Shrubs that flower in Summer/Autumn and suitable for shade

Counting_Pennies_2

Does anyone have any suggestions of shrubs I can plant in my one and only border in my garden, which just so happens to be covered in shade.

I have plenty of spring flowering shrubs so I am looking for ones that will flower summer and autumn, any ideas?

Thanks

middleman_2

I'd like to know answers to this too. Counting_Pennies, what do you have that flowers in spring? Just starting out gardening and haven't a clue really!

middleman_2

I guess everyone else is actually out in their gardens doing stuff!

peter_the_piper

Can you please define what you mean by shade? There are various grades of shade from stippled (under a tree) light (below a wall or fence) or deep(North side of a 6 storey block of flats etc). Lots of shrubs will happily grow in stippled and light shade but not many will do in complete shade.

Counting_Pennies_2

peter_the_piper wrote: »

Can you please define what you mean by shade? There are various grades of shade from stippled (under a tree) light (below a wall or fence) or deep(North side of a 6 storey block of flats etc). Lots of shrubs will happily grow in stippled and light shade but not many will do in complete shade.

It is shaded by a mature horse chestnut tree that is also planted in one side of the border, and is protected by the Council. It has been pruned, but still gives a huge amount of shade.

There is a 6 foot fence which runs along the length of the border, and a shed directly to the other side of the border which tends to block a lot of the light.

Next door neighbour (next to the shed) has three trees which run along our boundary.

The flower bed in question is raised built out of old brick and been there for years (in fact I understand from neighbours it was built a long time ago because there were enormous tree trunks that couldn't be removed and it was the only way of making use of this space)

It is a smallish garden. 60ft in length and about 30 in width, once you fit in the patio from the back door and a beautiful old path, and of course the obligatory swing for my son there is very little opportunity for me to move it to a more sunnier part of the garden without a huge upheaval.

Any ideas on what will work in the border would be gratefully received.

Counting_Pennies_2

middleman wrote: »

I'd like to know answers to this too. Counting_Pennies, what do you have that flowers in spring? Just starting out gardening and haven't a clue really!

So far we just have mainly green foliage. A bush which my father-in-law terms 'gardeners curse' he said gardeners know it by this name as it doesn't start to leaf until the summer so people assume it is dead for a good part of spring when everything else starts out, but it does tend to have a nice white flower (can't remember at what time of year).

A clematis that stated it copes well with shade, this flowers late spring (we planted it last year) two were planted one failed the other seems to have some strong buds on at the moment. Just looked through the stock pile in Wyevale last year and read all the labels until I could find one that stated it could cope with shade.

Hostas seem to grow, but sadly whatever I do the slugs still manage to chew them to bits, so last year in a fit of fury I got rid of them as they just were covered in slime, despite salt, beer traps etc.

We have some verigated leaf bush which looks nice, and we have a very small purple flower plant (sorry don't know the name, but it said on the label it is a rampant grower and likes shade and we planted it last year and it has come back in abundance this spring (it was sold in Wyevale last year around this time, so I think if you look there you are bound to find it again)

The previous owners had a white rose on the edge of the border it is a minature bush variety and that seems to cope ok.

Not in the border, but just outside it (in light shade) we have several established orange blossom bushes, which are great this time of year.

Sorry not to help much more. Good luck with the planting

nodwah

Does it need to be shrubs?
I've had a look thru my big book of plants and there aren't many that like shade but if you go for herbaceous perennials (things that die back in the winter) you've got loads of options.
Is the soil quite dry?

Counting_Pennies_2

nodwah wrote: »

Does it need to be shrubs?
I've had a look thru my big book of plants and there aren't many that like shade but if you go for herbaceous perennials (things that die back in the winter) you've got loads of options.
Is the soil quite dry?

Hi, thanks for coming back to me.

I can definitely go for perennials, preferrably not ones that require too much maintenance, I guess the attraction of a shrub is that they just need the odd bit of trimming to keep them in check.

With a toddler and another on the way, I am hoping for low maintenance, but also a little bit of colour, so preferrably not too much staking or fiddling

nodwah

Well I have a shady side of the garden which gets sun for about 2 hours in the morning and it's actually my favourite bit so far, we've been in just over a year so still plantng and changing things.
Anyway i've got astilbes ( red and pruply), ferns , hostas, herbaceous geraniums (pink, white, blue) alchemilla ( seeds around a lot so not good for you) Pulmonaria seems to take really deep shade - bluey pink flowers.
I have made and acidic bit with pieris, azealea and meconopsis

For summer sort of bedding things, bizzie lizzies actually prefer a bit of shade and so do Fuschias

I've also got a helleborus sternii which I got in Lidl for £1.49 and it has been in flower since november and is just going over now - value for money

The other thing I thought of is a japanese acer one of the pale green coloured ones, they get frazzled in sun but look gorgoeus in shade, but don't stand up too well to footballs as my purple one shows!

Hope this hepls , and other people come in with ideas

nodwah

Have just been outside and remembered that I have alpine strawberries growing along the edge, they seem to love the cool shade and you toddler will love to pick the fruit ( I can't keep my 45-year old off them!)

Jayar

Hi there
I have a patch in my garden which is in shade for about 90% of the day and have a few shrubs which seem quite happy there. The two which do best are the Viburnum - flowers late Winter through Spring and the Skimmia which flowers in Spring.
Cotoneaster, however, is a very forgiving shrub and will grow in any soil, sun or shade. It flowers in summer and has lovely red berries through winter, if the birds leave them alone. It is a bit of thug though and, if not kept severly cut back, will eventually take over your whole border. I have a couple of them and neglected to cut them back for a couple of years. I had to get the saw and the heavy duty pruners to them to keep them in their place.