In article , It's Mac afatlout@R
EMOVETHISclara.co.uk writes
Hi folks, new to the group, new to gardening.

Just been out to tidy up a bit, amazingly enough, some plants have survived
the winter. They're African Daisies ( Dimorphoteca). Trouble is they look a
bit sad, trailing along the ground in search of the sun, and, maybe a little
too big for their location.

Some of the Dimorphotheca species are hardy here

There's some new shoots growing at the base, can I trim back last years
branches or is that a bad idea?

As a general rule, if you have lots of strong fresh new shoots growing
from the base of a plant, cutting back last year's tatty shoots does no
harm.

While I'm here, one side of my garden only gets a couple of hours sunshine
in the morning. Would it be best to plant shrubs along here or are there any
good shade loving plants I could try, preferably not annuals.

There's lots of good shade loving plants! - see the FAQ (url is in the
abc post which appears weekly). And most of them aren't annuals. What
sort of things do you like? eg colours, how lush, what times of year do
you want it to look good, is fragrance important?

--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm