Hi Guys
I have a large area at the bottom of the garden that is in permanent shade. It also seems to hold water, and in wet weather can become a bit boggy.
At the moment it is actually supposed to be part of the lawn - but is in fact just a large bare patch.
Any ideas on what is the best thing to do with this area?
My wife has suggested a rockery - what plants would be best suited to this?
Thanks in advance
- rainbowgardener
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The basic idea here is to work with what you have, rather than fight it. You can turn it into a wonderful shady, bog garden which will be beautiful.
Ferns and hostas really like that kind of area and are very pretty together. Cattails? If you were here I would suggest some nice native plants that like that kind of area, but I am totally unfamiliar with UK natives.
Some of my natives that like wet shade are goatsbeard, jack in the pulpit, marsh marigold, chelone/ turtlehead, rue anemone, gentian, flag iris, cardinal flower/great blue lobelia, and a variety of native ferns.
Hopefully some of the many UK folks around this forum will come by and make some appropriate suggestions for you. That's why I changed your title to show UK, just to alert them....
Ferns and hostas really like that kind of area and are very pretty together. Cattails? If you were here I would suggest some nice native plants that like that kind of area, but I am totally unfamiliar with UK natives.
Some of my natives that like wet shade are goatsbeard, jack in the pulpit, marsh marigold, chelone/ turtlehead, rue anemone, gentian, flag iris, cardinal flower/great blue lobelia, and a variety of native ferns.
Hopefully some of the many UK folks around this forum will come by and make some appropriate suggestions for you. That's why I changed your title to show UK, just to alert them....
- rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
Well, it may be going in two different directions (either one of which could be very nice! ) I think the idea of the rockery would be to build the area up, which adds drainage so it isn't boggy any more. Make a pile of boulders and smaller rocks, fill in with dirt in the crevices and pockets and plant in that. No more boggy. Then you would want plants for drier shade.
Could be very pretty, just requires hauling in a couple tons (literally, since the bottom layer needs to be buried at least half way) of boulder and rock.
I was thinking more of a bog garden where you mostly just plant what you have. Here's a picture:
https://www.countryliving.com/cm/countryliving/images/CLX0606Garden001-de.jpg
Here's a UK based website that lists a bunch of edible bog/pond plants many of which are UK natives:
https://www.pfaf.org/leaflets/edibpond.php
Could be very pretty, just requires hauling in a couple tons (literally, since the bottom layer needs to be buried at least half way) of boulder and rock.
I was thinking more of a bog garden where you mostly just plant what you have. Here's a picture:
https://www.countryliving.com/cm/countryliving/images/CLX0606Garden001-de.jpg
Here's a UK based website that lists a bunch of edible bog/pond plants many of which are UK natives:
https://www.pfaf.org/leaflets/edibpond.php
- rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b