Wildlife garden
A shade garden with native plants
A shade garden suits native woodland plants that flower early in spring, such as wood anemone, sweet woodruff, oxlip and bluebell, under shrubs such as holly, yew and hazel, with ivy and ferns as an evergreen base.
What to do
- Assess the light: partial shade (a few hours of sun) or full shade under trees. Choose your plants accordingly.
- Plant shrubs that tolerate shade, such as holly, yew and hazel, and let ivy cover the ground or a wall.
- Plant spring flowers in groups under the shrubs: wood anemone, bluebell, oxlip, yellow archangel and lungwort.
- Add ferns such as male fern and hart’s-tongue, and red campion and nettle-leaved bellflower where there is a little more light.
- Leave the fallen leaves in autumn: they feed the soil as in a wood, and the woodland plants push through them in spring.
Caution: Yew, wood anemone, bluebell and Solomon’s seal are poisonous: take care with children and pets.
Why it helps
- Woodland plants flower before the trees come into leaf: in March and April they feed the first bumblebees and bees.
- A shady corner with shrubs, leaves and ferns is the coolest and dampest spot in the garden, a refuge for hedgehogs, toads and insects in hot summers.
Which plants?
- Holly Ilex aquifolium Broadleaf tree · flowers May NativePoisonous
- Yew Taxus baccata Conifer NativePoisonous
- Hazel Corylus avellana Shrub · flowers January–March Native
- Common ivy Hedera helix Climber · flowers September–November NativePoisonous
- Common honeysuckle Lonicera periclymenum Climber · flowers June–September NativePoisonous
- Elder Sambucus nigra Shrub · flowers May–June Native
- Lesser periwinkle Vinca minor Dwarf shrub · flowers March–May NativePoisonous
- Wood anemone Anemone nemorosa perennial · flowers March–May NativePoisonous
- Sweet woodruff Galium odoratum perennial · flowers April–June Native
- Oxlip Primula elatior perennial · flowers March–May Native
- English bluebell Hyacinthoides non-scripta bulb or tuber · flowers April–May NativePoisonous
- Solomon's seal Polygonatum multiflorum perennial · flowers May–June NativePoisonous
- Yellow archangel Lamium galeobdolon perennial · flowers April–June Native
- Lungwort Pulmonaria officinalis perennial · flowers March–May Native
- Red campion Silene dioica perennial · flowers April–July Native
- Nettle-leaved bellflower Campanula trachelium perennial · flowers June–August Native
- Common dog-violet Viola riviniana perennial · flowers March–May Native
- Male fern Dryopteris filix-mas fern NativePoisonous
- Hart’s-tongue fern Asplenium scolopendrium fern Native
When?
March–May and October–November.
Garden jobs in MarchGarden jobs in AprilGarden jobs in MayGarden jobs in OctoberGarden jobs in November
Take up the challenge
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Plant 3 native shrubs (October–December)
Plant 3 native trees or shrubs, such as hawthorn, hazel or guelder rose: planting season has begun.
Did you know? Wood anemone spreads only a few metres per century: a large carpet of it in a wood is a sign of very old woodland.