Shaded Areas

Hellebore 'Blackthorn Strain' is a carefully selected seed strain, with delicate pink flowers backed with pink and green, the stems, petioles and often the anthers are an enchanting ripe berry rose. The saw-toothed foliage is pewter-blue above, burgundy-grey beneath.

Based on hybrids bred by the doyenne of the Hellebore world, Helen Ballard, these must be some of the finest and most beautiful of the race we have to offer. Large flowers are produced in a variety of colours from dark purple to white - often extravagantly mottled and marked.

Herniaria glabra is a relatively unknown perennial that deserves to be used more often in our gardens. The nursery industry calls it ‘Green Carpet’ and well they should. This lovely bright green creeper spreads effortlessly in all directions. An excellent choice for between flagstones or as a lawn substitute.

Hosta are grown predominantly for their outstanding foliage, from leaves as small as a teaspoon up to those larger than a dinner plate, colours range from deep blues to silvers, darkest shiny greens to bright yellows, from a single solid hue to the myriad of variegations the choice is almost overwhelming.

A deep blue carpet of bluebells is an unforgettable sight to anyone visiting many of our native woodlands. The spring spectacle of seeing a wood not only greening, but also 'blueing' is one of the joys of the year. When bluebells are in flower, spring has truly arrived.

Shorter than the species, Malva moschata 'Appleblossom' grows 45 to 60cm in height. The satiny, single flowers in a lovely soft shade of silver-pink, are textured and striated like crepe, they have a lustrous lacquered quality in sunlight. Wonderfully appealing to bees and other pollinators, they also make a good cut flower.

Considered by many gardeners to be the most desirable of the Malva species, this rare white-flowered form is even lovelier than the normal rose-pink Musk Mallow. Flowering throughout the summer, the pure white, scented flowers contrast beautifully with the ferny foliage.

Recently renamed Papaver cambricum, formerly known as Meconopsis and often simply called 'The Welsh Poppy', is very easy to grow and is reliably perennial. The delicate cup-shaped, golden-yellow flowers are borne in abundance from late spring to early autumn.

Pennyroyal is a cottage garden plant of old. This highly aromatic herb has a strong peppermint scent to its dark green leaves, even more so than other mints. With attractive whorls of lilac-blue flowers, it can be used to carpet a shady corner or make a 'lawn' smelling deliciously of peppermint.

The white form of the lovely Jacobs Ladder, named after the slender, fresh green leaflets arranged like the rungs of a ladder. Blooming in late spring to early summer, the bright foliage and white flowers will brighten shady locations. Both the flowers and the attractive ferny foliage are excellent for cutting.

Collected at altitude in Japan and introduced in 2006, Polemonium yezoense 'Purple Rain' is one of the best new introductions in recent years. With bronze-purple lacy foliage, dark stems and violet-blue flowers, it is the darkest flower form of Polemonium available.

Prunella vulgaris is an interesting and quite beautiful little wildflower plant. The plants produce pretty blue-violet flowers in summer, the flowers freely produce nectar and are highly attractive to bees. If you’re looking for something to add to a meadow garden, or something for those shady areas this is the plant for you.

This attractive plant will be equally at home in the flower border or keeping company with the sage and thyme in your herb garden. Delightfully aromatic, the floral-peppermint scent is subtly different from other mints. Mountain mint is a great nectar plant, its honey is much sought after.

Salvia sclarea var. turkestanica 'Vatican White' is a choice white cultivar that is not that easy to find. A nobly architectural Sage, each of its branched stems is topped with a profusion of blossoms with brilliant white bracts. The flowers are attractive and are boosted in impact by the large petioles that surround them.

This hardy biennial Sage has been grown in almost every botanical sanctuary in human history and has many plus points: it grows well in poor soil resists slugs and other beasties, and doesn’t slump or need staking. It copes well in sun or light shade and the blooms are a magnet for bees and butterflies.

Our native Figwort is one of the most prolific nectar producers in the plant world, the long-lasting flowers attract more pollinators than any other plant around. The flowers, similar to tiny snapdragons ripen into egg-shaped seed pods, which are just the perfect bouquet filler for interest and movement!

Solidago canadensis 'Golden Baby' is an easy to grow hardy perennial that bears flat-topped clusters of golden-yellow plumes. Growing to around 60cm tall they are perfect for borders or containers and provide end-of-season colour. Given an early sowing they will bloom in their first year.

This pretty little wildflower is a slow growing, long-lived plant with attractive spikes of rich pink-mauve flowers that are very attractive to bees and butterflies as a nectar source. The flowers, which rise from dark green crinkly leaves, keep their colour throughout summer and look stunning when growing en-masse.

Related to Heuchera and Tiarella, Tellima grandiflora form a tidy clump of rounded leaves and are topped by lime-green airy spires. They make excellent groundcover, thrive in shade between flowers in a border and make a good filler for separating strong shapes or bright colours.

Summer-blooming spiky flowering plants - in garden design parlance ‘the verticals’. We all need some, and there are lots of contenders, but a plant that can go just about anywhere in the garden, cope with almost all situations and bloom with copious plush spikes over several weeks is a very rare treat.