Plants in a shaded border?

Hi,

The southern boundary of my garden is marked by a five foot high wooden fence, with a further 2-3 feet of evergreen hedge above (on the other side). As a result I've got a fairly long bed running the length of the boundary, which doesn't get much direct sunlight. Currently there's not much in it; there's a large old rosemary bush which was doing well until I over-pruned it last year and is now, I think, dead. There's also a rosebush which seems to do OK but never produces flowers as well as the bushes in sunnier parts of the garden.

I'll replace the rosemary, and was looking for some ideas for other plants to put along this bed. I suppose a rosemary "hedge" might be an idea, but doesn't sound all that interesting.

I don't know what my soil type is, but according to the Cranfield Soilscape website it's probably "freely draining, slightly acid, sandy."

 

Forget the rosemary! It prefers sun. If that analysis of your soil is right, you could grow camellias, rhododendrons, azaleas, magnolias, blue hydrangeas, fothergillas, heathers...all the acid-loving plants that most of us can only dream about

 

Yes, rosemary in shade sounded wrong, but the old plant seemed to do well.

I think I'll test my soil properly today to make sure it really is acidic. My mother used to grow rhododendrons but my memory as a child is that they didn't flower for long. Is that true of most of the plants in your list, out of interest? I'm quite shallow, I do like colour where possible!

 

Depending on variety, the rhodi/azalea season can stretch from February to June, then there's Pieris, Escallonia and Loropetalum which would fill in until the Hydrangeas and Heathers get going...Not shallow but the best borders are usually planned around contrasting foliage and the flowers are a bonus, because they are fleeting!

 

Well, scratch the rhods/azaleas, the soil test kit is showing a slap-bang neutral pH. Quite surprised the Soilscape website was wrong as it looked very "scientific." OK, what works well in a neutral soil?

 

Following this thread with interest as I have an almost identical problem - a 6 ft solid fence.

 

Elaeagnus
Viburnum tinus
Sarcococca confusa
Skimmia japonica
Japanese maples
Rhododendrons

You can plant acid loving plants in neutral soil but mix in lots of ericaceous compost when planting and give it a mulch of the same each spring mixed with some slow release Rhodo fertiliser

I would move the Rose as they like sun

As has been said the hedge may be a problem as it may be sucking all the nutrients out of the soil.

 

Well that widens the choice Neutral is good, sandy is good and quite agree about taking the opportunity to improve the soil. If putting a barrier in is too daunting a task, at least you could go along and seriously chop any encroaching roots!

 

After a long chat with the guy at the garden centre, I've now got several bags of farm manure and compost, which I'll be mixing 50:50 and turning into the top 12 inches of the border. However first it needs a good weeding, and it's a pretty big bed (40ft long) so I'm afraid I'm going to Roundup it tomorrow as my knees won't cope with that much manual weeding. Does that sound reasonable? Tomorrow's meant to be dry and sunny all day. If I Roundup it tomorrow I can do the soil improving and start the planting say 48 hours later, is that right?

The rosemary is now out. Its root was like a tree trunk; I think it must have been there for decades.

I'm thinking about having a climber on the fence itself (or rather, on wires mounted on the fence) - probably clematis montana, at about one plant per six foot fence panel? Then some sort of evergreen shrub hiding the base of the clematis, and something nice and flowery at the front - was thinking hardy geraniums? Does that all sound OK? It's mostly as a result of a nice long chat with the garden centre chap, who was very chatty and helpful.

 

The picture above is the north side of my garage which, although not in heavy shade, only gets about 10 minutes of sun a day and consequently is fairly damp.

You can see Hemerocallis (yellow foreground), Lythrum "Blush" (pink), Crocosmia "Lucifer" (bright red), Persicaria amplexicaulis "Firetail" (red spikes) with Astilbe chinensis (purple spikes at the back). There is also, but you can't see it, Astrantia, Lobelia syphalitica, Dicentra and Aquilegia. They all thrive with virtually no sun. However they also like it damp and I am a bit concerned about the hedge making it dry.

However I also have a pot of yellow Hemerocallis in that border, as well as the plant in the foreground, and this survives being pretty dry for long periods. Its in a pot set well back to obscure a manhole cover, and I usually forget to water it. I am constantly amazed at how resilient it is.

 

OK, here's my first attempt at proper gardening. This was a weed bed yesterday. I killed (hopefully) the weeds with Roundup first thing this morning, then cleared the bed this afternoon, and mixed in a 50:50 blend of compost and manure before planting. One Clematis Montana Pink Perfection per panel; four Euonymus Fortunei Emerald 'n' Gold to provide cover for the bottom of the fence; four Fragaria xa Red Ruby for some long-lived colour at the front.

Anything disastrously wrong here? Be gentle though, it's my first time...

 

Be warned Clematis montana gets very big and very heavy, very quickly. The pink in the above picture is just one plant. Its about 9 years old, but was cut back almost to the ground a couple of years ago when the support it was on rotted and collapsed. However it is a lovely plant and does better for me than any other Clematis (irrespective of size).

The spike in the foreground is Echium pininana.