Don’t be Afraid of the Shade

With gardens sizes seemingly getting smaller, it’s likely you will have an area of your garden that is in the shade for some or most of the day.

But this doesn’t have to be a problem, there are many plants that hate hot sunshine and will flourish with a bit of cover.

You may not get the colour range you will in a sunny spot but what you loose in colour you gain with different textures and shapes.

Before you get planting there are a few things to think about when planning your shady garden or border:

Painting any walls or fences with a pale colour will instantly brighten the area, perhaps using your planting palette as a guide.

You can continue this thinking when choosing your stones, gravel or paving slabs by going for a paler colour choice. Adding a mirror and a water feature are also ways to help with light reflection.

If you want a grass make sure you choose a seed mix for shady areas.

If a canopy of a tree is creating the shade you could try removing the bottom layer of branches to allow more light in.

If you have dry shade you will improve the soil’s ability to hold water by digging in lots of organic matter.

Plants to Choose for a Shady Border:

Alchemilla mollis (Lady’s mantle); Athyrium filix-femina ‘Frizelliae’ (Tatting Fern); Bergenia (Elephant’s Ears); Brunnera macrophylla (Siberian Bugloss); Convallaria (Lily-of-the-Valley); Dicentra (Bleeding Heart); Dryopteris erythrosora (semi-evergreen fern) Epiedium (Barrenwort); Euphorbia amaygdaloides (Wood Spurge); Geranium nodosum and Geranium phaeum (Cransbill); Sarcocca confusa

Lily Beetle Watch

Ahhh Is that a lovely ladybird on my lilies?…..no it’s a dreaded scarlet lily beetle! I’m always on the look out for these red bodied, black headed beetles that eat the leaves, flowers and seedpods of my lovely lilies.

The beetles lay eggs on the undersides of leaves; these then turn into maggot-like grubs, which also eat the plants. Pick off the grubs as soon as you see them and if your not squeamish you can just squash them between your fingers or if you’d rather you can drop them underfoot. But be quick or they’ll fly off!