A Shady Place

I’ve been to some shady places in my time but this one is shadier than even the El Chico Club in Thanet in the late 60’s. (I can’t believe I’ve just written such rubbish!)

Anyway this shady corner of the garden has to contend with being in the deep shade of a thirsty Poplar tree that stands over 100ft high. Plus there is next door’s Leylandii tree and a 6ft high, ivy clad fence. All in all, its a challenging place to be for such a lazy gardener!

So . . . . This time of year, this shady corner is starting to look OK, even though it requires water to get it going. The following photo is how it looks now in mid May 2010:

(If you click on the above image, you get the Flickr photo which looks better – press the back button to return to the great Musa Blog.)

The plants in the photo include:

• Ligularia dentata 'Desdemona' (far left)
• Geranium macrorrhizum (above that)
• Hosta 'Frances Williams' (bottom left)
• Smyrnium perfoliatum (centre)
• The violet blue flowers of Geranium pyrenaicum 'Bill Wallis' (right)
• The shrub Fatsia japonica (right)
• Ivy covering the fence

Ligularia dentata 'Desdemona'  has large, kidney-shaped leaves that emerge red and fade to greenish bronze, with maroon backs and purple stems. The flowers are large orange daisies which appear in loose, flat-topped sprays in mid-summer. This plant is happy in some shade but likes moisture, something that there is little of in this shady, dry corner. It is also prone to slug attack and this part of the garden is an ancient homeland of the slug and they continually fight a guerrilla war against my plantings. So, this plant is in the wrong place really but I like it very much even if I do have to lug a watering can all the way down the garden every day from Spring onwards.

 

Flowers of Ligularia dentata 'Desdemona'

 

 

 

 

Geranium macrorrhizum

Geranium macrorrhizum . . . I think its common name is ‘The Bigroot Cranesbill’ and it does have thick rhizome-like roots which I guess helps it survive in dry places. I planted 4 plants at the base of the large Poplar (unpopular to me) tree some years ago. They have spread to form a dense evergreen covering and I think they are one of the few plants that would thrive in this inhospitable area. I think one of the varieties I planted was ‘Bevan’s Variety’. The foliage is said to emit a lemon - sherbet smell when crushed or touched but I must admit I seldom venture that far in to this part of the garden to find out. It has magenta – pink flowers in late spring to early summer and the foliage takes on a red tinge in the autumn.

 

 Geranium macrorrhizum and

 Smyrnium perfoliatum (foreground)

 

Smyrnium perfoliatum  . . . I’ve already written about this plant in more detail, click on the label in the right-hand column to read that post.

Geranium pyrenaicum 'Bill Wallis'  . . . Now I really, really like this plant! Geranium pyrenaicum's common name is the Hedgerow Geranium and as the name suggests it does well in dry shade which is useful for this dry, shady corner of the garden. This form is particularly good and (so far) is not invasive. It has violet / purple / blue flowers lasting from now (May) right through the summer. It seems quite happy in my shady, dry corner of the garden and all I ever do is clear some of the weeds and Ivy from its path.

Photos of Geranium pyrenaicum 'Bill Wallis': 

 

So . . That’s enough for this post, I’ve got to go and water Ligularia dentata 'Desdemona'!