden that faces North-West that is most affected by shade. I’ll concentrate on the plants that grow well in the areas of shade on that side. On occasion I’ll also mention specific things that haven’t worked out even though they were planted where we expected them to thrive.
Wild area
The main wild area
is under the weeping willow. There used
to be lawn under the tree, but one year field voles burrowed extensively underneath. Trying to repair didn’t work so we decided to
try letting it go wild. Then I discovered that firstly a wild area needs some help
and a bit of control from certain things, and secondly because it’s a shady
area I needed to look for wild plants that will tolerate that.
One plant that found its own way under here, probably courtesy of the birds, is wild strawberry, luckily the flavoursome variety Fragaria vesca. There are other kinds that are barren or not good eating. It has now covered half the area under the willow tree and makes a lovely “sweetie” treat for the grandchildren to pick and eat.
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| Camassia blue |
Things that haven’t worked in that area are wild anemones – Anemone nemorosa. I saw them carpeted in a woodland in the South of the county amongst bluebells – stars in a sky, gorgeous. Not for me though. Also use of bee-bombs didn’t work, perhaps they only really work in sunny sites.
This particular area of the garden has provided a place to stop for a while for at least one slowworm – my friend found its sloughed skin in there. The occasional newt has been found there too. And most recently we have had roe deer sheltering from the sun under there from time to time. In summer we spotted a family of tree-creepers, parents showing fledglings how to creep trees around the trunk of the weeping willow.
Shady Border
This bed is shaded
from one side by the weeping willow, and from the other side by the neighbour’s
boundary trees and shrubs. It faces North-West,
so when the willow is bare and only just in bud it does get some dappled winter
and spring sun from the West while it’s high enough. It starts at the river’s edge with some Fritillaria meleagris, snakeshead
fritillaries; and meadowsweet, Filipendula
ulmaria, the flowers of which have a rather almondy scent.
The next section was once a rockery that really didn’t work well there for us.
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| Hart’s-tongue fern (Asplenium scolopendrium) |
I’m gradually increasing the number and variety of hellebores in the bigger main part of this border as they seem to do very well here, and their blooms give such a lift that we can see as we open our curtains on wintry mornings in the early part of the year. It was here that I discovered that Astrantia do well in shade. This area has lots of primroses – Primula vulgaris and violets, various types of Viola that have always been there and continue to spread themselves, sometimes with a little help. There’s Pulmonaria officinalis - lungwort that we reduced considerably and is just beginning to spread a little again. Their pale spots give a lift in the shade. There are a few more martagon lilies here, and I’ve added some new Cyclamen hederifolium in the hope they’ll spread a little too. Also 3 different Tiarella which are all OK after a few years, but one does noticeably better than the other two – labels lost though. There is another cranesbill – Geranium phaeum “Samobor” which has small dark flowers on quite tall stems. Another Sainsbury’s bargain a couple of Dicentra spectabilis – roots came in a little box. We have a new-ish golden leaved Caryopteris – it grows well, but it hasn’t flowered so I may need to move it. We also put various Aquilegias in here which seem to like it and I’m just allowing them to seed around in hope they’ll increase a bit. New things planted are two Epimediums - barrenwort, a white one and one with red edged flowers. I’d still like one called Amber Queen. They went in just after their usual flowering period and are doing well considering the amount of dry weather we were still having after planting. Looking forward to those for next year. We’ve also added a few Erythroniums, dog’s tooth violets – another violet name but not actually a violet and not even violet coloured, I have white and yellow. Their flowers look a little like small lilies to me. We’re also trying some Fritillaria imperialis too, RHS says full sun for them, but I have seen other information that hints that they can take some shade and actually saw them in a shady area in a Yorkshire garden we visited. Their bulbs don’t ‘alf pen-and-ink though! Sorry cockney roots coming out.
Things that didn’t like this area even though information said they should were Primula japonica “Miller’s crimson” (millers in my ancestry) and Gaura - beeblossom.
Between this and the next area is the compost bin where we regularly find a toad, usually on top of the compost when we lift the lid of the bin, or sometimes in there we’ll find a little wood-mouse enjoying my peelings. They don’t disappear so fast as they used to when we lift the lid. They must have got the idea that I might be bringing another little treat.
