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Plants for dry shade

What really grows in dry shade, under trees and beside walls, and how to plant it so it lives.

Dry shade is the hardest place in a garden: the ground under trees and in the lee of walls and fences, where roots take the water and the canopy or the eaves keep off the rain. Most shade plants come from moist woodland and sulk here, so the list is short, and it is worth knowing.

The trick is in the planting, not the plant. Plant small, in autumn or early spring while the ground still holds some moisture, water through the first summer, and mulch every spring with leaf mould or compost: it is what a woodland floor does for itself. After the first year the plants below manage on their own.

Evergreens earn their place twice over here. Dry shade is often bare in winter, and a carpet of glossy leaves is worth more than a few weeks of flower.

103 plants: 39 perennials, 7 ferns, 5 bulbs, 10 grasses and 42 shrubs.

The dozen to start with

  • Japanese pachysandra

    Japanese pachysandra

    8 in · grown for its leaves · evergreen

    Whorls of glossy, toothed, evergreen leaves form a uniform carpet under trees.

  • Gardenia

    Gardenia

    5 ft · late May to late July · evergreen

    Glossy, dark evergreen leaves and creamy white, waxy flowers with a rich, heavy perfume in early summer.

  • Sasanqua camellia

    Sasanqua camellia

    8 ft · early October to mid December · evergreen

    A camellia that flowers in autumn and early winter, with smaller leaves, a looser habit and masses of single or semi-double, lightly scented flowers.

  • Lilyturf

    Lilyturf

    16 in · early August to mid September · evergreen

    Evergreen clumps of dark, strap-shaped, grassy leaves, with spikes of violet flowers like grape hyacinths in late summer, followed by black berries.

  • Common boxwood

    Common boxwood

    10 ft · grown for its leaves · evergreen

    The classic boxwood of old gardens: a large, billowing, dark evergreen that can be clipped into hedges and shapes or left to grow into a small tree over many decades.

  • Autumn fern

    Autumn fern

    22 in · grown for its leaves · evergreen

    New fronds unfurl coppery red in spring and mature to glossy, dark green.

  • Oakleaf hydrangea

    Oakleaf hydrangea

    6½ ft · mid June to early August

    A native shrub for every season: cone-shaped white flowers that age to pink, huge oak-shaped leaves that turn wine red and purple in autumn, and peeling, cinnamon-coloured bark in winter.

  • Lily of the valley

    Lily of the valley

    8 in · early May to late May

    Arching sprays of small, white, intensely scented bells in May, between pairs of broad green leaves.

  • Stinking hellebore

    Stinking hellebore

    24 in · late February to mid April · evergreen

    Clusters of pale green, maroon-rimmed bells stand above almost black, finely fingered evergreen leaves from late winter to spring.

  • Common polypody

    Common polypody

    12 in · grown for its leaves · evergreen

    Leathery, ladder-like, evergreen fronds rise from creeping rhizomes that run over rocks, logs and mossy walls.

  • Autumn moor grass

    Autumn moor grass

    16 in · mid August to early October

    A neat, long-lived tuft of yellow-green leaves with narrow, silvery-white flower spikes in late summer.

  • Bottlebrush grass

    Bottlebrush grass

    3 ft · late June to late August · host plant

    Open, bristly seed heads like bottle brushes stand above the leaves in summer.

A bed planned only from these plants

The planner was given only the plants on this page that suit zone 6 and part shade, and designed this 16 × 8 ft (4.9 × 2.4 m) bed from them when the page was made.

A 16 × 8 ft (4.9 × 2.4 m) bed at eye level in early September: Spotted dead nettle 'White Nancy', Leadwort, Woodland sunflower, Northern sea oats, Dwarf English boxwood, Bergenia, Blue-stemmed goldenrod, Winter aconite, Grecian windflower, Hardy cyclamen.
A 16 × 8 ft (4.9 × 2.4 m) English border in zone 6, part shade, seen from the path in early September.
3. Woodland sunflower33. Woodland sunflower33. Woodland sunflower34. Northern sea oats44. Northern sea oats44. Northern sea oats44. Northern sea oats44. Northern sea oats45. Dwarf English boxwood52. Leadwort22. Leadwort22. Leadwort22. Leadwort22. Leadwort21. Spotted dead nettle 'White Nancy'11. Spotted dead nettle 'White Nancy'11. Spotted dead nettle 'White Nancy'12. Leadwort22. Leadwort22. Leadwort21. Spotted dead nettle 'White Nancy'11. Spotted dead nettle 'White Nancy'11. Spotted dead nettle 'White Nancy'14. Northern sea oats44. Northern sea oats44. Northern sea oats43. Woodland sunflower36. Bergenia66. Bergenia66. Bergenia67. Blue-stemmed goldenrod77. Blue-stemmed goldenrod77. Blue-stemmed goldenrod77. Blue-stemmed goldenrod77. Blue-stemmed goldenrod72. Leadwort22. Leadwort22. Leadwort22. Leadwort22. Leadwort22. Leadwort22. Leadwort22. Leadwort22. Leadwort22. Leadwort22. Leadwort22. Leadwort22. Leadwort22. Leadwort210. Hardy cyclamen10. Hardy cyclamen10. Hardy cyclamen10. Hardy cyclamen10. Hardy cyclamen9. Grecian windflower9. Grecian windflower9. Grecian windflower9. Grecian windflower9. Grecian windflower9. Grecian windflower9. Grecian windflower9. Grecian windflower9. Grecian windflower9. Grecian windflower8. Winter aconite8. Winter aconite8. Winter aconite8. Winter aconite8. Winter aconite8. Winter aconite8. Winter aconite8. Winter aconite8. Winter aconite8. Winter aconite8. Winter aconite8. Winter aconite
From above, to scale. Each circle is one plant, as wide as the room it needs.

The plants

  1. 1 Spotted dead nettle 'White Nancy' × 6, white
  2. 2 Leadwort × 22, blue
  3. 3 Woodland sunflower × 4, yellow
  4. 4 Northern sea oats × 8, tan
  5. 5 Dwarf English boxwood × 1, dark green leaves
  6. 6 Bergenia × 3, pink
  7. 7 Blue-stemmed goldenrod × 5, yellow
  8. 8 Winter aconite × 12, yellow
  9. 9 Grecian windflower × 10, blue
  10. 10 Hardy cyclamen × 5, pink

Planned as an English border: 9 of the 10 groups (90%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. The flowers run from late February to mid October: 33 weeks in all. The most in flower at one time is 5 kinds, in early September.

The planner's own design check: 10 Excellent, 6 Good, 1 Satisfactory. It flags one thing to watch: Winter aconite is highly poisonous to people, dogs, cats and horses. Woodland sunflower spreads aggressively.

Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.

All 103 plants

Show all 103, by where they go in a bed

Front of a bed 42

Middle of a bed 23

Back of a bed 38

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