Butler sinks in a shady area

@"M" Hydrangea macrophylla Endless Summer varieties do tend to be suitable for growing in containers, so I do agree with you on that.

That the OP says the Butler Sink is shallow suggests to me that it is what is known as a "London Sink." The other common type of Butler Sink aka "Belfast Sink" is deeper. From experience, I know that some shrubs can be grown in both.

 

Tetters, No, recommended for shade but hackonechloa is good in sun...IF soil is kept moist. Old Gold will burn in sun so mine is in dappled shade . In shade it lights up the area but I love macra aureola in sun

we can only advise, suggest or offer an opinion according to our own experiences M ...
The aim is simply hoping to help

I have several butler sinks.........I applied cement/peat mix years ago and they now look like old stone troughs......and found shrubs did not grow too well for too long in them, hence my recommendation it is better not to plant shrubs in them. Your planting looks very healthy though M .....you have done well

I will post a picture or two tomorrow of what I now grow in them ........

I grew dwarf conifers, hydrangeas, pieris and sarcoccoca for example and within 2 to 3 years all needed potting on/ planting out. Also grew euonymous Gaiety ....similar to your Silver Queen M.......and it struggled to make any size and sorely tempted to throw it out but it now fills a corner of the garden to make a pleasant full size combination with a red phormium. They are all now large plants. So for me it is temporary/summer planting or slow growing perennials or grasses for these sinks.

Interesting info Sandy........the sinks I refer to are 30 cm high, 41 cm deep and 56 cm wide. What type would they be?

 

Lots of really great information here!

 

Thanks everyone, so chuffed with all the wisdom you've shared. Having googled, mine are Butler sinks as opposed to Belfast sinks as they don't have overflows and are 20cm deep so they are pretty shallow. I've made notes and will be wandering round the garden centre over the next few days. Will post photos too

 

Thanks, I plan to put them on some half bricks to help drainage.

 

@Verdun at a guess (although it surprises me) its a London sink. You can easily tell, as it wont have an overflow in the rear.

 

Thanks Sandy picked up quite a few of them but cant remember where the overflow is

 

This is one of the sinks.....as I said I covered it in a cement/peat mix. Perfect for this impatiens and short term planting but I would not use it for shrubs

 

Goes without saying on GC

Do you recall which ones you tried? My north facing area is on hard standing, so I'm always open to ideas for what will grow in a confined space (aka pots/sinks/recycled items)

 

Being entirely honest, no. It was a long long time ago, before I moved into this house. I'll see if I can find photos and scan them in...

 

Please don't go to any trouble on my account. I'll keep on experimenting and playing with ideas

 

Hi Everyone, thanks very much for your suggestions so far. I had a fairly fruitless trip to the garden centre and they didn't have that much in the way of shade tolerant plants so I will visit a bigger one.

Having had another look at where the sinks are beside the first door, it isn't really heavy shade. It doesn't get any direct sunlight but is still quite bright - don't know if that would make a difference in what I can plant? I planted some violas there in the spring and they seemed to do ok after a slow start. Also, any suggestions on a plant which could give some height as well? I know this could be a bit of a challenge in a sink that's only 20cm deep!

 

Hello NessaJ
Personally, getting some height there in a sink only 20 cm high will be difficult.
Could you place these sinks elsewhere and replace with taller containers? You could then think about bigger plants
As I said before in such shallow containers, I use either low perennials /grasses or plants for the season......high colour for the summer then replace with colour for the winter and spring, wallflowers for example.
But heucheras would fit the bill as evergreen subjects all year round.....would look excellent esp if you used a john innes compost. They can make mounds up to 30 cm with flowers another 30 cm ....?? You would divide every 3 or 4 years to rejuvenate them

 

Nessa, have you got enough space to put a tall pot each side of the door - next to the sinks ?

 

Thanks @Verdun, I know! I think I'm trying to make these sinks fit into what I want whether or not they are suitable! I do like the look of them next to the door as it's an old house and also don't want to buy new pots. So I'll go with the suggestions of smaller plants and then, as @Tetters suggested, getting some other pots suitable for tall plants when funds allow

My inexperience is showing here as I was looking for plants that could do me all year round whereas in reality, I'll be better off changing throughout the year.