What can I grow in a dry shady spot?

The very words ‘dry shade’ can seem intimidating, especially to new gardeners. Fear not, as there are many plants that will grow well in parts of the garden that are lacking in both soil moisture and sunlight.

Tricks to help you get the best results in a dry, shady spot:

• Dig lots of garden
  Can refer to either home-made garden compost or seed/potting compost: • Garden compost is a soil improver made from decomposed plant waste, usually in a compost bin or heap. It is added to soil to improve its fertility, structure and water-holding capacity. Seed or potting composts are used for growing seedlings or plants in containers - a wide range of commercially produced peat-free composts are available, made from a mix of various ingredients, such as loam, composted bark, coir and sand, although you can mix your own.

  compost or well-rotted farmyard manure into the soil before planting
• Water the plants really well before and after you plant them
• Mulch the soil surface with
  Bark is the outermost layer of woody plants (trees, shrubs and woody climbers). It is several cells thick and provides protection against physical damage, disease and environmental stresses. Bark comes in a wide variety of colours and patterns, and these can help gardeners when identifying plants. The fissures and crevices of bark on older plants also creates valuable habitat for many garden creatures as well as lichens and small plants.

  bark chippings to help keep the moisture in
• Use some variegated, or golden-leafed plants to brighten things up

And of course, choose plants that will grow well in the conditions. Here’s a selection of failsafe plants that will  thrive in dry shade.

Spotted laurel: hardy

Aucuba japonica ‘Crotonifolia’

A remarkably resilient plant, Aucuba japonica can hold its own in even the toughest spot, fighting off competition from tree roots, pollution and almost anything else life can hurl at it. Spotted varieties such as ‘Crotonifolia’ bring red berries and colourful foliage while ‘Rozannie’ has no spots but is compact and fruits prolifically.  1-1.5m (3-5ft).

Liriope: late-season flowers

Liriope muscari

An unusual plant with a trick up its sleeve, the blue lily-turf (Liriope muscari) spends most of the year looking like a smart little evergreen grass. Then, as summer fades into autumn, it sends up many spikes of lovely mauve-blue flowers which look wonderful against the reds and yellows of fallen leaves. 30cm (1ft).

Fern friends

Polystichum ferns

Many ferns do well in dry shade. Their intricate leaves (fronds) are beautiful in their own right, and combine well with other plants, especially those with big shiny leaves, or narrow, grassy ones. Look out for shield ferns (Polystichum) and Dryopteris ferns as they are among the best for dry gardens. Water them well while they get established, after which they can be left to get on with it.

Fatsia: lush leaves

Fatsia japonica

Despite its tropical looks, the false castor oil plant, (Fatsia japonica) is actually pretty hardy and often does particularly well in dry, shady spots as they tend to be sheltered too. Traditionally grown as a houseplant, it thrives if planted outdoors in the ground or on its own in a large pot as a statement plant. Can grow to 3m or more (approx 10ft) but is easily pruned to size.

Mahonia: flowers, fruit and leaves

Mahonia aquifolium ‘Apollo’

One of the best berries for jelly that there is, the fruits of the Oregon grape (Mahonia aquifolium) taste rather sharp when you eat them raw, but they make a very tasty deep purple-black jelly. The plants will do well in this most inhospitable garden situation. ‘Apollo’ is the variety to go for as each cluster has more deep golden yellow spring flowers than the straight species and so many more berries to follow. Low growing, it spreads well. 60cm (2ft).

Fatshedera: a useful curiosity

Fatshedera ‘Annemieke’

Crossing our familiar native ivy with an exotic, bold fatsia with its large dramatic foliage – and then adding

Variegated means having leaves or other plant parts with streaks, blotches or patches of different colours. Typically, these would be a combination of two colours, such as green and gold or green and white.

The poet’s laurel: gleaming in the darkness

Danae racemosa

Danae racemosa is compact, almost bamboo-like shrub which has the distinction of its branches lasting longer when cut (and used as foliage in flower arrangements) that those of any other shrub. And of course its glossy evergreen foliage looks wonderful in the garden all year round. After hot summers small red berries develop towards the tips of the shoots. 60cm (2ft).

Butcher’s broom: native woodlander

Ruscus aculeatus ‘John Redmond’

With foliage so tough that butchers used to use it to scour their blocks, butcher’s broom (Ruscus aculeatus) is extraordinarily resilient. This uncommon native plant makes slowly spreading clusters of upright stems, clad in rich dark green evergreen foliage with long-lasting bright red berries in late summer and autumn. Plants are usually male or female but ‘John Redmond’ is hermaphrodite and produces berries with no male plant nearby. 40cm (15in).

Christmas box: winter fragrance

Sarcococca ‘Dragon Gate’

Sarcococca, sometimes known as the Christmas box, is one of the finest fragrant winter shrubs. Sarcococca ‘Dragon Gate’ flowers dependably at Christmas, and its leaves are narrower than those of the usual form so the flowers are less hidden. The scent of this wonderful plant will drift around the garden and bring joy to even the darkest winter day.

Golden yew: compact pillar

Taxus baccata ‘Standishii’

Taxus baccata ‘Standishii’ is one of the finest golden-leaved conifers with eye-catching foliage which keeps its colour all year-round. Slow growing, tightly compact and very upright in growth, it makes a striking specimen carrying distinctive dark red fruits – and that red flesh is the only part of the whole tree that’s not poisonous. 1m (3ft).