Transform Your Shaded Garden

It’s no surprise that often the biggest, brightest plants require full sunlight. We understand the disappointment of seeing a plant you love, checking the label and realising it’ll never be able to survive in your shaded garden. Not everyone gets a sunny garden, but that’s okay. We believe that a shaded garden can be just as beautiful! There are many ways to use the shade to your advantage and create your own little paradise – and it’s simple. Take a look at our ideas below;

Create a Woodland Theme

Strolling through the woods can be an idyllic experience. There are countless little flowers that catch our attention. Bluebells are a gorgeous flower that create a sea of blue under the canopy, and what’s even better is that they love a bit of shade. Thinking about what plants you see in the woods, and incorporating them into your shaded garden is a great way to get started. Even if you don’t entirely theme your garden that way, just a few elements are enough to make your garden pop. Embrace the wildflowers: dog violet, cowslip and cow parsley, to name a few. They’re just as vibrant!

Another theming idea. Get inspired by traditional Japanese gardens. When you see pictures of Japanese gardens they are typically surrounded by a forest of trees with elegantly designed pathways winding around lakes. Although this may be hard to recreate in an English garden, taking ideas from it will certainly work for a shaded garden. Why not create your own little pond? Ponds do better in shade because it makes it harder for algae to grow and it also keeps the water temperature stable. Lots of small evergreen shrubs work well in Japanese themed gardens too, as they allow you to create shaping and structure within your garden. Plenty of green with dashes of colour is the way forward.

Choose Shade Loving Plants

There are still plenty of plants that you can choose from when your garden is shaded, and many are still very colourful. Aquilegia is a gorgeous plant that loves the shade and comes in a lovely vibrant purple shade. Snowdrops are perfect if you like something dainty, and the bleeding heart plant is stunningly unique. There are so many options, and if you pop down to the garden centre or contact us via social media one of our friendly team will be more than happy to point you in the right direction.

Plant Less Grass in your Shaded Garden

Lawns struggle in the shade, and there’s nothing worse than a patchy, faded lawn. As much as we’d love it to be green and flourishing, that’s not going to happen in a shaded garden. Your best option may be to remove the majority of your grass, particularly in areas that are completely shaded throughout the day. Instead, use landscaping materials and plants to fill the space. Create borders and patios – these don’t require the sunlight that grass does.

So there we have four ways to use your shaded garden to its full potential. Shade isn’t always a bad thing, and we’d love to see how you get on with it on our social media. We’re all about enjoying our gardens no matter what we’re given to work with!

About The Author of this Post

Katie Waterson

administrator

Katie wrote articles for the Garden Centre website as well as running the social media whilst working for us as an E-Commerce apprentice.

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