Hi! I'm new and keen to learn! Shady area help

Hi all,

I'm completely new to gardening but I'm really enjoying myself so far! I'm just after some friendly help and advice.

I only have a small garden, I live in a forecourted terraced house in Yorkshire and it's mostly grim up north. My front garden is just off South facing and (obviously) the back is just off North but still gets plenty of sun during the height of the day. I only have pots and planters, nothing in the ground as the ground here is hard clay.

I've attached some photos of the garden, how it was before I started and how it's looking now. I'm growing honeysuckles and jasmine up the trellises at the back in the sunny area, and some other sun loving plants, my problem area is the dark area down the side of the house that doesn't get any sun. The area is now cleared of all the crap in the photo and I need ideas of what I can grow there that will do well I've got an Astilbe (i think) which is doing well, but is there anything colourful I could grow there?

I appreciate any help!

 

Hello and welcome

Shade loving colourful plants eh? I'm not the expert in that area (or any other really ), but rhoddendrons are nice in late spring, and natural grow under the shade of larger trees so should be ok. Maybe some acers? There's ferns and hostas but I think they're really just shades of green.

When I was tiny, I remember my nanna grew a massive red currant bush in the back yard, which doesn't get much sun. It was one of two significant plants out there (the other was a hydrangea), both of which grew without any soil at all, in the 'ash mountain'.

 

Not an awful lot of room, so if you're going for Rhodos you could try some dwarf ones.

Out of all the dwarf varieties I've got, the best of the bunch are:

Baden Baden



Patty Bee



Molly Ann



An Acer would look good in the area under the window. Orange Dream is a nice bright lime green in the summer so would brighten the area up.



In Autumn it goes the most stunning orange colour



You could also try a smaller one down the side, such as Little Princess

 

What about some busy lizzie's for some instant colour? Bedding begonias are ok in shade, too. Foxglove for a bit of height. Bleeding heart and it varieties likes shade. Tiarella and houttuynia. And don't forget that hostas flower too. Primroses. Maybe monkey flower for some yellow, provided you don't mind pulling out the many seedlings.

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Aarrgggh
How could I forget fuchsias. I have a friend who had a tiny back yard that she converted to a mass of colour using lots of fuschias.

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wandering got me thinking there with woodland/woodland edge plants (Foxglove and primroses were mentioned, which grow happily in such conditions). Some of the Campions are brilliant, and Honesty is another good one. I like Honesty for its striking flowers followed by its unusual tracing paper seed pods.

 

The first thing I would do I think is give that cream coloured wall a fresh coat of paint in either a white or a pale cream which would brighten it up and give the illusion of more light as you need all the light you can get.

I have a garden with a northern aspect and have found that viola tricolour "Heartsease" does ok in shade as does viola labradorica. They both self seed and I have them growing in pots. Another plant that does well for me in shade is lamium maculatum and the bees love it!

 

I've been reading up on the use of mirrors and reflective things to 'enlarge' and brighten a small garden.

I found a few shops selling mirrored acrylic sheets, some cut them for you to custom size. The idea is you put them behind a trellis or something and get a climber to grow in front of it, so that its not obvious its just a mirror, so that it tricks the eye into thinking its more space, and also reflects light back in.

Personally, as I'm a bit tight, I had a cheaper idea which I intend to try in a shady part of my garden. I'm going to glue an arrangement of old CDs onto the fence. When the sun shines on CDs, a rainbow is sometimes reflected. It could work.

 

Gosh, you've really smartened it up, well done!

Great idea re painting in a light colour, doesn't have to be cream or white, you could try light yellow or pink, green foliage would look great against any of these. In a darkish spot, most of the things that thrive are likely to be green foliage plants but they are stunning in their own way. You could add seasonal colour by some of the things that people have already suggested, also by attaching planters high up on the walls so they catch the available light. I realise this Spanish picture might look naff if copied in the UK but it gives the general idea about planters.

 

I also really like the idea of gravelling the back area, if the soil is difficult it is a much better solution than a lawn and much lower maintenance. You could try getting ferns to grow in shady corners, either in pots or direct into the soil.

Mirrors, also a great idea. I have a large one that I found in a skip, but you would probably be able to source some large 2nd hand mirrors from ebay at reasonable cost. Just be prepared for surprise glimpses of yourself in your grimiest gardening clothes. (Blimey! What's that old hag doing in my garden???)

Clueless, love the CD idea, a man in the Geoff Hamilton mould!

 

The other thing with mirrors is the effect on birds. Covering with trellis and climbers as mentioned will prevent birds from flying into the glass. Another hazard I can only illustrate with this tale. I put a mirror behind against a fence at ground level behind shrubs. The effect was great; the border looked a lot deeper. But I saw a robin fighting itself in the glass in the winter. All that energy wasted was a threat to its survival. So I removed the mirror.

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Another idea. Have you seen those 'wall of plants' thingies? Basically a sheet of pockets covering the wall, with plants in the pockets. Technically a bit tricky because of the plants needing water and the wall needing dry, but could be worth checking out.

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We get people like that round here too.

 

:D

 

Wow thanks for all the ideas! I really like the Rhodo idea and will look into the other ideas too, love the coloured pots at different heights to create interest! I repainted the fence last weekend in a chalky white and it looks a lot brighter, I've got 2 weeks off coming up and it's my birthday so I've asked for garden centre vouchers!