Hello, hello! This is only my second year with a garden, so I'm very much a novice. My first year consisted mostly of discovering what vine weevils and rose sawflies are... My garden is small and largely shaded, but I am currently trying to cram as many flowers into the sunny spots as I can. Lurking on the old GW rose thread gave me a bit of an addiction to blousy, moody blooms, but I inherited a pond and a thriving frog population, and my wildlife interests are growing rapidly. I look forward to talking plants with all of you!
Hi @MoodyBlooms! I have a lot of shade ... but I have grown to really like it. If it is caused by tree canopies, making a spring garden with lots of bulbs will give you plenty of colour. Then you can have plants that flower later (like fuchsias) for when it has shaded over. If your shade is caused by buildings, that is a little less flexible, but there are still plenty of things that will thrive.
Hi @MoodyBlooms - having a lot of shade doesn't mean you can't have lots of flowering, or interesting plants. It's just a case of experimenting and putting in things that suit the soil and your climate. The pond will be great, and there are plenty of good plants for surrounding, and putting in that, if there aren't a lot just now.
It's a bit of a mix. Unfortunately, the biggest culprit is a big ol' building and a tall fence, but there is beauty in the lush, green foliage that can grow in deep shade, too. And my predecessors put in some lovely hydrangeas, weigela (i think), and a huge rhododendron, so it's not all doom and gloom.
We're actually looking at buying plants for the pond this Spring! It had been taken over by a beautiful but out of control iris that my other half battled with last Autumn. It's currently got a lot of mare's tale (and duckweed), so any recommendations for frog-supporting plants would be gratefully received. Especially for the shady part of the pond.
I’ve always found these folk give really good advice if you email them Buy Pond Plants Online - Puddleplants I have no connection with them other than as a very satisfied customer.
The water hawthorn is perfect for shadier parts of the pond, and will also seed around. I never have duckweed here, but I htink you just have to keep scooping it out - fishing net. It's probably flag Iris you have - that's very invasive in small ponds, and is best kept contained if you have it. There are plenty of sibirica and ensata Irises which are good for wet areas, and many will be fine in shallow water as ewll as just moist soil. They need a bit of sun, but many will take a bit of shade. I also grow Watercress in the pond. Calthas are useful too, and will grow in the shallows or boggy areas. They flower from around this time of year, so they're good for pollinators too. They like shade. I'll have to check what else I have in mine, as I can't remember. You'll need to pull the marestail out, but just be aware that there's Equisetum, which is the same family, but isn't like the thuggish stuff we get in our garden borders among our plants. It's easy to pull out if it spread too much. I love it because it gives height for insects that need it - damsel and dragonflies etc. Take a look at Devon Pond Plants, Puddleplants and Waterside nursery for ideas though. All good suppliers, and I'm sure there are others. Some GCs stock pond plants, but they can be quite limited Frogs don't use ponds all the time though - so it's more about having habitat around your pond. The shady areas around your garden are ideal as hiding places for them.
I had a look yesterday to jog my memory @MoodyBlooms - I have water forget me not [Myosotis] - but not the blue one, the white one [I don't like blue!] and also a small rush Typha minima, which produced some nice heads last year. This pond is quite new, but I had a smaller one, so some of the plants came from that and some are only a few years old. I also have Gratiola officinalis, which is a Hyssop, also white, and a curled/twisted rush Juncus eff. spiralis. I have a dwarf water lily in the deepest part. I use Cotton grass as well, and that can go in any boggier ground as well as in shallows. It'll take some shade too. I also have it in with some little rocks I have at the side, along with the one 'blue' plant I allow - the Scottish harebell -Campanula rotundifolia, to remind me of the hills when I look out the kitchen window. I use things like Ligularia, and other planting which like permanently moist ground in some areas, and then some which like the opposite conditions where I can just plant them into the gravel around the pond.
Amazing plant list. I'm also not very keen on blue plants, so it's nice to know water forget-me-not also comes in white! Our pond is one of the (old-fashioned?) ones with quite steep sides and concreted-down flags all around it, so it doesn't have a lot of very shallow margins. I'm thinking of putting some stones around the edges to provide a shallower slope, and then put some aquatic soil over for plants that like their feet more boggy than fully submerged.
I got the first lot of plants from Puddle Plants delivered and planted up in the pond! I ended up with:BrooklimeHornwortFlowering rushWhite Water forget-me-notWatercressCommon Cotton grassHard rushWill add frogbit and a small waterlily once they're in stock, too. And possible other plants next year, depending on how everything fills out. The tadpoles seem thrilled, hovering around on top of the gravel in the baskets and in the below-water leaves. I assume they like the shallower water.
