Some plants love the shade, some plants hate the shade. So it's important to choose the right plants for the shady parts of your garden.

On this shade gardening page you'll find recommended basic books on plants for shady gardens and for beds and borders in the shade. You'll also find more comprehensive books on plants for shady beds and borders which also bring advice on planning shady plantings and on how to make shady areas suitable for as many different kinds of plants as possible.

There's also a listing of nurseries recommended not only for the range of shade loving plants that they carry but also for their quality of their plants and their service. Plus some links to our favourite garden website and blogs.

We hope you find these shade gardening listings useful.


Apple Court

Bali-Hai Nursery

Beth Chatto Gardens

Crug Farm Plants

Edrom Nurseries

Farmyard Nurseries

Fernatix

Goldbrook Plants

Harveys Garden Plants

Hidden Valley Nursery


Long Acre Plants

MacGregors Plants for Shade

Mary Green

Moorland Cottage Plants

Park Green Nurseries

Penlan Perennials

Shady Plants

World of Ferns

39 Steps

Recommended plant nurseries specialising in plants for shade

Royal Horticultural Society (RHS)

BBC Gardeners World magazine

BBC Gardening

RHS Plant Finder

Clematis database

Botany Photo of the Day

Guardian Gardening

Telegraph Gardening

Mail Gardening

Carry On Gardening (Thrive)

National Gardens Scheme

Great British Gardens

Thinking Gardens

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Great Dixter

Recommended gardening websites and blogs

The Galloping Gardener

Down On The Allottment

Transatlantic Plantsman

Horticultural (Jane Perrone)

Victoria's Backyard

Veg Plotting

The Patient Gardener's Weblog

RHS New Plants blog

An Artist's Garden

Shade plants, plants for shade, shade gardens, gardens in the shade - this webpage has great information for everyone with a shady garden. Good hedging plants to grow in damp shade include aronia, taxus, elaeagnus, ilex and rhododendron. Good shrubs to choose for a damp and shady garden include acer, camellia, cephalotaxus, daphne, fatsia, fothergilla, sarcococca, sasa, viburnum, elaeagnus, euonymus, hypericum, osmanthus and rhododendron. Schizophragma is a good climber for a shade garden. Top perennials to grow in shade gardens include convallaria, ferns, hostas, polygonatum, ramonda, symphytum, tricyrtis, uvularia, erythronium, gentiana, haberlea, primula, saxifraga and smilacina. Bulbs will also grow well in damp shade and these include endymion, narcissus, lilium, cyclamen and scilla. A few annuals will also grow well in a shady border and these include begonia, impatiens, mimulus and nemophila.

There are also good plants that will thrive in dry shade, shade gardens which tend to have little moisture. Good hedges for dry shade include berberis, symphoricarpus and buxus. Good shrubs for shady borders which are dry include berberis, cotoneaster, danae, euonymus, garrya, hedera, lonicera, mahonia, rubus, ruscus, skimmia, aucuba, ilex and sambucus. If you need a climber in a dry shade situation try hedera or hydrangea. There are also perennials which are good in dry shade, choose from acanthus, alchemilla, euphorbia, evergreen iris, lamiastrum, lamium, liriope, vinca, waldsteinia, carex, dryopteris, epimedium, polystichum and trachystemon. Finally if you'd like to grow some annuals in dry shade then try lunaria and smyrnium.