One of the toughest spots to grow plants is in dry shade. Here is my pick of those shrubs that will be ‘good doers’ in these conditions.
Box or Boxus sempervirens will grow up to 12 feet high and wide in dry shady conditions. The variety Latifolia maculata, with it’s agm, has bright yellow, young leaves becoming dark-green, blotched with yellow when mature (this gives it the common name Sunshine box). It is good a good evergreen for topiary and hedges.
Hypericum calycinum, Great St Johns Wort or Rose of Sharron is a low growing shrub with yellow flowers followed by black seed bearing berries. It grows up to 2′ tall but can spread 10′ or more.
Lonicera pileata is a species of honeysuckle used for hedging. It is called the Privet honeysuckle and can grow up to 8 feetwide and a couple of feet tall.
Euonymus fortunei is an ideal evergreen shrub available in several leaf colours. I find the yellow leaves perform well in the cool shade.
The following selection may also be fine but the above plants were recommended by the RHS
Daphne laureola and Laurel
Fatsia japonica castor oil plant
Hedera, Ivy
Ilex aquifolium Holly
The RHS also consider the degree of shade as follows:
’1. Light shade: A site that is open to the sky, but screened from direct sunlight by an obstacle, such as a high wall or group of trees.
2. Partial shade: A site receiving sunlight for two or three hours either in early morning or late evening. Midday sun supplies considerably more light.
3. Moderate shade: Mainly reflected or diffused light, for example through tree canopies.
4. Deep shade: Usually under dense deciduous trees, e.g. beech, conifer hedges or overgrown shrubberies.’
