A Beginner's Guide to Shady Gardens:

Like so many ot problems in garden, this one will go away if you make a slt adjustment of attitude and decide to embrace the de rat than be daunted by it. A visit to any of the big gardens will show dy as that h been successfully planted, and te is no reason why you should not do the same on a smaller scale.

So, how do we cope with de? For some reason, many people simply ignore the fact that an a is dy and attempt to grow annuals and ot sun lov pla in it. These inevitably languish and frequently die, and the gardeners get very despondent.

Te is really no excuse for these problems as a large number of pla available that actually like dy conditions. Perhaps the colors of these pla mt not be so dazzl as the sun lovers because te not many brt reds, for example, but they still colorful enough to put on a good display. Many pla that like de yellow, and so stand out well in the gloomy lt.

As well as pla with brt flowers, te many foliage pla that can be used very effectively in such as. Some h lt, cariegated or silver splashed foliage, such as yellow archangel (Lamium Galeobdolon), which tend to illuminate the darker corners.

Ots, such as hostas, h shiny les, and these catch and reflect the lt, once again help to brten up the relative darkness.

So, what about miniature woodlands? Many de lov pla grow in woodlands, and they appear, flower, seed and die back all before the trees come into leaf. The absence of les above them means that the pla h access to both the sun and the rain. Once the les on the trees emerge, the pla die back and remain dormant until the follow winter or spr.

These pla, includ wood anemones and bluebells, can be planted in a garden in odd packets of de, such as under deciduous shrubs. Here the pla can be seen in spr, but later in the year noth will grow e because the soil will be covered by the shrub's les.

This makes good use of space. Several such shrubs, perhaps of vary het and with this type of under plant, can be used to create a miniature woodland, even in the heart of town.