What to grown under coniferous and trees/bushes

Hi there,

I have a large (ish) patch of ground in my garden that is shaded by coniferous trees and some large evergreen bushes. I am struggling to get anything to grow under there and wondered if anyone could give me any ideas. The area does get some morning sun through the branches of the trees but is usually in full shade by around 1:00pm in the summer.
I quite like the idea of having a wildflower garden under there but not really sure what will grow and when to plant. I am going to purchase some ferns - will they grow under here?
At the moment it is just an empty patch of land and a bit of an eyesore for this reason!
I am pretty new to planting flowers etc - have grown veg for a few years now but am just getting to grips with decorative gardening, therefore also is there any prep work I could be doing now to that patch of land ready for planting in the spring or is there plants I can get in there now?

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks

 

I think you need something acid tolerent and draught resistant if that helps

 

You could try Pachysandra terminalis likes shade and is acid tolerant but prefers the ground on the moist side

Pachysandra terminalis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Sedum ?
Lady's mantle ?

I have some Euphorbia under a conifer hedge and that seems to do okay too.

 

I think the biggest battle is not going to be the shade, but the fact that the conifers will have sucked the ground dry, and robbed all the nutrients.

So, the problem is likely to be the soil.

See if you can work in loads of well rotted manure to enrich it, and prevent it from drying our completely.

Once you've done that, then its only the shade that's the problem. You said it gets some light, but only a bit, so look for plants that are for part to full shade.

Also, beware misleading labeling. You may be tempted to rule a lot of plants out because they are listed as 'full sun'. This often means 'prefers full sun, but will tolerate some shade'.

This year, I got nasturtiums, geraniums and strawberries to grow in a hanging basket that was in permanent shade. At its peak it wouldn't win any prizes, but it did ok considering it didn't get a drop of direct sunshine.