Gardening in damp shade – plants

It can seem miserably limited to have to plant a damp and shady garden, but with some planning you can create a garden that really delivers in terms of drama and beauty. You’ll need to identify a good specialist nursery, as many of the plants that will enhance your garden may be unusual – often they aren’t any more expensive than other plants but a bog garden specialist garden supplier, for example, will be able to get you the right variety for your conditions.

Start with an iris called Iris forrestii, which has pale yellow scented flowers and works particularly well in damp soil and near water. Its flowers provide an elegant creamy yellow highlight and aren’t cold-toned, so they bring a warmth to the garden which is often lacking in yellow and white spring flowers.

Sarcococca hookeriana var. humilis, may not sound very exciting, but it’s a fantastic garden shrub that actually prefers damp shade to anything else! It has a dense growth pattern with glossy green leaves that provide superb ground cover. Not only does it love your rather miserable garden conditions, it flowers in winter – producing a bevy of pink and white tinged flowers that have an excellent strong scent.

Hostas and ferns don’t sound very exciting but get your specialist supplier to find you matteuccia struthiopteris (the shuttlecock fern) and you’ll think again. This is not quite a tree fern (nor does it cost tree fern prices!) but it’s a dramatic sculptural fern that will grow to three feet tall and impresses everybody who sees it. Plant it alongside the hosta ‘Frances Williams’, for the contrast – the blue-green leaves of the hosta make a lovely wide carpet that sets the fern up beautifully.

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