{"id":12621,"date":"2014-05-25T12:12:42","date_gmt":"2014-05-25T19:12:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/?p=12621"},"modified":"2014-05-13T09:07:27","modified_gmt":"2014-05-13T16:07:27","slug":"dry-shade-perennials-a-top-ten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/flowers\/dry-shade-perennials-a-top-ten\/","title":{"rendered":"Shade and Dry Areas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Try the shade test. If you can&#8217;t see to read then plant a fountain as no plants are likely to thrive.<br \/>\nIf you can only just read then try Ivies, ferns, mosses, box, Ruscus aculeatus an evergreen shrub or craggy moss &#038; lichen covered stones.<br \/>\nUnder a deciduous tree spring bulbs, berberis and some clematis may be good doers.<br \/>\nLightly wooded areas are havens for hostas, hellebores, solomons seal, trillium and choisya amongst others. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/flowers\/black-geranium-cranesbill\/attachment\/black-geranium\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3319\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3319 aligncenter\" title=\"black-geranium\" src=\"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/black-geranium.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"448\" height=\"336\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/black-geranium.jpg 448w, https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/black-geranium-300x224.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 448px) 100vw, 448px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Dry Shade is one of the least hospitable places in the garden but some flowering perennials will thrive. A modicum of sun or light will suffice to provide this more interesting top ten.<\/p>\n<h2>Top Ten Dry Shade Perennials<\/h2>\n<p><a title=\"Poppy by brianpettinger, on Flickr\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/hortoris\/6636882825\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7170\/6636882825_a87f11c4da.jpg\" alt=\"Poppy\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>1. <strong>Convallaria majalis<\/strong> or Lily of the Valley will provide scented bell shaped flowers and spread from underground shoots<br \/>\n2.<strong> Meconopsis cambrica<\/strong> Welsh Poppy with single yellow or orange flowers has fern like foliage<br \/>\n3. <strong>Lamium maculatum<\/strong> or the Spotted Deadnettle is semi-evergreen.<br \/>\n4. <strong>Geranium macrorrhhizum<\/strong> or Balkan Cranesbill has magenta flower sprays and covers the ground quite quickly.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>5.<strong> Iris foetidissima <\/strong>has sword shaped leaves and flowers that produce orange seed heads for winter.<br \/>\n6. <strong>Tellima grandiflora<\/strong> has mounds of evergreen hairy heart-shaped leaves and spires of cream flowers.<br \/>\n7. <strong>Lunaria or Honesty<\/strong> flowers in the shade then produces interesting seed heads through winter.<br \/>\n8. <strong>Viola labradorica Purpurea<\/strong> is a reliable little Violet with small purple flowers.<br \/>\n9. <strong>Epimedium pinnatumn<\/strong> or Epimedium pubigernum are evergreen.<br \/>\n10. <strong>Pachyphragma macrophyllum<\/strong> is a ground cover perennial with white flowers.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 375px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a title=\"Gardeners Tips 2011 honesty by brianpettinger, on Flickr\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/hortoris\/5665935158\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm6.staticflickr.com\/5262\/5665935158_92dfce5fd8.jpg\" alt=\"Gardeners Tips 2011 honesty\" width=\"375\" height=\"500\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Honesty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<h3>Other Issues with Dry Shade Perennials<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Make the best use of the conditions you have and select appropriate plants.<\/li>\n<li>Working with nature and not against. Give nature a helping hand with water retaining mulches, thinning overhead branches that cast shade and irrigating where practical.<\/li>\n<li>Woodland plants are generally more tolerant of dry shade as they have learnt to cope with thirsty tree roots that impoverish the soil.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/1604691875\/richardpettin-21\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.amazon.com\/images\/P\/1604691875.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg\" alt=\"Book Cover\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nPlanting the Dry Shade Garden: The Best Plants for the Toughest Spot in Your Garden <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/1604691875\/richardpettin-21\">by Graham Rice<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Read more about <a href=\"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/?p=7218\">Shade Loving perennials<\/a> and Shade Loving Ground Cover Perennials.<br \/>\nBeth Chatto and<a href=\"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/?p=2619\"> shade loving plants<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/euonymous.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1513\" title=\"euonymous\" src=\"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/euonymous.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"448\" height=\"320\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/euonymous.jpg 448w, https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/euonymous-300x214.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 448px) 100vw, 448px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>One of the toughest spots to grow plants is in dry shade. Here is my pick of those shrubs that will be &#8216;good doers&#8217; in these conditions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Box or Boxus sempervirens<\/strong> will grow up to 12 feet high and wide in dry shady conditions. The variety Latifolia maculata, with it&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hypericum calycinum,<\/strong> 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&#8242; tall but can spread 10&#8242; or more.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lonicera pileata<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Euonymus fortunei<\/strong> is an ideal evergreen shrub available in several leaf colours. I find the yellow leaves perform well in the cool shade.<\/p>\n<p>The following selection may also be fine but the above plants were recommended by the RHS<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Daphne laureola and Laurel<!--more--><br \/>\nFatsia japonica castor oil plant<br \/>\nHedera, Ivy<br \/>\nIlex aquifolium Holly<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rhs.org.uk\/\">RHS <\/a>also consider the degree of shade as follows:<br \/>\n&#8216;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.<br \/>\n2. Partial shade: A site receiving sunlight for two or three hours either in early morning or late evening. Midday sun supplies considerably more light.<br \/>\n3. Moderate shade: Mainly reflected or diffused light, for example through tree canopies.<br \/>\n4. Deep shade: Usually under dense deciduous trees, e.g. beech, conifer hedges or overgrown shrubberies.&#8217;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dry Shade is one of the least hospitable places for flowering perennials <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3319,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,218],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-flowers","category-top-ten"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}