Ah, shady gardens. It’s probably what I’m most constantly asked about. Unless your grow space is a roof terrace, or has no physical boundaries at all, there will be some corners that don’t see much light. If you live in a city, or in a garden on an overlook balcony or in a basement level garden, you will struggle with light most of the day. But you don’t have to fight for plants†
Before getting a garden last summer, I grew up on a shady woodland balcony. For my first six months it was a daunting, squirrel-infested dead zone. Then I started planting things that didn’t need a lot of light, and it became a green oasis.
Once you step into the world of shade-loving plants, you’ll wonder why people didn’t tell you about it before. They are gardening’s best kept secret: tolerant, beautiful and with, I think, an air of effortless class. A good shade garden can be transporting, the kind of thing that can take you into the forests of New Zealand or Japan.
They are also often easier to care for. Well-established shade pockets stay lush with less water than an exposed south-facing bed. They also stay green much more of the year. The trick is to largely abandon the idea of florals and enter the realm of textural foliage instead.