Plants for shade

Our shade tunnel is the place to head for a wide range of shade-tolerant plants.

Visit our Plants for Shade page to see the kind of plants you are likely to find inside it, including Ferns!

Special Shady Spots promotion for Easter 2021 - all in 9cm square pots at £3.99 each.
Sign up to the Flourish Rewards Club to get 4 for 3!

PERENNIALS
Alchemilla Mollis
Angelica sylvestris Vicar's Mead
Anemone Honorine Jobert
Brunnera Alexanders Great
Chelone obliqua
Cordydalis China Blue
Digitalis (foxglove) Lutea
Digitalis (foxglove) Parviflora
Euphorbia robbiae
Geranium Samobor
Geranium mac Bevans Variety
Hellebore Niger
Heuchera Caramel
Heuchera Crazy Rasta
Heuchera Pink Pearls
Heuchera Plum Pudding
Heuchera Lime Marmalade
Heuchera Little Cutie Blondie
Heuchera Marmalade
Heuchera Obsidian
Hosta Big Daddy
Hosta June
Lamium Red Nancy
Liriope Muscari Moneymaker
Pachysandra terminalis
Polemonium Lambrook Mauve
Pulmonaria Sissinghurst White
Pulmonaria Majeste
Tellima grandiflora purpurea
Thalictrum delavayi
Tiarella Sugar and Spice
Viola Emperor Magenta Red

FERNS
Dryopteris Crispa Cristata
Dryopteris wallchiana
Dryopteris Filix-Mas
Osmunda regalis
Phyllitis scolopendrium
Polystichium polyblepharum
Polypodium vulgare

Extract from 'Gardening for the Uncommitted: What you really need to know when you don't really want to know'

by Katie's Garden's own Catherine McMillan

'Seeing the light'

Now, aspect – where is your garden in relation to your house?

If it is south of the house then the estate agent would have been sure to mention this; the house will shelter the garden from cold northerly winds whilst blocking out very little sunlight.

West is next sunniest, then east, then north which will be coolest and shadiest of all (probably).

If your plot is hemmed in by buildings on all sides, this is all largely irrelevant. Carry on your way.
Most parts of your garden will be in shade for at least some of the day.

More than six hours in the middle of the day is considered full sun, less than two hours is deep shade.

There are many lovely spring-flowering plants that will grow in a woodland setting but that is because the trees have yet to regrow their leaves, so it isn’t actually very shady.

If your light is being blocked by a brick wall, those bluebells aren’t going to be so enthusiastic.

Please (please, seriously) accept that flowers don’t like deep shade: embrace the chance to create a peaceful, understated, leafy area (or get in a tree surgeon/demolition operative to address the source of the problem).