Geraniums & Shade

I need to find something suitable, and ideally perennial, to plant as a border plant alongside a low wooden fence. The problem is, the area in question is pretty much in constant shade from the fence and nearby trees. The fence is north-west facing.

I'm in East Yorkshire and the soil is quite heavy clay. I can improve this a bit if necessary, but this is for a school I'm helping, so keeping expenses to a minimum is key.

I'm thinking of putting in a double line of plants - something next to the fence which comes to about the full fence height (approx. 4ft) and something in front of that as ground cover/lower planting.

For the latter I was wondering about geraniums, primarily because a little horticulture centre near me has a load going cheap. The geraniums in question aren't labelled, but the foliage had a strong lemon scent - does this mean that they are definitely Lemon Scented Geraniums? If so these would be no good as these need full sun, right?

Any other suggestions for suitable plants (cheap, perennial, ideally flowering, easy to obtain) for this shady spot would be much appreciated, along with clarification about the Geraniums.

Thanks,

Andy

 

Hi Andy, what a nice thing to do

Another option might be hostas, heucheras or ferns? Campanulas are nice and do ok in shade too.

 

I think you are referring to Pelargoniums rather than the hardy Geraniums, the first likes lots of sun and often has scented foliage, the second is much more situated to clay and shady sites.

 

The scented pelargoniums like plenty of sun and are far from hardy. Essentially indoor plants.
If you are after a hardy geranium AndyS I suggest geranium phaem Margaret
Wilson. Quite unusual because it has grey foliage ...pinkish flowers too.
A favourite perennial of mine is actea .......Brunette has red/black sculpted foliage and white scented spires of flowers. If would go well with the geranium mentioned.
Astilbes, astrantias and ferns would enjoy that situation too. White anemones like Wild Swan would add beautiful contrast throughout the summer.
I would also, for lower level planting, add hackonechloa ....green forms, variegated forms and yellow forms available.
For taller planting, how about dogwoods? They are pruned to ground level ...about now...and they make 5 ' or so in summer. The stems, esp on elegantissima and aurea (green and white leaves and yellow leaves respectively) produce lovely red colour for the winter months

 

I love my hardy geraniums in shade. one major reason is heir density stops weeds from growing under them. so less pulling of weeds. as they mature they move out further and further umbrella their wonderful shaped leaves, again leaving no weeds to see the sight of day. In the winter, when the snow is on them they still sit tall and proud, and do not mush out or wither away.

 

Thanks so much for all the suggestions.

Sorry to be a bit slow on the uptake, but are you saying that what are commonly called Lemon Scented Geraniums are actually a type of Pelargonium? And therefore not perennial and/or suitable for planting in shade? I'll pop back to the garden centre I mentioned and try to clarify what the lemony-scented plants I saw are.

Didn't think of those - great suggestion :-)

I love anemones! Not sure if I'll be able to source those cheaply around here, but will start making enquiries.

This is another great idea - and I have a load of dogwood myself that I can cut and plant right now - so ticks my boxes of being cheap (or in this case free!) and available right away.

So my current list: Hardy Geranium, Hellebores, Anemones, Ferns, Campanulas and Dogwood. I'll get on with trying to source some or all of that lot right away. Thanks again everyone for all your help :-)

 

Just so you are aware, this link doesn't work ... tried this one though