help with a shady area

hello all i was wondering if anyone could help,one side of my garden is more or less totally in shade,i have dug a border there and judging by the last couple of days the soil there is very wet and clay,whereas the other side has dried lovely,over the weekend i planted a pieris mountain fire and a skimmia japonica rubella,i was just wondering if theyd be ok or shall i move them to the sunny side.I would also like to know if anyone has any ideas 4 shrubs perrienals that i could put in such an area,as next doors fence has got all bricks underneath the concrete and it looks really ugly,i was hoping to cover theese bricks with said plants and maybe put some flowers along the front thanx in advance

 

Climbing hydrangea peteolaris immediately springs to mind.

 

Hi there - so as I understand it you have a wet shady area, and a drier area. Not sure if this last is still shady.

As far as the pieris and skimia are concerned, neither would be happy in wet clay. I garden on clay and some of the shrubs suggested for shade, do very well here, see below:

Crinodendron hookerianum (lantern tree) - lovely small evergreen foliage, but the flowers are its main attraction hanging like red lanterns.

Euonymus fortunei - lovely evergreen golden and green foliage. There can be some reversion - but just cutting out those bits seem to work for me.

Hydranea Macrophylla - lace cap hydrangea - tolerant of shade, and dislikes dry soils.

Spiraea japonica and nipponica - both these like clay, and are tolerant in my garden to partial shade.

Good luck.

 

Agree with Fran - but in my experience, the crinodendron does better in acid soil - not a prob - just get ericaceous compost. It's a lovely plant - have a look here http://www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/rosemoor/archive/rosemoorpom05may.asp

 

Lysimachia if you can find it will be OK in wet - there are some nice varieties with yellow flowers and variagated leaves, one with black leaf.

I think your problem may be if the clay dries out as not many plants will like extreme of wet then dry.

what about ferns? you can get them for wet and dry shade. Fatsia, Ivey.

 

How about Polygonatum for some spring interest, lots of different types of foliage available (I've been researching for myself-its a woodland plant so will tolerate loads of shade). All sizes available too - the large one grows up to 5 foot