Dark Corner! what to do?

Hello

This is my first time so I do apologise if this has all been asked before but I've never had a proper garden and could do with some help before I plant the wrong thing.

I recently moved in to a new house with a small south facing garden that has a lovely planted border down the east side, including an apple tree, twisted hazel, a burgundy coloured palm and some others bits and bobs covered with blue slate chips. The rest of the garden is mostly laid to lawn with a patio area in the SE corner and a shed on a concreted area in the NW corner.

The area I need to tackle is the SW corner of the garden, which is bordered by a 6ft fence to the south and the neighbours garage and shed to the west. There was already a border here with a few small and narrow conifers (roughly 1m tall). and we recently dug the border over and neatened it up. Now we would like to make it looks a nice as the other border but we don't know what is best to plant as it gets no sun. We are considering repositioning the shed to the SW corner because of its lack of sun but as this would be a big job we would prefer planting instead.

Having looked at other posts I saw people referring to shady areas as getting 3 hours of sun a day, I really don't think this area gets any sun! I've been out at several times throughout the day and it is always in the shade, please see basic diagram (not to scale). I do not know if the soil is particularly clay/sandy/moist/dry as I really have no experience in gardens it just seems relatively moist and soil like to me .... :/



Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

 

Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola'
http://www.perennialplant.org/ppy/2009_POY.pdf

hostas:
https://www.bowdenhostas.com/categories/Hostas-A-%252d-Z/

tree ferns:
https://vault1.secured-url.com/turn-it-tropical/ProdImages/antartica.jpg

ferns:
Long Acre Plants Dryopteris

for colour:
Long Acre Plants Native woodland plants

Plants for Dry Shade

loads of others:
Bulbs for shade, under trees, dry conditions

a japanese maple should do very well in the front of the area to be planted ... i.e. the part that has the most light (they enjoy a protected area)
http://www.japanesemapletree.co.uk/

 

have a look at these pics ... you may get some ideas ... click on the 'more pictures' link aswell as the links in blue, to see loads of other ideas

this exotic sytle of planting is becoming very popular in the UK now, as many of these plants are hardy and can withstand temperatures of -15 degrees C or colder and some are evergreen

some people are removing their older traditional english garden plants and replacing them with exotic/tropical plants

tropical garden pictures

 

I've got an area just like this, Sammy. I call it my Woodland Border. If you think of it like that, that'll help you pick some plants for it. Things that don't mind growing under a woodland canopy will be fine there. Like *dim* has mentioned, hostas and ferns do really well in complete shade. I've got Heucheras (there's a good selection of colours here to give you an idea - Buy Heucheras from Heucheraholics), and hardy geraniums (list of shade lovers on this bee habitat site - Cranesbill (Geranium): Perennial for Shade) in my shady corner. Both plants are loving the shade, and I'm loving the colour peeping out from the gloom.

The top of my fence does see a bit of sun, even though the border at the bottom gets none so I can grow some clematis and honeysuckles on the fences. I've got Clematis Etoile Violette (BBC - Gardening: Plant Finder - Viticella Group clematis), and an orange honeysuckle, (think it's tellmannia - Buy honeysuckle Lonicera × tellmanniana: Delivery by Crocus.co.uk), both of these don't mind the dense shade at the base at all. They only get morning sun for a few hours at the top of the fence.

Here's part of my border earlier this year -

 

Thank you all for the replies. Really helpful. Looking forward to getting stuck in!