"Mike" wrote in message ...
A friend has a small courtyard overshadowed by Sycamores ,as you know they
deposit sticky residue over everything beneath in the summer .
Attempts to grow normal plants has failed ,has anyone any suggestions ,as
the trees are staying put.

Favourite is to get hold of a copy of _The Reader's Digest
Encyclopedia of Gardening_ or similar (you want a general gardening
book about one-and-a-half to two inches thick, I mean: this is _not_
sarcasm, as they usually say much the same things, but RD is best in
many ways because it has small colour pictures of each plant) maybe at
the library or or quite often charity shop and find the list of plants
suitable for shade near the end.

Easy permanent fixtures include 'spotted laurel', a tough evergreen
shrub with yellow spots which give you back a bit of light (about £4
at garden centres), yellow-leaved or variegated ivies, Choysia
ternata; flowers might include snowdrops, primroses, bluebells
(English not Spanish). I'd go for foliage more than flowers; but there
are very nice shade-loving flowers, though some can be tricky for the
newcomer or expensive.

He or she will need to be strict about clearing up autumn leaves; and
may need to work on dryness if the trees are sucking up all the
moisture.

Mike.