John wrote in message
om...
I am soon to move from a London flat to a house with a garden in
Surrey (my first garden - I'm so excited!). There's a patch of lawn
with borders on one side of the house, and a woodland area on the
other side. The woodland area is about 20 yards by 20, and has about
half a dozen well established (i.e. big!) trees in it (a mixture of
evergreen and deciduous as far as I can remember); and then there is a
fair amount of smaller stuff underneath. As you can imagine, it's
pretty shady. Most of the big trees have preservation orders on them
so I can't do anything with them (not that I'd want to anyway). The
woodland area slopes downhill fairly steeply from south to north. I
don't intend to do anything with this area for the first year - just
watch it and see what's in there - but I'd be interested in hearing
people's views on what I could do to "develop" this patch a bit. What
kind of plants could I encourage (or introduce) that would thrive in
this environment? Any advice gratefully received - I suspect I'm
going to be asking for lots of it in the coming months!

Thanks

John

Hi John,

Congratulations. You're going to love shade gardening. My woodland garden
is my favourite, esp. at this time of year.

The Tree Preservation Orders are a good thing. Too many people get a
knee-jerk reaction when they encounter a tree. However, if the shade is
profoundly dense, you may be able to negotiate some crown raising or
thinning with your local TP Officer. He may also be able to recommend a
tree surgeon if he can't do the job himself. I'm glad you want to keep the
trees.

There are so many things you can plant in a shade garden. First of all
though, you need to assess the depth of shade. My woodland area is light to
medium shade, and it allows me to grow:

Snowdrops (Galanthus sp.), Winter Aconites (Eranthis sp.), Wood
Anemones (Anemone nemorosa) and A. blanda, Ranunculus, Snowflakes
(Leucojum sp.) Dog's Tooth Violets (Erythronium sp.), Crocus (in v.
light shade), Sternbergia, Colchicums, Hyacinthus, Narcissus,
Chionodoxa .. and many more.

Herbaceous and evergreen perennials include: Dicentra, Aquilegia,
Lunaria (Honesty), Tellima, Heuchera, Primula, Vinca (Perriwinkle),
Symphytum, Pulmonaria, Japanese Anemone, Tolmea, Helleborus, Corydalis,
Bergenia, Tricyrtis, Saxifraga, Lamium, Ferns, some Lilies, some
Fritillarias.

There are also many shrubs, but you may feel you have a lot of woody plants
already. Once you are on site, take every opportunity to walk around your
woodland. This will help you establish where paths and favoured walking
areas are; whether or not there's a glade, for instance. Before you start
planting, define your pathways first, so that you have a framework to plant
around, and also from which you can weed and manage the planting.

A good shade gardening book is: Best Shade Plants by Stefan Buczacki.
ISBN 0-600-57734-1.

Regards,
Spider