Bite sized: make a shady garden more interesting - grow structural plants
A teeny tip to add even more interest to a shady garden
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Last Thursday I decided to try something new - each Thursday I’ll send you just one small idea to try in your garden that week. A plant to grow, an interesting idea, a new tactic to try, a small problem solved. I hope you like it!
Here is today’s.
Make a shady garden more interesting: grow structural plants
How to make a shady garden look interesting is one of the biggest challenges a lot of gardeners face. Without plentiful sun, lots of plants won’t thrive or flower. The good news is that you don’t actually need a whole tonne of flowers to have a beautiful and interesting garden. You can go for structural plants instead (you can also go for variegated foliage, which is what I wrote about last week - if you missed that email you can catch up below).
So, today, here are some of my favourite structural plants, with really interestingly shaped foliage, to add interest and beauty to your shady garden:
Fatsia japonica
Fatsia japonicas have some of the most beautiful leaves of anything I’m growing in our garden. They look like gorgeous big stars and erupt from the centre of the plant. Because they have big leaves they make a really big impact in a shady garden, and in spring they will throw out little white flowers from a spike at the centre of the plant.
Philodendron Xanadu
Philodendrons are such a great and easy option for a shady garden. Another plant with nice big leaves, these will give your garden a jungly look. They are nice and big so are a great option towards the back of your garden beds.
Fishtail ferns
The other plants on this list all have big leaves, but to add interest and contrast it helps to include some plants with smaller leaves too. There are sooo many gorgeous ferns that you can add to a shady garden - they look great bursting from corners of your beds or cascading over the front edge.
Tractor seat plants
This plant is aptly named because the giant, circular leaves it produces look exactly like the seat of an old tractor! They are gorgeous and have the added bonus of happily flowering in dappled shade - they burst into little yellow blooms towards the end of autumn, when not a lot else might be flowering in your garden.
Oyster plants
Super tough and so beautiful, oyster plants have a permanent place in my garden and my heart. The leaves are actually the same leaves that adorn ancient Roman columns - spiky, structural, classy and gorgeous, these plants are another that will flower in dappled shade - in spring the flowers erupt on tall spikes. Absolutely worth a spot in your garden!
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Hi will these 'shady' plants survive Winter afternoon sun? ( in Sydney's Inner West, under a crepe myrtle)