Eeyore’s Gloomy Place
Now we come to the
bed that gets the least sun. It’s a North
facing corner that mostly gets no sun at all.
There’s a wall behind it, so the morning sun from the East is totally
blocked by that. At least the sun behind
the wall warms the wall a little and provides some shelter from the cold. Only in the very height of summer does the
end furthest from the house get the briefest spell of afternoon sun. As I mentioned before this bed is permanently
damp with the end nearest the house tucked in a corner of the walls never
drying out even during this year’s drought.
So anything stipulating well-drained soil is out.
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| Primula capitata subsp. mooreana |
In the glimmer of summer sun end we have Leucanthemum superbum (what a name, can’t help reading it wrong!), shasta daisy. Last year some Chionodoxa happily popped up there out of nowhere, so we added some more to keep them company. I’m trying a Primula capitata mooreana there, a blue flowered variety. It’s still flowering now, though it should flower March to May, strange year. It seems to have made more baby rosettes, so hopefully those will flower next year. There’s a baby rose plant, a cutting from one of next door’s that always grows up and over a 6’ fence. I’ve given it an obelisk to grow up and figure once it grows up high enough it will find more sun for itself. It will be red, I have no idea of the variety. We recently added two new Astrantias – “Rome” and “Florence”. Another cutting from next door, a Pyracantha to begin to help clothe the lower part of the wall. And one more cutting from next door, a Forsythia which I took some years ago. RHS says it flowers poorly in shade and in permanently damp soil, we haven’t found that, it’s usually smothered. Under that is a Dicentra formosana, a smaller, smoother deep magenta flowered version which seems pretty reliable with a good flowering season.
Moving to the very dark, dank corner Vinca minor atropurpurea, a small purple periwinkle is beginning to spread at the back of this area. Fairly central we have a small Araucaria araucana, monkey puzzle tree which will grow up in this area. The neighbour took down some conifers which reduced privacy on that side, but gave more light to our garden. We went for the monkey puzzle to eventually detract a little from the empty space in that corner, but not take away too much light again because of its open form. In front of that we have a curved row of little box plants – Buxus sempervirens, which we want to keep small as an edging here. They appreciate the full shade of this area. Behind the box plants and left and right of the monkey puzzle are two Brunneras, one is dark green leaved and the other has silvery leaves. Also behind the little box plants and under the monkey puzzle more cowslips are really going for it now, a bird must have planted the original one of those a few years ago too, it does seem that they are expert gardeners. Right in the back corner of this area is an unnamed fern that has always grown here, I think it might be from the Dryopteris family. Centre back are more Pulmonaria, they can rather take over, so we remove some leaving the ones with the best pale spots on them to show up in the darkest corner. Here we tried a few Leucojum, snowflakes, rather like very tall snowdrops. They did very well so we added more, and some of the first have started making small clumps to increase themselves. The wall here is clothed in ivy. We keep part of it flat-ish to the wall, not too strict, and leave an area with all its winter flowers and berries for any insects and birds that need food or shelter in the harsh season. Also in the darkest wettest corner we have a new Clematis “Elizabeth”, a gift for my summer birthday this year, which is absolutely romping away up the ivy wall, it will definitely get itself some sun up the top there. Looking forward to seeing that flower next year. As we begin to move out of that area towards the next glimmer of sun there is a clump of Aster Divaricatus “Beth Chatto”, white wood aster. It’s quite happy in the shade, but we had tried it in the more well drained shady area which it was supposed to like, however it was failing there and it’s much happier and flourishing in the edges of the area that doesn’t ever dry out.
- Lizzie Baker
Books that regularly help me
The Royal Horticultural Society What Plant Where Encyclopedia. Dorling Kindersley; 2013.
Chatto, Beth, The Shade Garden – Shade loving plants for year round interest. Cassell Illustrated, 2005.
Rose, Francis. The Wild Flower Key – How to identify wild flowers trees and shrubs in Britain and Ireland, revised and updated by Clare O’Reilly. Frederick Warne, 2006.
Fletcher, Neil. Pocket Nature Wildflowers. Dorling Kindersley, 2010.
