The Exton Gardener

We’ve had such a wet August and it seems rather pointless to be considering the dry shade areas in your garden, but now is the time to be planting these spaces with plants that will add interest.

In the past, plants such as ivy or periwinkle were the choice, much to the despair of any gardener who has to deal with them now! There are more interesting plants that will succeed and are so much easier to deal with.

Ground Covers

1. Ajuga reptans, the bugleweed has dark metallic leaves and spires of blue flowers.

2. Lamium spp, don’t be tempted to grow that thug, the “aluminium plant,” Lamium galeobdolon.

It spreads by underground runners.

Instead I’ve grown two which are attractive and easily controlled, Lamium maculatum ‹White Nancy› and ‹Beacon Silver,› the latter having rich pink/mauve flowers.

They light up a shady space beautifully and are a great contrast to the Ajuga.

3. A third ground cover to try is Dicentra formosa, the wild bleeding heart.

I grow the white version which is completely herbaceous but in spring sends up its ferny fronds and stems of white nodding flowers.

It is rhizomatous but they are nice fat roots and easy to manage.

Clumpers

1. Brunnera macrophylla, the Siberian forget-me-not, such a nice perennial with sprays of blue forget-me-not flowers in spring.

I grow ‘Jack Frost’ and his progeny, as they do seed about a little.

I tend to remove seedlings that have plain leaves; the silver leaves light up a shady area.

2. Pulmonaria species.

I grow Pulmonaria officionalis with its white spotted leaves and pink/blue flowers, ‘Sissinghurst White’, the white-flowered version, and Pulmonaria longifolia with dark green leaves splashed with silver and rich violet-coloured flowers.

The latter has a longer flowering season.

Lastly, if you want taller accent plants, try the goat’s beard, Aruncus dioicus.

It looks like taller Astilbe but is much more drought tolerant.

There are also the Filipendulas.

Filipendula rubra has pink foamy flowers on a tall thin stem and F. ulmaria is shorter with pleated leaves and cream fluffy flowers.

These are herbaceous, with their leaves appearing in spring.