Thank you all very much. I am very busy at the moment but once I get
out in the garden again this spring will look carefully into all your
suggestions.

Cheers
Colin


Kay Easton wrote in message ...
In article , Paul Taylor
writes
On Fri, 16 Jan 2004 20:38:02 +0000, Colin wrote:

I saw Alan Titchmarsh's fern garden, (shady spot) on the TV a couple of
weeks ago, and it looked really impressive. My shady spot at the bottom
of my garden has ferns and foxgloves, although the ferns didn't look as
good as Alan's, but last year was the first time I had it planted, so I
hope it will look better this year.

yes - gardens need time to grow! I reckon 5 years for a garden really to
come together. Most ferns need it moist (at least not drying out) but
others are happy for it to be drier.

I also have bluebells growing in it and some other native flowers (wild
geraniums, etc. I am hoping some of them will come back again this year.
The bluebells have started to emerge, so at least they will be back!

The geraniums are mostly perennial, so they should be back. Some are
more tolerant of shade than others - try G phaeum 'Mourning widow' -
dark purple flower, and the various garden varieties of it, eg Samobar,
with prominent dark blotch on each leaf.

You sound as if you are concentrating on native plants. If your shady
spot is moist, try primroses, violets. Ramsons - wild garlic - spreads
well and gives a good show of white flowers. Wood anemone, wood sorrel
(both white), red campion are others, also, for something a bit
different, butchers broom - no leaves, but stems flattened into prickly
leaf like structures, with tiny flowers and later (if you have a male
and a female plant) red berries coming straight out of the 'leaves'.
Wood spurge gives some show almost all the year round - and again has
attractive garden varieties. Epimediums - graceful heartshaped leaves
and yellow or pink flowers. Hellebores - relatives of the christmas rose
- with 'flowers' in white, green, cream, pink or purple.

There's a FAQ on plants to grow in the shade - I think the weekly abc
post gives directions to it. And for native plants, look in a bookshop
or library for a book on wild flowers in woodlands.