Planting in shade?

Anyone have any reccomendations for planting in shade under a tree, gets some morning sun? not to tall?! Thankyou..

 

Hi Primulas , it can be tricky planting under trees as its often so dry, but have a look at these links for a few ideas;

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?pid=430

http://www.plantsforshade.co.uk/acatalog/Plants_for_Dry_Shade.html

 

under a tree, especially a dense foliage one, not much can happen if the amount of light is too little. Anyway I would think some bulbous plants such as the crocus and the chionodoxa luciliae (similar style as the crocus but light blue). You also can try and reflect some light under the tree.

 

Hosta

 

it might be helpfull (after choosing plants) to make sure the soil is good enough for the new plants to become established quickly, often under trees the soil is interspersed with roots of said tree, an additional layer on top might help in that case

 

Ferns

 

I am thinking about plants for shade for one border in my garden, although my soil is not as dry. I'm tending towards anything that says 'native' and 'woodland' and 'partial shade'. I'm a beginner at this so can't promise these are suitable, the spot might be too dry? I am liking:

Brunnera macrophylla
Hellebore
Phlox divaricata 'clouds of perfume' (that's only partial shade and I think likes moist soil but I totally want it)
aquilegias apparently like 'dappled shade'
Sweet woodruff -this I already have and it's doing really well in a shady spot.

 

Hi all, thanks for replies, had a look at some ferns which I think might work! the area is under a leylandii, I painted the trunk white, so it looks like a birch tree!!!

 

I used Brunnera (Jack Frost) in one of my shaded areas, it is doing really well so I would recommend this!!

Val

 

Leylandii are very greedy ... even dry-loving ferns (like Dryopteris) will struggle IMHO.

Option most likely to succeed (if it is an option?!!) is a raised bed - lined with pond-liner or similar to keep the tree roots out. You can put a length of perforated-drainage pipe in the bottom, with a "drain" through the side of the raised bed, so that it doesn't become waterlogged (and if you lay the perforated pipe so that it comes up to the surface at one end, runs along the bottom, and then "up" a few inches before it comes out the side you can fill that, until it overflows, to keep a nice reservoir of water in the bottom). Then you are looking at moist shade, plus you will be able to easily feed the plants, rather than "dry & barren" shade such as the soil under and around Leylandii.

Or chop the Leylandii down - many on here will cheer! although you will obviously have a wait until a [more attractive] replacement fills the space again.